Bird Flu: Fact or Fiction?
I don’t know about you, but when I hear all this talk about a bird flu pandemic right at the beginning of the regular flu season, I become suspicious it’s just another ploy to sell more flu shots!
Not only that, but who ever heard of Tamiflu before all this? I guess many people will ask for the drug for the first time this season and apparently some have already started stockpiling it. Another “benefit” of this commercial campaign for Tamiflu is that side effects didnít even need to be mentioned, nor the fact that it – and other, similar medications – have a very poor record of effectiveness. They have also not been proven to help with the bird flu, but I guess that in an emergency who needs proof?
I am not saying that bird flu concerns are entirely fabricated, and certainly measures being taken to limit its spread are appropriate, but we need to realize that this virus was first identified in 1997 and to date itís still nothing more than a bird epidemic with sporadic human contagion.
Of course this could change and if we look at the history books it is a fact that some of the worst flu pandemics originated in birds. But then there have been many more bird epidemics that never spread to humans. In the past 30 years alone we have had half a dozen predicted pandemics without a single one materializing, a fact that no one seems to remember right now.
Let’s try to separate fact from fiction! The best site I have found for balanced information on this issue with regular updates is http://www.birdfluhype.com/index.html.
An interesting fact I learned from this site is that as of last month there were a total of 121 people confirmed to have been infected with the illness, and 62 died. 121 people since 1997 worldwide sounds like nothing, but the death rate makes it look like the worst flu on record, a real cause for concern. But are these numbers even correct?
According to a little-publicized study from the World Health Organization (WHO) there are thousands of unrecorded human cases of bird flu, possibly as many as 10,000. These were not recorded simply because they were mild cases, sort of like a regular flu, and no fancy tests were done to identify the viral strain. On the other hand there is certainty on the total number of deaths, but while 62 deaths in 121 is very frightening, 62 in 10,000 – or a 0.62% death rate – seems far more routine.
So what should we do about flu shots? As I always say everyone needs to make this decision for him or herself, but I personally never chose to have one. What’s the need? I must admit that the last time I got the flu (I had not been taking my usual dose of Vitamin C) I was not too happy, but then two days later I was enjoying life again!
If you are thinking about getting a flu shot, consider the following:
• It is ineffective against bird flu
• It is laced with a variety of toxins, including mercury, aluminum, MSG and many more
• Its effectiveness against the regular flu is estimated at no more than 60% or so, but this number drops dramatically among the immune-compromised individuals who supposedly need it the most. A recent study showed that, while the number of individuals over 65 taking the flu shot has increased dramatically, the death rate from the flu among the same population has not budged! Read more at http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/feb1605elderly.html
For my part, the following are the supplements I use and recommend. With them, I rarely get the flu and when I do I generally recover in a couple of days:
• Vitamin C: the fact that vitamin C can increase our resistance to viruses has been shown in so many studies dating back decades, itís not even worth it for me to quote any. I find that when I take about 1 to 2 grams of vitamin C every day I am not normally vulnerable to the flu. In the rare cases when I have caught it, I increase my intake of vitamin C to several grams every hour and this helps reduce the duration of the illness. Too much vitamin C causes diarrhea, and when I am ill I will take as much as I can handle until I experience this problem. This is called taking vitamin C to “bowel tolerance,” but if you decide to try this be sure to use properly buffered vitamin C.
• Antiviral herbs: I don’t normally take these but I recommend them for people who are especially vulnerable to the flu even with vitamin C. The product I recommend is called ViraCon, which is available only through healthcare professionals. Antiviral herbs work best when taken every day throughout the season.
• Colloidal silver: I recently started recommending a product called Argentyn 23. This product contains less silver than the one I used to recommend and is therefore safer, even for toddlers and small children. You can read about it here http://www.sovereignsilver.info/index.php. Colloidal silver has a long history of use in fighting viruses, bacteria and yeast. It can be very helpful not only to shorten the duration of the flu but also to prevent complications in susceptible individuals. Articles warning of the dangers of colloidal silver that are found all over the Internet refer to products, often homemade, that contain silver particles much larger than the ones found in the Argentyn 23.
• Lauricidin: this is a natural antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial substance first isolated in human breast milk. It is now extracted from coconut oil for commercial use. It is non-toxic and safe for all ages. It can be taken as a preventative or after the onset of symptoms. Read about it at http://www.lauricidin.com/default.asp.
