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H1N1 Appears To Be Transmittable From Human To Pig
mpetch writes "In an interesting twist, it appears that H1N1 influenza can be transmitted from humans to swine. Apparently a Canadian pig farmer vacationed in Mexico, returned to Canada and infected about 10% of the swine on an Alberta farm. The swine subsequently developed flu symptoms."
If H1N1 is able to infect humans... and it's able to infect swine... and it's transferable from swine to humans... why wouldn't it be transferable from human to swine? How is this news?
but I'm not afraid of the flu. I think we should name it what Fox News suggested. The Black Plague 2.
Yeah I love the way the major news networks hype this up. "This is what we want you to be afraid of today!" Anyone remember hoof-and-mouth disease? Mad cow? How about SARS? Bird flu? There's probably a few I'm forgetting. All terrible horrible epidemic plagues that were going to kill us all, or so you'd think from listening to the news. You want a population that's easy to control, you first have to make them afraid of something. Of course you could also choose to think that all of these things are accidents or coincidences...
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
The H1N1 strain of type A influenza is the strain associated with the global influenza pandemic of 1918. In that year, not 190,000 but tens of millions of people died.
Normally, the people who die from influenza are the very young or the very old. The shocking characteristic of the 1918 variety was that a great many of the people who succumbed to the disease were young and fit. They went from being healthy and happy to being dead in an alarmingly short period. Immunology had not advanced far enough at that time to for doctors to understand why this was happening, but today it is believed to have been the result of a phenomenon known as cytokine storm, which is a severe autoimmune reaction. In other words, the patients died because they were so fit and had healthy -- their immune systems, reacting to the sudden threat, went nuts and attacked their own bodies.
Modern medicine could reduce the body count of such a flu dramatically, but if such a strain appeared again it would still be catastrophic. Treating viruses is still very difficult. There is still no cure for the common cold -- and, under normal circumstances, most people who get the flu just sit it out. Providing medicine for every patient in a true pandemic would be very costly and it's likely that there simply wouldn't be enough for everybody. It is also difficult to treat an autoimmune reaction in a patient that is already known to be suffering from a serious infection -- suppress the immune system and the virus wins. So don't assume that it would be easy to keep a new pandemic under control just because it's almost a century later.
So the reason for all the hubbub is clear. Scientists want to be the Paul Reveres of a future pandemic: The British are coming, they're not already here. So to arms now -- not when they're in our homes. Governments can be very slow-moving when confronted with unforeseen things and they often need this kind of uproar from the medical community before prevention protocols can kick in.
Breakfast served all day!
"Nah i think your thinking of swine syphilis, again!"
I think "your" thinking of "you're", again.
-b
myselfmusic
Complete and utter crap. The AC posted the same garbage in another thread. I'll repost my comments on the subject.
Most of what you are saying is flat out wrong.... In the same (very bizarre) order as the parent:
0. The presence of mercury in vaccines is a red herring. We're talking about 62.5 micrograms per dose. You get that much mercury from eating a typical portion of tuna. An average adult gets nearly that much every week from dental fillings alone. This theory for the cause of autism seems pretty implausible. Further, these days, vaccines intended for children are available in a thimerosal-free variant specifically for this purpose, making this argument against vaccines utterly moot.
7. This is a clear case of correlation being confused with causation.... A pH level of 7.4 is considered normal in humans. So basically you are saying that most humans cannot get viruses or cancer. This is clearly not correct.... The normal range is 7.35 to 7.45. If you are outside that range, it is likely indicative of illness. Bringing your pH into that range doesn't kill viruses. Killing viruses brings it into that range.
1. That is just freaking disgusting.
2. Avoiding dairy is unnecessary unless you are lactose intolerant. I can certainly understand trying to avoid BGH, but there are BGH-free dairies that you can get your milk from. And in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that big a risk.
3. No thoughts about the safety of drinking carbonated beverages (at least as far as the CO2 is concerned). I would note that fibromyalgia, as far as I can tell, is similar to dementia in that it is basically a catch-all diagnosis that means "We don't know what's wrong." Thus attributing it to any single cause seems dubious to me, but....
4. Bleaching flour does reduce the health benefits, but not all white flour is bleached. Ultragrain(R), for example, is a white flour that is not bleached.
Salt (at least salt that is safe for human consumption) is naturally clearish-white, including the sea salt you promote. Be afraid of any salt that is not white. As far as health goes, you should to be really careful using sea salt to ensure that you get enough iodine. It is not recommended as a substitute for table salt unless you either consume lots of citrus fruit or just enjoy goiter. :-)
White sugar is just brown sugar with the molasses separated out. I'm not convinced that avoiding white sugar is a very good idea. AFAICT, the alternatives are all much worse for you. The things you need to avoid are high fructose corn syrup and any sugar substitutes (not just aspartane). Artificial sweeteners cause the human body to crave the calories that it is expecting, and when those calories don't follow, this causes you to consume more food than you otherwise would. This is why studies have shown diet drinks tend to cause weight gain in the long term, not weight loss. HFCS does the same thing, just to a lesser degree. You're much better off with cane sugar.
5. I think my comments on #4 mostly covered this. Avoiding citric acid probably isn't necessary. It is relatively harmless. Avoiding other preservatives, though, yes. In particular, avoid sodium benzoate. When combined with citric acid, it releases benzene, which is really nasty stuff.
6. I assume you mean oxalic acid. If so, you should not increase your consumption of those foods---at least not without cooking them to destroy the oxalic acid. In the long term, excessive consumption of oxalic acid can cause a number of nutritional deficiencies including osteoporosis.
I also assume you mean nitrilosides, e.g. amygdalin. I would caution again that excessive consumption of these substances (particularly in the form of oral supplements) is toxic. Specifically, it releases cyanide when ingested....
Also, the whole locavore thing has some advantages in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it really isn't doing your body any favors health-wise. There are lots of
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