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CLARIFICATION: THE FLU VACCINE AND AVOIDABLE FLU DEATHS
My recently issued report stating there were far fewer than 36,000 deaths attributable to the flu requires some further clarification. The Centers for Disease Control statistics only list less than 1000 flu-related deaths, but are combined with pneumonia deaths among the elderly which are believed to have originated with the flu. Upon further examination, while the CDC says 36,000 Americans die every year due to influenza, only about 8000 of the pneumonia-related deaths can be attributed to the flu. This is still far fewer deaths than the 36,000 figure published in news reports.
Furthermore, what health authorities are not revealing is how many elderly flu victims die due to antibiotic resistant infections in hospitals. The infection may have originated with the flu virus, but the deaths may more accurately be due to antibiotic resistance. The reticence of modern medicine to employ natural antibiotic compounds, such as carvacrol from oregano and allicin from garlic which produce no antibiotic resistance, results in many thousands of avoidable deaths. But the alliance between
the CDC and the pharmaceutical companies continues to dismiss any idea that natural molecules provide any worthwhile antibiotic activity.
While the public is now reading about hordes of elderly citizens besieging flu vaccination centers due to shortages of vaccine, the simple fact is the flu season hasn't come into full effect yet, with only sporadic cases on the flu map. So Americans don't know what the prevalent strain of the flu will be in circulation. Last year it was the A Fujian strain, which wasn't included in the 2003-04 vaccine, but the CDC continued to warn of an epidemic and urged vaccination with little potential benefit. After initially scaring the public that an epidemic was underway, it turned out to be a normal flu year. But this was good for sales of the vaccine and to relieve the maker of the new nasal flu mist vaccine of 4 million doses of their product they were having difficulty unloading.
This 2004-05 flu season the public is reading reports of a possible worldwide pandemic if the bird flu in Asia, which has jumped to humans and is reported to have caused deaths, begins to travel across the globe. This mutated strain of the bird flu has been identified as the H5N1 strain, the same virulent strain that caused the Flu Pandemic of 1918 (the Spanish Flu). But the current flu vaccine, which is in short supply, does not provide immunity from the H5N1 strain. The CDC just recently issued a contract to produce 2 million doses of a vaccine that would immunize against H5N1, too late for this season. So the public had ought to be searching for alternatives that boost immunity apart from vaccination.
Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.
http://www.askbillsardi.com/sdm.asp
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