H1N1 More Information

In my e-mail this morning, was a good read by Dr. Mercola who advocates natural medicines and good common sense.  This one focused on H1N1 which is of great concern to me and most others given the heightened media attention and not to mention the escalation of a "national emergency" declaration by our President.  What I found interesting were some references to studies:

A thorough , comparative analysis of several flu pandemics has been published in the prestigious British Medical Journal, that gives evidence that the H1N1 swine flu is of "the same subtype as seasonal H1N1 that has been circulating since 1977."3 The author points out the substantial confusion between the high public attention the present H1N1 scare is receiving and the very low level of scientific certainty that H1N1 is more severe than other seasonal influenza.

For me, this is reassuring in itself as it's not a virus that has mutated into a vicous death squad.

Recent national polls have revealed that 30 to 50% in many communities are not planning to get a swine flu shot. Those who haven't made up their minds yet have lots of questions.

Again, I'm on the fence on this one.  Our county hasn't received the vaccinations yet but I worry about the flu mist variety as it's a live virus and from what I've read, it makes those around vulnerable to catch H1N1 from the vaccination one.  Note that this is the mist as the needle vaccination is not a live virus.

Additionally there was no reference made to the last swine flu epidemic in the US when 50 million people got the swine flu vaccine and more people died from the vaccine than the swine flu itself -- and that's not counting all those that developed permanent neurological damage.

I'm not sure where that statistic came from as there is no reference to show the proof but if true, that speaks a lot.

60 minutes segment acknowledges that many people born before 1950 have antibodies to the new H1N1 influenza and are naturally protected.

There is a new Canadian study that suggests those who have gotten seasonal influenza vaccines in the past may be at greater risk for getting H1N1 swine flu. This information reinforces NVIC's call for a comparison of the long term health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

There are more interesting facts, opinions and ways to prevent yourself from H1N1.  I think it's important that everyone read both sides of the pro versus con sides of this vaccine and flu.  I myself, am still pondering what to do.

To read more about Dr. Mercola's article, go here.  He has part of the 60 minutes interview, an interview with a vaccine organization person and more.

H1N1 Over Estimated? According to CBS, YES

I'm a little on pins and needles one moment when I hear about H1N1 mostly because I have two children that fall into the higher risk category and I already experienced a nasty cold turn into pneumonia due to some medical mistakes whereas my youngest nearly died last November and was intubated for well over a week.  So when I hear all these pandemic reports, it puts fear into me and I try to tell myself that it's partly due to misinformation and an overhyped media.  Now I'm reading it's been categorized as a national emergency so my government is overhyping it perhaps.

According to a new study by CBS:

A three-month-long investigation by CBS News, released earlier this week that included state-by-state test results, revealed some very different facts. The CBS study found that H1N1 flu cases are NOT as prevalent as feared. A CBS article even states:

"If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn't have H1N1 flu. In fact, you probably didn't have flu at all."

Obviously CBS News and the CDC are completely contradicting each other. So who is right?

Well, CBS reports that in late July 2009 the CDC advised states to STOP testing for H1N1 flu, and they also stopped counting individual cases.

Their rationale for this, according to CBS News, was that it was a waste of resources to test for H1N1 flu because it was already confirmed as an epidemic.

So just like that virtually every person who visited their physician with flu-like symptoms since late July was assumed to have H1N1, with no testing necessary because, after all, there's an epidemic.

It's interesting to note that at the same time as the CDC decided the H1N1 epidemic warranted no further testing for cases due to its epidemic status, Finnish health authorities actually downgraded the threat of swine flu.

In late July the health ministry and the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in Finland actually removed swine flu from a list of diseases considered dangerous to the public because the majority of cases recovered without medication or hospital care!

And, as the CDC continues to use fear to motivate and control Americans with their worst-case swine flu scenarios, they say nothing of the experience of those in the southern hemisphere, which just finished their flu season and found it was not as bad as expected.

I also just read a poll on another news outlet that shows that most Americans believe it's mostly hyped.  Tonight, Mike Huckabee is even talking about it on his show.

To read more on the CBS story, go HERE.

What do you think?  Are you scared or is it overhyped?