Sunday, July 19, 2009

Pay Attention to this Flu

Good morning girls. Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy as you know with the garden and putting up vegetables for this winter.
The garden has done very well and we've had an abundance of food!

I wanted to talk to you about the swine flu.
I don't know how much you have been reading about it or what you have seen or are seeing on the news where you live. Most likely you have heard that it is mostly a mild flu and been advised to not panic.
Well, that's somewhat right and somewhat wrong. It has been mild for the people it's been mild for and lethal to the ones that have died from it.
Don't be fooled into thinking that this is an illness that kills fat or unhealthy people only. It isn't. It is showing every indication of being much like the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. It is attacking people in your age group statistically more than people who are usually effected by the flu. i.e. babies and old people.
I have read and read and researched for weeks now, following this thing since it started and still, don't know how best to advise you.
Here's what I fear may be the real threat from this flu.
Economic collapse.
If this flu had come along back in the late 90's or even early 2000-01, I believe that our economy could have weathered the storm. However, this economy is hanging on by the finest of threads and severely increased absenteeism or quarantines and closures of businesses and schools could very well push us over the edge.
I want you girls to consider the food you have on hand in your homes.
Make certain you have 8-12 weeks supply of food and essentials. Include things like bleach and lysol, some Listerine and basic meds, vinyl or latex gloves and some dust masks like you can get at Lowe's or any hardware store. they'll say N95 on the package. Those are the recommended masks and aren't terribly expensive.
Have some extra things like light bulbs and toilet paper, batteries for flashlights, soap, paper towels and laundry detergent.
You want to think along the lines of, "If I want to stay here and not have to go out for a couple months, what would I need to have on hand."
You don't have to go crazy, (unless you just want to) but I think it sure wouldn't hurt to have what you'd need to just hang out in your house for a while if things get bad.
I'm trying to not ramble but I've so much I wanted to talk to you about!!!

At some point in the not too distant future, they are going to present us with a vaccine.
I doubt at this time that it will be mandatory as there will not be enough to go around.
60 to 100 million doses is what I'm seeing in the reports.
Front line health care workers, cops, firemen, critical infrastructure people will all be at the top of the list. Children and pregnant women also.

At this time it appears that they will have to triage the vaccine.
I want you girls to do some research while we have the luxury of time, into this vaccine and decide for yourselves if it were offered, would you take it.
Right now, personally I may not take it. I don't have much contact with the public as you know and wouldn't be at as great a risk. And if the flu gets really bad, and the vaccine provides some measure of protection, younger people should get it first. they are more likely to get the flu and be most harmed by it.
There are a many doctors comparing this flu to the 1918 pandemic. I found this documentary on the Spanish flu and you might like to watch it and get some background information of just how bad things can get.















watch the videos, and then read the piece below.
It was published in August of 2008. Before this flu had started.
It's about the 2005 exhumation of victims of the 1918 pandemic and how the anti bodies were isolated from them.

I sure hope these guys wear gloves!


In 2005, researchers from Mount Sinai and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., resurrected the 1918 virus from the bodies of people killed in the outbreak. The bodies, and the virus, had been preserved in the permanently frozen soil of Alaska.

When the investigators approached Crowe, whose lab had developed methods of making antibodies, to try to make antibodies to the 1918 flu, he was skeptical, but agreed to try.

The researchers collected blood samples from 32 survivors age 91-101 years and found that all reacted to the 1918 virus, suggesting that they still possessed antibodies to the virus.

Crowe’s team was then able to isolate exceedingly rare B cells – the immune cells that produce antibodies – from eight of those samples and grow them in culture. Seven of those samples produced antibodies to a 1918 virus protein, suggesting that their immune systems were waiting on standby for a long-awaited second outbreak.

“The B cells have been waiting for at least 60 years – if not 90 years – for that flu to come around again,” Crowe said. “That’s amazing…because it’s the longest memory anyone’s ever demonstrated.”

Don't make the mistake of thinking this flu is "No big thing."
It doesn't have to be as bad and 1918 to finish wrecking what is left of this economy, and believe me, that's all they are really worried about.

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