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virtuoso
Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 100
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 Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| This is like posting I love Satan on a right wing christian site, are you crazy! lol |
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Rumpl4skn
Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Posts: 2854
Location: 36� 3'N x 86�40'W
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| Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| virtuoso wrote: | | This is like posting I love Satan on a right wing christian site, are you crazy! lol |
I've done that myself. I just explained that I was playing devil's advocate.
_________________
"No matter what happens, ever... there's ALWAYS at least one reason. And the top reason is ALWAYS money." |
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atm
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 3597
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| Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, so I'm Luficer's litigant, so sow me.
atm  |
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bri
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 2890
Location: Capacious Creek
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| Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54H09G20090518
Educator is NYC's first swine-flu death
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City school principal suffering from swine flu died on Sunday, becoming the city's first death due to H1N1 flu, medical officials said.
Mitchell Wiener, 55, died after being admitted to Flushing Hospital Medical Center several days ago with the H1N1 flu virus, said Dr. Andrew Rubin, a hospital spokesman. A city Health Department spokeswoman also confirmed a death, but could not confirm the victim's identity.
It was the first death in New York City, where many of the U.S. cases have been reported but with mostly mild symptoms.
Wiener had been in and out of consciousness and was being treated with an experimental drug, but family members had said as recently as Saturday that he was making some progress.
Wiener was the assistant principal of Intermediate School 236 in Hollis in the New York borough of Queens. The school was one of several city schools to be shuttered after the illness afflicted patients and staff members.
Three additional schools will be closed beginning Monday in Queens for up to five school days after officials documented increasing levels of influenza-like illnesses.
"Given the large number of cases, it is entirely possible that in the coming days there will be people with severe illness from flu, particularly among people who have underlying health problems," city Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden warned.
The department said it would evaluate more school closings on the case-by-case basis.
(Writing and reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Philip Barbara) |
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/nyregion/18swine.html?ref=health
| Quote: | | Health officials said Sunday that the death was not surprising, since even in a normal flu season, thousands of victims die of complications from the disease. |
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James D
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 689
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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But now we've got the cure - and it's with GMO's - that was handy!!
| Quote: |
http://cryptogon.com/?p=8876
And Now… Flu Vaccines in Corn
May 31st, 2009
Via: Meat and Poultry:
Iowa State University researchers are putting flu vaccines into the genetic makeup of corn, which may someday allow pigs and humans to get a flu vaccination simply by eating corn or corn products.
“We’re trying to figure out which genes from the swine influenza virus to incorporate into corn so those genes, when expressed, would produce protein,” said Hank Harris, professor in animal science and one of the researchers on the project. “When the pig consumes that corn, it would serve as a vaccine.”
This collaborative effort project involves Mr. Harris and Brad Bosworth, an affiliate associate professor of animal science working with pigs, and Kan Wang, a professor in agronomy, who is developing the vaccine traits in the corn.
According to the researchers, the corn vaccine would also work in humans when they eat corn or even corn flakes, corn chips, tortillas or anything that contains corn, Mr. Harris said. The research is funded by a grant from Iowa State University’s Plant Sciences Institute, and is their Biopharmaceuticals and Bioindustrials Research Initiative.
If the research goes well, the corn vaccine may be possible in five to seven years. In the meantime, the team is trying to expedite the process. “While we’re waiting for Wang to produce the corn, we are starting initial experiments in mice to show that the vaccine might induce an immune response,” Mr. Bosworth said.
Mr. Harris said the team still needs more answers. “The big question is whether or not these genes will work when given orally through corn,” he added. “That is the thing we’ve still got to determine.”
Stability and safety are several advantages to the corn vaccine. Once the corn with the vaccine is grown, it can be stored for long-term without losing its potency, researchers claim. If a swine flu virus breaks out, the corn could be shipped to the location to try to vaccinate animals and humans in the area quickly. Because corn grain is used as food and feed, there is no need for extensive vaccine purification, which can be an expensive process.
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Fintan
Site Admin
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 6170
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Swine Flu Now a Pandemic
The World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic
By Queenie Wong - June 11, 2009
As more cases of swine flu continue to pop up worldwide, the World Health Center made it official today by declaring the outbreak of the H1N1 virus a pandemic, the first global flu pandemic in 41 years. The declaration could prompt quicker production of preventative vaccines.
In a statement, WHO said it was raising the infectious diseases alert to Phase 6, its highest level. The move came after the U.N. health agency held an emergency meeting about the virus.
The agency said the pandemic is only "moderate in severity" and cautioned against overreactions. The alert level was increased primarily because the virus is now spreading throughout communities in Australia and North America. A global outbreak has begun when a new flu virus begins spreading in two world regions, according to WHO's pandemic criteria.
There have been 28,774 confirmed cases of swine flu, resulting in 144 deaths, in 74 countries this year. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said today that an H1N1 flu vaccine will not be available before September.
The last pandemic was the Hong Kong flu of 1968. It killed an estimated 1 million people.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/06/11/swine-flu-now-a-pandemic.html |
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Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when open. |
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Alfresco
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 183
Location: England
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| Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:30 am Post subject: |
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Yay, its a pandemic. Now we can force a vaccine on the world and make a fortune. HA HA HAAAAAA!
I might go to the doctors with a hidden camera and see if i can get wrongly diagnosed with this pig shit and expose the whole thing. 
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If you win the rat race, your still a rat! |
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James D
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 689
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:47 am Post subject: |
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Kiwi rappers gets it right, NZ Trillion
Via cryptogon : http://cryptogon.com/?p=9989
"Say No to the vaccine"
Good song, good video. |
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silverthread
Joined: 27 May 2009
Posts: 264
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:40 am Post subject: |
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YEAH ,
THUMPS-UP..
JamesD...
Rap-Music IS evolving...
and Now...
genuine social-commentators...
Are Hi-Jackin'-
The Rap-Music-Art-Form_
[BTW :. which is :
VERY -Powerful
Art-Form
FOR social-commentary]
oooOOPPPS !
another Back-FIre....
for twisted 'Master-Planners ' ?
YES.
I , Gladly , Forsee :
gangster-Rappers with Evil-Agendas :
Being 'Gone-With-The-WIND' .
_________________
There are 3 things extremely hard :
steel , a diamond , and to know one's self.
Ben Franklin 1750 |
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Rumpl4skn
Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Posts: 2854
Location: 36� 3'N x 86�40'W
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:18 am Post subject: |
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http://www.google.com:80/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hjdCHrP82YTFser5vD6CzTK1az6wD99GH8580
| Quote: | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers
By MIKE STOBBE (AP) – 2 days ago
ATLANTA — The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off.
Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.
Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides who will be paid from a special fund.
The document signed by Sebelius last month grants immunity to those making a swine flu vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health emergencies. It allows for a compensation fund, if needed.
The government takes such steps to encourage drug companies to make vaccines, and it's worked. Federal officials have contracted with five manufacturers to make a swine flu vaccine. First identified in April, swine flu has so far caused about 263 deaths, according to numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.
The CDC said more than 40,000 Americans have had confirmed or probable cases, but those are people who sought health care. It's likely that more than 1 million Americans have been sickened by the flu, many with mild cases.
The virus hits younger people harder that seasonal flu, but so far hasn't been much more deadly than the strains seen every fall and winter. But health officials believe the virus could mutate to a more dangerous form, or at least contribute to a potentially heavier flu season than usual.
"We do expect there to be an increase in influenza this fall," with a bump in cases perhaps beginning earlier than normal, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the regular winter flu vaccine, a final step before shipments to clinics and other vaccination sites could begin.
The last time the government faced a new swine flu virus was in 1976. Cases of swine flu in soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J., including one death, made health officials worried they might be facing a deadly pandemic like the one that killed millions around the world in 1918 and 1919.
Federal officials vaccinated 40 million Americans during a national campaign. A pandemic never materialized, but thousands who got the shots filed injury claims, saying they suffered a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome or other side effects.
"The government paid out quite a bit of money," said Stephen Sugarman, a law professor who specializes in product liability at the University of California at Berkeley.
Vaccines aren't as profitable as other drugs for manufacturers, and without protection against lawsuits "they're saying, 'Do we need this?'" Sugarman said.
The move to protect makers of a swine flu didn't go over well with Paul Pennock, a prominent New York plaintiffs attorney on medical liability cases. The government will likely call on millions of Americans to get the vaccinations to prevent the disease from spreading, he noted.
"If you're going to ask people to do this for the common good, then let's make sure for the common good that these people will be taken care of if something goes wrong," Pennock said.
AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.
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Followed by: http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/news.php?start=2760&end=2780&view=yes&id=3581#newspost
| Quote: | Baxter Files Swine Flu Vaccine Patent A Year Ahead Of Outbreak
From Lara, Health Advocate
10 July 2009
US20090060950A1 to Baxter International filed 28th August 2008
Baxter
See Baxter Vaccine Patent Application US 2009/0060950 A1
Baxter are nothing if not prepared for this 'swine flu' outbreak if the wording in this 2008 US patent application is anything to go by:
"In particular preferred embodiments the composition or
vaccine comprises more than one antigen.....such as
influenza A and influenza B in particular selected from of one
or more of the human H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, H5N1, H7N7, H1N2,
H9N2, H7N2, H7N3, H10N7 subtypes, of the pig flu H1N1,
H1N2, H3N1 and H3N2 subtypes, of the dog or horse flu H7N7,
H3N8 subtypes or of the avian H5N1, H7N2, H1N7, H7N3,
H13N6, H5N9, H11N6, H3N8, H9N2, H5N2, H4N8, H10N7, H2N2,
H8N4, H14N5, H6N5, H12N5 subtypes."
"Suitable adjuvants can be selected from mineral gels,
aluminium hydroxide, surface active substances, lysolecithin,
pluronic polyols, polyanions or oil emulsions such as water in
oil or oil in water, or a combination thereof. Of course the
selection of the adjuvant depends on the intended use.
E.g. toxicity may depend on the destined subject organism
and can vary from no toxicity to high toxicity."
"Three different influenza strains, two A-strains Hiroshima
(HR, H3N2), a New Calcdonia (NC, H1N1) and a B-strain,
Malaysia (MA), were produced in Vero cell cultures. After
virus propagation the infectious virus harvest is inactivated
prior to purification...."
I'm feeling so much better now that I know we have such competent pharmaceutical companies, well prepared for viral outbreaks at least a year ahead of time...
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"No matter what happens, ever... there's ALWAYS at least one reason. And the top reason is ALWAYS money." |
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virtuoso
Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 100
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:09 am Post subject: |
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My suggestion that was a manufactured event was dismissed. I still don't understand why it can be so quickly dismissed when earlier this year Baxter admitted that it had contaminated flu vials which only came to light due to tests conducted by a sub contractor in Czech Republic. I don't believe that it can so quickly dismissed as an accident, too many co-incidences for me. Also have you noticed that whenever the problem is manufactured all of the world seems to move in unison whereas if it's things outside of their control. it's very much played down, that to me is the sting in the tail.
Who knows maybe I am too suspicious but things just don't add up to me. |
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Fintan
Site Admin
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 6170
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| Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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Bill Sardi's no fool.
| Quote: | Overuse of Vaccines, Anti-Flu Drugs
May Result in Human Calamity
by Bill Sardi - 27th July, 2009
Disease researchers have begun modeling how a future H1N1-09 swine-flu outbreak would spread throughout the world and have come up with some troubling scenarios. Infectious disease experts are beginning to describe modern efforts to quell seasonal and epidemic influenza with vaccines and anti-viral drugs using wording like "potentially dangerous," "worrisome," and "may do more harm than good."
This is striking in light of the multi-billion dollar worldwide effort to rapidly manufacture huge stocks of vaccines, up to an unprecedented 2 billion doses, against the 2008–09 late-flu season H1N1 swine flu epidemic. Public health officials are fearful this unusual strain of H1N1 influenza virus may mutate into a more lethal form in the fall as did the deadly Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
Researchers at Shizuoka University in Japan, writing in a recent March 2009 issue of the Public Library of Science (PLoS One), are among the first to sound the alarm that the most relied upon weaponry against the flu, vaccines, may actually apply "immunological pressure on circulating strains of the flu which might engender the emergence of genetic variants with enhanced potential for pathogenicity in humans." Translation: mass vaccination, unless well monitored, may actually induce the dreaded gene mutation that could result in more cases, increased hospitalizations and a larger death toll.
Public health officials are just beginning to piece together how treatment-resistant forms of flu viruses develop. The paradox is that if the virulence of a vaccine-resistant flu strain is less than that of the vaccine-vulnerable strain, the epidemic might increase in proportion to the percentage of the population that elects to undergo vaccination. Researchers conclude that "a vaccination that is expected to prevent the spread of the disease can instead foster the spread of the disease."
Examples of the paradoxical effect
As an example, researchers point to a compulsory vaccination campaign for all poultry in China in 2005 involving the H5N1 influenza virus. Genetic analysis revealed that the H5N1 variant flu strain (Fujian-like influenza) emerged and subsequently became the prevalent variant in each of the 12 provinces of China, replacing previously established viruses.
In another example, H5N2 vaccines used in Mexico since 1995 appear to have promoted the emergence of various sub-strains of the flu after introduction of vaccines.
Type-A influenza viruses, which are the most common, are characterized by rapid mutation, that is, they learn to rapidly skirt around anti-viral agents. Efforts to quell flu outbreaks through vaccination in poultry may actually generate "a new pandemic virus that is dangerous for humans through a bird-human link," say researchers. All those animal influenza vaccination programs may actually increase the risk for a day when a highly virulent strain of bird flu wipes out large portions of the world’s human population.
The Skizuoka University researchers in Japan say they "remain skeptical that a vaccination program can reduce the number of total infectious individuals even if the vaccination protects against transmission of a vaccine-sensitive strain." [PLoS One 4(3):e4915, March 18, 2009]
Wagering one threat against another
While the H1N1-09 swine flu in circulation has spread rapidly, illnesses have been extremely mild and mortality rates low. But what lies ahead is unknown.
One the one hand, the H1N1-09 flu could mutate into a more virulent and deadly form and the vaccines would avert another 1918 Spanish-flu-like pandemic. But on the other hand, the vaccines currently in production against this unknown mutant variety may not confer immunity against the new variant flu virus and actually induce the very mutation that could kill millions of vulnerable humans, especially those who have little or no natural immunity or have compromised immunity due to age (very young, very old), existing disease or immune suppression.
Humanity is taking a big gamble. The impetus by public health officials and politicians to prepare human populations for mass vaccination may result in an avoidable calamity of unprecedented proportion.
2nd-Tier Anti-Viral Drugs May Induce The Same Problems
There is similar concern that over-use of anti-viral drugs, particularly early in the course of a flu outbreak, may worsen the spread and severity of a flu epidemic.
The second tier of defense against influenza is primarily comprised of anti-viral drugs known as enzyme (neuraminidase) inhibitors: oral Tamiflu tablets (oseltamivir) or nasally administered Relenza (zanamivir). Another class of anti-viral agents known as M2 ion channel inhibitors: amantidine and ramantadine, are lesser disregarded because they are ineffective against influenza-B viruses and rapidly induce drug resistance in influenza-A viruses.
Unexpectedly, resistance to Tamiflu by H1N1 flu viruses appears more common in countries with less use of the drug. Widespread under-dosing of Tamiflu can result in more drug resistant flu varieties. Of greater concern, young children appear to have greater resistance to treatment with Tamiflu than adults.
One drug not enough
In a similar manner to the newly expressed concerns over vaccines generating mutations that could worsen a flu epidemic, researchers at the Mayo Clinic now declare there is "worrisome evidence" of rapidly evolving resistance to anti-viral drugs. They now suggest the use of two different classes of anti-viral drugs at the same time so as to "prevent the development of new viral species that induce drug resistance."
The Mayo Clinic researchers say that the sequential use of one drug, such as Tamiflu initially, followed by amantidine when Tamiflu resistance occurs, is inherently flawed. The researchers say "the use of single-drug anti-viral drug therapy against influenza is unwise and dangerous." These strong comments, published in the May 2009 issue of Communicable Infectious Diseases, have drawn little or no attention from public news sources.
The cost of availability of two anti-viral drugs would further limit the number of communities that could adequately mount a defense against a deadly flu virus.
Will anti-viral drugs block or spawn a flu epidemic?
European researchers write in a report published in the October 30, 2008 issue of the Virology Journal that while the emergence of a drug resistant strain of flu virus may not necessarily be dangerous given that most prior treatment-resistant flu strains have been unlikely to spread, early surveillance data from the 2007–08 flu season in the northern hemisphere suggest the development of a type-A H1N1 Tamiflu-resistant flu virus that circulates in Europe and the US. The proportion of resistant infections ranges from 4 to 67 percent. Drug resistance occurs even without widespread use of Tamiflu. [Virology Journal 5: 133–39, October 2008]
In real numbers, not a simulation, the prevalence of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu cases across Europe increased gradually over time, from near 0 in week 40 of 2007 to a startling 56% in week 19 of 2008! [Emerging Infectious Diseases 15: 552–60, April 2009] This means more than half of flu patients treated with anti-virals could face the end of their treatment options. Doctors will end up fighting the symptoms rather than the replicating virus.....
READ MORE: http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi114.html |
_________________
Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when open. |
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atm
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 3597
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| Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:23 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Don't give swine flu drugs to under-12s, says study
Side-effects said to outweigh benefits
Government queries relevance of research
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 August 2009 20.33 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/10/swine-flu-drugs-under-12s
Researchers found that antivirals were no 'magic bullet'. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP
Children under the age of 12 should not be given Tamiflu or Relenza, the two antiviral drugs that form the cornerstone of the government's fight against swine flu, because their side-effects outweigh any benefits, Oxford University researchers said yesterday.
A study by Dr Matthew Thompson, a clinical scientist, and Dr Carl Heneghan, a clinical lecturer, found that antivirals were no "magic bullet" and only led to a minor reduction in the length of time that a child with mild sickness was ill or the chance of their spreading the disease.
The research, to be published in the British Medical Journal, said that Tamiflu caused vomiting in 5% of children, which could lead to dehydration and complications.
The Oxford researchers, both GPs, said children with mild symptoms should be treated in the same way as if they had any other mild flu – with drinks to cool high temperatures and rest – and there was no need for children who were otherwise healthy to be taking Tamiflu or Relenza. They called on the government to be clear about the limitations of the two drugs.
"It would be quite reasonable for the Department of Health to make clear to parents and GPs how much help the drugs are," Thompson told a press conference.
The research, a peer review of seven trials, all but one previously published, looked at the effectiveness of antivirals in reducing seasonal flu complications and stopping the spread of the disease. They said their findings were relevant to the current swine flu outbreak because the diseases shared many characteristics.
They found the drugs had little or no effect on asthma flare-ups, ear infections or the likelihood of a youngster needing antibiotics.
The researchers also found that preventive antiviral use had little effect, reducing transmission of flu by 8%. Thirteen children would have to be treated to prevent one additional case of the flu, they said. The benefit of antivirals was that they reduced symptoms.
Heneghan said the current policy of giving Tamiflu for mild illness was an "inappropriate strategy".
"The downside of the harms outweighs the one-day reduction in symptomatic benefits," Heneghan said.
His advice to GPs was "not to rely on Tamiflu as a treatment to reduce complications" or to think of it as a "magic bullet".
He likened the current policy, which saw more than 315,000 courses of antivirals given out during the first two weeks the national pandemic flu line was in operation, to misguided historical health policies such as the prescription of antibiotics for sore throats.
"The problem is a resistance issue," said Heneghan. "Going forward we have a treatment which is ineffective because we've given it to everybody. We are calling for a more rational prescription process for these drugs."
One of the country's most respected flu experts, Professor Hugh Pennington, agreed that reliance on antivirals was increasing the possibility that the flu would become resistant sooner or later.
"We cannot be certain that the virus will not get nastier. We might require antivirals for the elderly or others who are more likely to get complications. It means the potential that a resistant strain will get that selective advantage as it will grow in a Tamiflu environment."
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "The government antiviral policy and flu line need to be kept under constant review. The cost involved is very high. Perhaps it should come down and be relaunched in the autumn. These are judgments for the chief medical officer."
The Department of Health disputed the relevance of a seasonal flu study to the current outbreak. "The extent to which the findings can be applied to the current pandemic is questionable – after all, we already know that swine flu behaves differently to seasonal flu, and past pandemics have hit younger people hardest. Whilst there is doubt about how swine flu affects children, we believe a safety-first approach of offering antivirals to everyone remains a sensible and responsible way forward. However, we will keep this policy under review as we learn more about the virus and its effects."
Roche, which makes Tamiflu, said: "Health authorities worldwide such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have reviewed the data from controlled clinical trials and approved Tamiflu (oseltamivir) for use in children based upon a positive benefit/risk assessment.
"There are significant data showing the medicine to be effective and well tolerated when used for the treatment or prevention of influenza in children." |
| Quote: |
...and it wasn't even H1N1
Writer: Atiya Achakulwisut
Published: 11/08/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/21830/and-it-wasn-t-even-h1n1
I know I should not complain. After all, I am still alive even though in semi-solitary confinement. The fact, however, remains that the H1N1 influenza presents a particularly nasty situation.
After hearing about it and fearing for it for some time, I came home early last week with a bit of a sore throat and a cough. Probably second-hand smoke, I told myself.
That night I began to develop a fever. When I woke up the next morning my throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper and used as a patch to grow thorny cacti. I felt a chill and when I coughed, I noticed a bit of blood coming out.
That was enough. I called up a few hospitals to check if they could perform a test for H1N1.
All of them said they could but the result would only be known in three days' time.
Only one hospital, a leading one well-known for being on the expensive side (solidly on that side), said it had a pre-screening test for Type A influenza, which covers all types of flu including the swine one, which would help determine the course of treatment. The result would be known in one hour.
Fearing for my life, I headed to that hospital, which I have to say looks so high-end I developed another fear - for my pocket.
Indeed, I tested positive for Type A influenza. The doctor said I could have another test to see if it's the H1N1 strain but she advised me to take Tamiflu right away without having to wait for the result.
The good doctor also asked if I lived with others at my house. "Oh yes, mine is a crowded house," I told her. She then advised me to be admitted to the hospital for a few days if anything to prevent other members of my family from catching the flu, whatever type it might be.
I couldn't answer her immediately because I was trying to calculate the cost in my mind. But the good doctor, practising at a top-class hospital, must have known well the look - of a dignified poor creature quietly calculating the price. She asked if I had insurance to cover it. I said I didn't think so. She kindly said I could choose to stay home but to make sure I isolated myself from everyone as much as possible.
Although I expected the medical bill to be hefty - the test to determine if the strain was H1N1 already costs 3,500 baht plus the price of Tamiflu - the total amount still made me sweat in my fever. Suffice to say that I received only 400 baht back from a wad of 10,000 baht I gave the cashier.
I know I should not lament. After all, I was the one who chose this posh hospital. But I do wonder if I had any choice. If I have some serious signs of the flu, should I wait three days? Should our healthcare system not have done more than to ask us to gamble with our lives?
Even without the high-end add-ons, the flu test and treatment are still pretty expensive anyway. What is the option for those people who don't have the kind of money that a prognosis of this disease - a crucial step that can save lives - demands?
Considering this is a global pandemic, I wonder if the government could absorb the cost, if not for the whole treatment, then for the testing at least.
This should help them isolate the infected and prevent them from spreading the disease more effectively.
I don't think the government has to worry about people flocking to clinics or hospitals. Nobody in his or her right mind wants to go anywhere near places where they know patients must be gathered.
I know I should not lament. The lab result has just come back. It confirms I had seasonal influenza, not the trendy type.
And to think that I'd paid the costly bill, downed the Tamiflu and endured the many days of semi-solitary confinement - and I haven't even developed the immunity. The whole suffering could actually happen to me again, at any time.
I know I shouldn't, but I do feel like whining.
Atiya Achakulwisut is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.
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See this too:
http://www.swine-flu-h1n1.com/tamiflu-rumsfeld.html
atm |
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atm
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 3597
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:33 am Post subject: Link between swine flu jab and deadly syndrome will be probe |
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| Quote: |
Link between swine flu jab and deadly syndrome will be probed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/6036326/Link-between-swine-flu-jab-and-deadly-syndrome-will-be-probed.html
Neurologists have been ordered to monitor whether new swine flu vaccinations could trigger a deadly nerve disease.
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Published: 8:15AM BST 16 Aug 2009
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has asked doctors to check for increases in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) once the national vaccination programme begins.
Its letter refers to the use of a swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976, when 25 people died from GBS, while just one died from swine flu.
The syndrome, which can be fatal, attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe. Concerns have already been raised that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown.
The jabs being developed by pharmaceutical companies and will be given to about 13 million people during the first wave of the programme, expected to start in October.
Priority will be given to everyone aged six months to 65 with an underlying health problem, pregnant women and health professionals.
In a letter sent by the HPA on July 29, neurologists have been asked to monitor closely any cases of GBS as the vaccine is rolled out.
It alerts them to the use of a swine flu vaccine in the US in 1976, which was followed by more than 500 cases of GBS, including 25 deaths.
The US programme was stopped after 10 weeks because of concerns over its safety, and the Government paid out millions of dollars in compensation to those affected.
The swine flu virus in the new vaccine is a different strain from the 1976 virus, but the possibility of an increased incidence of GBS remains a concern.
According to the Mail on Sunday, two letters were posted together to neurologists advising them of the concerns. The first, dated July 29, was written by Professor Elizabeth Miller, head of the HPA's Immunisation Department.
It says: "The vaccines used to combat an expected swine influenza pandemic in 1976 were shown to be associated with GBS and were withdrawn from use.
"GBS has been identified as a condition needing enhanced surveillance when the swine flu vaccines are rolled out.
"Reporting every case of GBS irrespective of vaccination or disease history is essential for conducting robust epidemiological analyses capable of identifying whether there is an increased risk of GBS in defined time periods after vaccination, or after influenza itself, compared with the background risk."
A second letter from the Association of British Neurologists is written by Dr Rustam Al-Shahi Salman, chairman of its surveillance unit (BNSU), and Professor Patrick Chinnery, chairman of its clinical research committee.
It says: "Traditionally, the BNSU has monitored rare diseases for long periods of time. However, the swine influenza (H1N1) pandemic has overtaken us and we need every member's involvement with a new BNSU survey of Guillain-Barré syndrome that will start on August 1 and run for approximately nine months.
"Following the 1976 programme of vaccination against swine influenza in the US, a retrospective study found a possible eight-fold increase in the incidence of GBS. Active prospective ascertainment of every case of GBS in the UK is required. Please tell BNSU about every case."
Last night, the HPA insisted that it did not expect to find links between the new vaccine and GBS, and said it wanted to monitor any connection between the flu virus itself and the syndrome.
Professor Miller at the HPA said: "This monitoring system activates pandemic plans that have been in place for a number of years. We'll be able to get information on whether a patient has had a prior influenza illness and will look at whether influenza itself is linked to GBS.
"We are not expecting a link to the vaccine but a link to disease, which would make having the vaccine even more important."
The UK's medicines watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, is already monitoring reported side effects from Tamiflu and Relenza and it is set to extend that surveillance to the vaccine.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The European Medicines Agency has strict processes in place for licensing pandemic vaccines.
"In preparing for a pandemic, appropriate trials to assess safety and the immune responses have been carried out on vaccines very similar to the swine flu vaccine. The vaccines have been shown to have a good safety profile.
"It is extremely irresponsible to suggest that the UK would use a vaccine without careful consideration of safety issues. The UK has one of the most successful immunisation programmes in the world."
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Robert
Joined: 07 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:19 pm Post subject: Nurses vote BFN No.1 for...... |
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| Quote: |
Only a third of nurses willing to have swine flu vaccine: poll
Only a third of nurses have said they are willing to have the vaccine against swine flu amid fears it has not been tested enough, a survey has found.
Frontline health and social care workers will be among the first to be vaccinated in October along with people with serious underlying health problems and pregnant women.
However a survey by Nursing Times has found many frontline nurses have reservations.
Only one in three said they are prepared to have the H1N1 vaccine with a third undecided and the rest saying no.
Almost 1,500 nurses were polled, of whom 91 per cent said they were frontline.
It comes after news that parents are also concerned about the vaccine, with worries predominantly about the safety of its contents, side effects, and the amount of testing that will be done.
Of the nurses who said they would not get vaccinated, 60 per cent said concern about the safety of the vaccine was the main reason.
A further 31 per cent said they did not consider the risks to their health from swine flu to be great enough, while nine per cent thought they would not be able to take time out of work to get immunised.
"I would not be willing to put myself at risk of, as yet, unknown long-term effects to facilitate a short-term solution," said one respondent.
A further respondent said: "I have yet to be convinced there is a genuine health risk (from swine flu) and it’s not just government propaganda."
Professor David Salisbury, the Department of Health’s director of immunisation, told Nursing Times it was unfortunate that nurses could ‘knowingly leave themselves at risk’.
He said: "They have a duty to themselves, they are at risk. They have a duty to their patients not to infect their patients and they have a duty to their families. I think you solve those responsibilities by being vaccinated."
With regards to safety concerns about the vaccines, he added: "The evidence that we’ve had is sufficient to persuade the regulators that these are vaccines that will be licensed."
Over two million frontline health and social care staff will be offered the vaccine in order to stop staff falling ill and being off work ill and also to prevent them from passing on the H1N1 vaccine or catching it from patients they will be treating.
Christine Beasley, the Government's Chief Nursing Officer, said: "Frontline nurses will be absolutely crucial in the height of a pandemic - without them, patient care will suffer, and the NHS will be stretched.
"Getting the swine flu vaccine will protect nurses and their patients. That's why we're offering frontline nurses the vaccine as a top priority. As well as protecting them, it will reduce the transmission of the virus to vulnerable patients.
"Of course, vaccination will be optional, but the vaccine is being carefully assessed for safety and will be licensed before it is used. " |
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