Bird Flu - A Fact Sheet... more details..
Some reasonable doubts and questions
About the recent panic inducing statements about bird flu
from the experts.
Because as is well known panic and fear is the killer far more deadly than
any illness.
Please consider the following facts.
1. Usually bird flu remains contained among
birds. That also to domesticated and commercial poultry like chicken, duck,
geese, turkey.
3. Wild birds, especially migratory water
birds almost always carry these viruses but as a rule they are never sick,
but only transmit the disease to domesticated birds!
4. Occasionally bird flu can pass to other
species also wiz. small animals like pigs/cats etc. and humans too from
birds. This depends on the conditions of intimate contact with secretions,
oro-nasal (nose and mouth) and faeces (droppings) as given in detail in the
website. Also note that this is usually a low possibility especially the
human infection.
5. Spread of bird flu from human to
human is almost impossible. That is one person who got bird flu from a
bird cannot pass on the infection to other human beings like in ordinary
flu.
6. Once in a while it
happens that a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu develops in birds
(especially poultry, may be got from wild birds) and it gets the capacity to
get in to humans from birds.
7. When this happens and when more and more
human beings contracts that particular bird flu virus and also many of them
get an infection of any of the ordinary human flu at the same time an
interesting thing can happen. The bird flu and human flu virus in that
person's body exchanges genetic materials so that an entirely new virus is
produced with the following quality. That is it has all the virility (the
strength) of the current deadly bird flu and also the ability to transfer
easily from human to human like in ordinary flu. Any body who got a flu
knows how easy to get it, so if when one think about getting one like that
with the danger of bird flu one is really frightened.
But here I repeat that for this to happen
first so many human beings need to be affected with the current highly
pathogenic bird flu. Then all or many of them also need to be affected
with one ordinary flu at the same time (that is one person should get
both the infections at the same time). Then this ordinary human flu virus
with some bird flu characters should pass from one person to another person
who should again also be affected with the same bird flu simultaneously.
This should happen a few more times, that is the human flu virus getting
part of bird flu characters infecting one person and that person getting the
dangerous bird flu at the same time. With each such link the human flu virus
in question get more and more bird flu characters so that finally the said
'super virus' of human flu with all the dangerous character of bird flu
evolves.
For more simple minded imagine
it like this. Bird flu virus is 'blue' in colour, and human flu is 'red'.
The said super virus should be 'violet' in colour. OK?
When one infected with the red (human) virus get a simultaneous blue (bird)
virus it (the human virus) changes from red to a shade of violet. When this
'partly violet' infects another man who also gets a 'blue' virus again at
the same time the 'partly violet' virus gets more 'blue' so that it becomes
nearer to 'violet'. This repeats till finally the fully 'violet' virus
emerges!
8. When such a 'super virus' finally
evolves it is only a matter of time that entire masses of population be
affected with that virus and many of them dead with conventional treatment
because of details explained below.
(i) No vaccines will be available
against it for about four/five months (the usual time needed to develop a
new vaccine for a new strain and note that
vaccines against one particular flu
strain will not be effective against another).
(ii) Four/five months is all it needs
for spreading all over the world and killing as many as it like.
(iii) Antibiotics are not effective
against viral infections, also they have many side effects if used in excess
and can cause death by itself in flu.
(iv) Antipyretics (like paracetamol)
and NSAIDs, which are the simple and almost always used drugs can cause many
deaths if used in excess due to its
side effects.
(v) Each such death, obviously highly
publicized, will increase the fear among public and the resulting panic
will lead to more paracetamol and antibiotics
use and more death!
(vi) The only correct conventional
treatment is antiviral drugs which are much costly and have their own side
effects.
9. One such episode happened in 1918/1919
where about 50 million people died. It is believed that that particular flu
virus may have evolved in such away
but one is never sure why so many deaths happened at that time from flu,
because almost all the patients treated by homeopathy at that particular
pandemic got well! May be aspirin or any antipyretics used at that time have
a major role in the killings.
Now the more interesting facts and
questions.
1. The bird flu was there among poultry
almost always. This include the mild variety and dangerous variety.
2. Occasional human infections were also
there, but not this much death.
3. In 1918/1919 pandemic which was the
cause for this much fear almost all of the deaths occurred in people taking
conventional flu treatment including Aspirin.
4. If that flu strain in 1918 was so
dangerous why majority of patients treated with homeopathy and other body
friendly methods didn't die? See statistics available any where and
here
5. Also no study or statistics are
available about the role of antibiotics and NSAIDs in the deaths from flu or
other viral infections. If any statistics are there at all it is well hidden
from the public.
6. Another interesting fact is that in
India alone where millions of people are treated for flu every year with
many body friendly treatment methods and also without any treatment except
the granny potion of medicated coffee
(chukku kappy) get well within two days! If there is any death rate it
is well below 0.5%! All over world it is the same thing.
7. Bird flu was and is there in India
almost all the time as is evident to any who tried to rear a few chicken in
their back yard. This never got to humans.
8. Another more interesting thing is that
bird flu can be prevented to a large extend by vaccinating birds which are
easy and less costly. The farmers will be more than happy to vaccinate their
birds even by paying for it rather than killing all of them. But still that
possibility is not discussed at large.
Now some really startling facts.
1. Roche is the only MNC who have the
successful vaccine against human bird flu infection.
2. Their patent for the drug Tamiflu is
till 2012. Even though there is a prediction of 50+ million deaths and
they are not having enough stock to supply the whole need, they are not
willing to part with patent rights and also warned others about the 'danger'
(?) of trying to produce generic version of the vaccine (copy of the
vaccine).
3. A few days back (in the second week of
October 2005) news papers reported that surprisingly the business of Roche
is flourished in the third quarter despite a much glum projected profit
earlier.
4. Another news reported (in third week of
October 2005) that some European experts have arrived in a 'novel' (?)
solution to the bird flu crisis. It is like this, all the people in all the
continents take the available European vaccine there by all of them will be
strengthened in a same manner. Only problem being the following questions
remain.
(i) Why a European vaccine even though
bird flu originates from Asia?
(ii) The said 'super virus' has not yet
fully evolved, so from where comes this vaccine?
5. Another set of European scientists have
came up with a new vaccine for the same and wish all to take this. (With
same questions as above and more like below remain)
(i) It usually takes about four/five
months to develop a new vaccine, so how come this within as many weeks?
Looks a bit like making the drug before the
disease?
6. If one want to know how effective the flu fear among
people in western world hear this. The number one selling drug in whole
America is not an antibiotic or not even an allopathic drug. It is a
Homeopathic drug called Ocillococcinum!! It is a drug said to have
ability to prevent flu!! Unfortunately this is not a 100% true homeopathic
drug and is another MNC story!
7. See
that in the beginning the predicted death toll from this bird flu was 150
million. Immediately WHO intervened to reduce it to 15 million. Even if you
are telling lies it should appeal to people, no? Then when that even start
to raise some eyebrows at least, they reduced it further. And so far
only 154 has died of Bird Flu (please see
foot note too). As said it should be seriously studied how
many of them died of overuse of drugs or other natural complications like
Pneumonia.
7. Again if one want to know up to what
extend MNCs (and the interested medical men with them) will go hear this.
(i) In India the mass-polio vaccination is
going on for years. A few years back when the allopathic doctors especially
those in govt. service went on a strike in Kerala and at that time they
threatened to boycott the pulse polio campaign if their demands are not met.
Also they really started speaking out against the faults and foul play under
the scheme. All of a sudden one boy called Asif in Malappuram district of
Kerala state has turned up having polio. That also a very dangerous variety.
It was only a few days before the proposed date of pulse-droppings. News
papers print bold front page headlines about it. Whole doctors got scared
and the programme went on smoothly. There was no such cases/incident
before or after that event??!
(ii) In India about three/four years back a
dangerous flu epidemic broke out killing thousands. People got highly
terrorized by the thought that one can really get killed from a fever.
Surprisingly no one even died under homeopathic or other treatment while
people still died at medical college hospitals, and even the government
recognized this fact. Finally Indian Medical Association (the most important
organisation of allopathic doctors in India) on its own conducted a survey
in Trivandrum of Kerala state to broke this spell of cure and to their
dismay their finding was that homeopathy was more than 97% effective!! Then
a leading virologist of all India fame cam on the front page of news papers
to exclaim that even though people may get well within two three days there
are strong chances that by the fifth day they may suddenly fall dead!
(believe me these were the exact words). The result; people still died in
scores by eating drugs till eventually they out grow the fear.
(iii) SARS threatened to kill millions.
Unfortunately (!) only a few hundred was killed all over the world.
Especially it couldn't do much harm to India and was dying out by
February-march, when a news flashed in the front pages. Indians are not to
sleep happy because SARS will affect (not there is a chance to affect, but
WILL AFFECT) Indians once monsoon begins in June-July, because it couldn't
perform as per the expectations of the experts due to adverse whether
conditions in India. Monsoon came and went and you know the rest.
8.
Now this is the cream of the cake. If any such
super virus
as said in the beginning materialize it will not be having the character of
the current H5N1 virus. So any vaccinations done now will not be effective
against the infection by that super virus! Because one flu vaccination will
not be effective against another strain of flu. Remember that if there is
about 27 strains of bird flu virus there are much more than that number of
human flu virus. In short, all these panic driven
vaccination will not prevent another pandemic if it begins!!