wolfriverjoe 1,523
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Research is showing that strep, not the flu, actually killed most in 1918.
Check out the articles from February (2 months ago).
Action expresses priority. - Mahatma Ghandi
Check out the articles from February (2 months ago).
Action expresses priority. - Mahatma Ghandi
QuoteThis just in;
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53N22820090429
and
http://www.who.int/en/
Will people still be calling it an over reaction when it gets to 6?
What I don't understand is how some people can't recognize a serious threat when they see one. It's almost like they have to finish reading "My Pet Goat" before they're willing to admit there's a issue.
There is an issue, Paul. I'm prettuy sure that 95% of American population sees that there is an issue. I see the issue.
The problem in my mind is this: "threat Level 5 or threat level 6 - what the hell am I gonna do differently?". Not work? Not go shopping? Cease all interaction with people? Dig a shelter and HEPA and ozone filter air circulation?
I am preparing. If it get it I get it. If my kids get it then they get it. I manage.
That's it. What the hell can I do to stop this? It's not a denial of an issue but a cynicism of what effect my individual decisions and actions have.
Very, very little, I'm afraid. So bring it on.
My wife is hotter than your wife.
nerdgirl 0
QuoteResearch is showing that strep, not the flu, actually killed most in 1918.
Check out the articles from February (2 months ago).
… sort of … & it relates to the unusually high mortality in healthy young adults (18-35) with robust immune systems that was observed with the 1918 “Spanish” influenza pandemic.
The Spanish flu virus caused the immune system to go into overdrive. A “cytokine storm” is one example of one such immune reaction.
The papers you mentioned are a historical review, “Deaths from Bacterial Pneumonia during 1918–19 Influenza Pandemic,” in the August 2008 issue of Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) and a letter in the January 2009 EID issue “Time from Illness Onset to Death, 1918 Influenza and Pneumococcal Pneumonia.” The authors of the first paper examined the average days from onset of symptoms to death. Based on their findings, they hypothesized that the incubation period of ~50% of the 50-100M deaths associated with the Spanish influenza was longer than most viral infections. Instead it more closely resembles bacterial pneumonia, like that caused by bacterial strep infection. It’s epidemiology not experimental bacteriology or virology.
And here’s the connection between the flu virus and the bacteria: the Spanish flu induced an overdrive of the immune system, which caused the immune system to “attack” the throat and upper lung tissue of those infected with the 1918 flu virus. Therefore, they were more susceptible to a Strep bacteria. In the days before widespread use of antibiotics, strep throat and/or pneumonia killed.
Stepping back, the researchers who authored the EID paper demonstrated a closer correlation between death by pneumococcal bacteria; infection than a viral infection. Based on that correlation, they hypothesized that the direct cause of up to 50% of those 50-100M deaths was from subsequent bacterial infections that were able to infect due to the effects on the throat and upper lungs of folks who had been infected by the flu virus. It’s a well-founded idea. It’s really cool … from a nerd perspective.
And more importantly, having the viral flu infection first was critical to make the otherwise healthy young adults (largely young men who were fighting in WWI) susceptible to a bacterial infection. Does that make sense?
The main point of the paper is that flu pandemic preparations should include antibiotics as well as antivirals.
There are thus far unsubstantiated reports that there is unusually high mortality of healthy young people among the deaths in Mexico, as opposed the usual segment of the population, the very young and the very old, who die from flu.
In some ways, this is similar to mortality from sulfur mustard (aka “mustard gas”) during WWI. Very, very few soldiers died directly from sulfur mustard exposure; instead, the associated open sores, “blisters,” became routes through which bacteria could infect those who had been “gassed.”
/Marg
Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying
And in going home, they spent time in close quarters with the other people on the plane...
The other people then travelled on other planes to other airports...
WHO said several days ago that containment was no longer possible. They knew what they were talking about.
"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo
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