Why The Spanish Flu Of 1918 Was So Deadly

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tex
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Why The Spanish Flu Of 1918 Was So Deadly

Post by tex »

Polly,

This news release covers what you told us several months ago:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlene ... ticlePage1

I can see how an immune system suppressing drug in combination with tamiflu, or some other virus med might be a big help, but without the virus med, would there be any advantage to it? After all, it will make one more evulnerable to secondary and tertiary infections, and combination of two or more infections could be just as deadly as the H5N1 virus without the immune system suppresant. IOW, if we're going to rely on budesonide or prednisone in the event of a birdflu pandemic, we will still need to have a supply of tamiflu or a similar product, won't we? Or, am I looking at this wrong?

Love,
Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by hazel »

Wayne, if you are interested in this flu, there is a book called The Great Influenza (The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History) by John M. Barry. My husband just finished it and found it very interesting.
kathy
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tex
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Post by tex »

Hi Kathy,

Thanks, I've heard it's a good book, and I considered buying it, but I'm so far behind with my reading that I decided I never would find the time to read it, so I didn't buy it.

The reason I wrote that post was because Polly mentioned that information to us several months ago, and it's just now being touted as news by the media. IOW, that article was on the RSS news feeds today, though it was available to the medical profession several months ago. H5N1 behaves the same way, and that makes it of special interest to us, because our immune systems are more active than the average member of the general public. IOW, we're sitting ducks, if a pandemic gets going.

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by Polly »

Hiya Tex!

You are correct, of course. When I discussed this with my doc on the last visit, he gave me prescriptions for both prednisone and Tamiflu! Of course, we don't know if Tamiflu will be effective against a serious bird flu (since we don't even know yet that that mutated flu bug will be like) but it's the best we have for now.

Kathy, I'll look for that book in the library. I've heard a lot about it. By any chance, does it look closely at some who survived the Spanish flu? I think it would be helpful to see what factors may have made a difference, like diet, lifestyle, etc. Remember we read a little while ago that sauerkraut is somehow effective against bird flu?

Love,

Polly
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Post by Jean »

Polly,

I highly recommend the book!!! It looks at lots of case studies, but I don't think it touches on diets. Back then no one was eating processed foods and I imagine they had relatively healthy diets and lots of exercise.

There is a lot of medical history too, maybe a little too much.

Love, Jean
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