Bird flu is still a hot subject at the World Health Organization meetings, due to the fact that is still considered a threat for humanity.
Scientists believe that the H5N1 virus could mutate and then transmit from human to human causing a global pandemic, for which humanity is not yet prepared.
We have not developed a drug or a vaccine that might kill this evil virus, and so we are exposed to it. Lately there have been debates about the usefulness of the annual flu vaccines. Some scientists declare that if you get annually a flu vaccine, you are making yourself more susceptible to the flu in subsequent years, by weakening your immune system, instead of enforcing it.
Dr. Haim Danenberg of Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem says that one who did not get annual flu shots is possible to poses a better immune system then the annually vaccinated ones.
Some even say that flu vaccines create a pattern of dependence and once you begin taking them you will need to take them every year because your immune system gets weaker every year.
Phyllis Balch, an author of herbs and health does not recommend flu shots and suggests that the solution of getting rid of flu is by strengthening the immune system.
Every year a new strain of virus develops and we can not be sure that the flu shot we took will match for this new virus too, and the antibody response will only be protective if we are luckily enough to get infected with the right virus.
A study from Netherlands made on elderly people concluded that flu shots only give you one percent lower chance of getting the flu after all, so we ask ourselves why doctors and governments make all this propaganda for flu shots if they are only1% helpful.
In the case of bird flu things might not be like this, because if a virus strain is isolated and used to manufacture a bird flu vaccine, it may turn out to be more effective than 1%. Studies have not concluded yet.
It seems that flu shots contain toxic substances too, like mercury which is connected with the Alzheimer disease and could contribute to a mercury poisoning.
There is a law that indemnifies vaccine manufacturers from the harm caused by their products in case of a viral pandemic, even if the vaccine kills people.
You could find more about this law at:
[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.01873:]
So, the vaccine producers are protected in case of a mass murder, and they even get money for it (they sell their vaccine to health authorities). This proves that vaccines are not safe and that is why the vaccine companies have assured their legal protection.
Before getting a shot, people should first find out mere about the side effects given by the vaccines and to reconsider whether they want to risk taking it or try a different solution like the real anti-viral medicines.
The bird flu vaccine is a completely different vaccine than the standard flu shot. This bird flu vaccine will only protect against the bird flu and not any other strains of flu. There is not even a real bird flu vaccine available that we the public are able to get yet. It will be some time before we can get a bird flu vaccine.
The only known bird flu vaccine is still in the experimental stages and they do not even know yet how effective it will be, it may not work at all. We hear about the bird flu every day and about how many people it is going to kill throughout the world but to keep things in perspective it is important that you realize that very few people have actually caught the bird flu and even fewer have actually died from it and this is all without the help of a bird flu vaccine.
Bird flu, also known as avian influenza is a disease which affects the birds, especially the poultry, in different extents. The bird flu is produced by subtypes of influenza A virus and it sheds in the wild birds which transmit the virus to the poultry. The H5N1 subtype is considered to be the most pathogenic virus from all the subtypes of influenza A virus.
Chicken, ducks and turkeys get infected if they get in contact with discharges from infected birds, infected water, and infected vehicles. The eggs can also contaminate the incubator if they are from infected hens.
The birds which survive the infection can spread the virus for another period of at least 10 days through secretions, discharges and feathers.
The virus can easily spread in the area if a contaminated bird is left to roam freely; if it drinks water from the place other birds drink, this way contaminating the water. Cars can spread the virus also from one place to another if they are not disinfected properly. Shoes, cages and clothing are also a way of spreading the virus.
Humans can get infected if they get into close contact with ill birds. People who transport poultry, who feed them and clean the place the birds live in, are exposed to the virus if the birds are infected. Eating cooked chicken meal is not dangerous as the virus gets inactivated at heat.
Until now human to human transmission was not encountered.
The governments are concerned that the virus could mutate and achieve the ability of transmitting itself from one person to another. This could lead to a global pandemic and millions of people might die. Also, if this problem is not solved quickly the poultry industry will suffer and the economy of the country will drop.
In chicken the bird flu gives these symptoms: diarrhea, muscle weakness, breathing problems, sudden deaths, facial swelling, and a decline in the egg production.
In humans the symptoms of bird flu are: fever, muscle pain, sore throat and then cough, breathing problems and multi-organ failure in the last stage of the disease.
As there are so many diseases which manifest very much alike with bird flu the doctors must be very careful when diagnosing bird flu. If the patient got into close contact with a sick bird, or handles bird cages, laboratory tests will be done to see exactly if there is a bird flu infection.
There has not been yet discovered an effective vaccine against bird flu virus. The only thing humans can do is take a shot for a human influenza virus to prevent the recombination between the bird flu virus and human flu virus which could form a more threatening virus.
In order to prevent bird flu people must avoid getting into close contact with birds or their discharges; must not buy any living bird illegally as they are not controlled by the veterinaries, must report any suspect death of a bird to the authorities, and must disinfect properly after handling bird products.
Many medicines are used to treat symptoms of influenza. Tamiflu medication proves to be the most effective influenza treatment available in the present times. Even the World Health Organisation has attested to its effectiveness and approved it for use in case of bird flu pandemic in any country of the world.
About Tamiflu – Its manufacturer
Tamiflu is a prescription drug that doctors prescribe for treatment and prevention of flu infections among adults. It is also useful for children whose age is one year or above. Tamiflu is not a substitute for any flu vaccine, so people should not try to ignore general flu vaccinations.
Roche pharmaceuticals manufacture Tamiflu, which has been accepted as a potent weapon to fight against any type of flu infections worldwide.
Comes in the strength of
Tamiflu comes in a tablet form for adults. It is also available in fruit flavoured liquid form for children who are one year old or above. Those adults who find it difficult to swallow tablets can take liquid form.
Adults can take Tamiflu tablets in the strength of 75mg and for children, dosage of 12mg/ml flavoured oral suspension is ideal.
You can take Tamiflu medication with or without food. However, if you take this influenza medication with light food, it rules out any possibility of upsetting your stomach.
What is influenza virus?
The influenza virus is a transmittable virus, which spreads from one person to another through tiny droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets are released in the air by these actions.
You may even get influenza virus when you touch the nose or mouth of an infected person. This means that if you have flu infection, you can easily pass on the flu to someone else before that person knows it.
Influenza virus infection can last up to one week. But it causes serious illness, particularly among people who are above 50 years of age. It can also aggravate problems of people who suffer from chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and asthma.
How to treat influenza virus?
You can treat your influenza virus infection with Tamiflu medication, which is considered as one of the best anti-viral medicine.
If you experience symptoms of influenza virus, you should take treatment within 48 hours of first observable signs. Tamiflu medication helps in both treatment and prevention of influenza virus infection.
When you take Tamiflu medication within two days of experiencing first symptoms of influenza virus, oseltamivir phosphate, which is the main ingredient in this drug, works to stop the flu virus from spreading inside the body.
You can also take Tamiflu as a prevention medicine when you have been exposed to an infected person. This anti-viral drug can help you by preventing the influenza virus from making you sick.
Side effects of Tamiflu
Tamiflu is a prescription drug. So it is obvious for some side effects to become visible among users. Some users report rare and serious side effects of this medication, but immediate medical attention help reduce these reactions.
The most common side effects of Tamiflu medication include nausea and vomiting. These are generally mild and are easily treatable through proper medical consultation.
You should always take precautionary steps whenever you take Tamiflu medication. You should avoid taking Tamiflu if your doctor says that you are allergic to oseltamivir phosphate or any other ingredients of this anti-viral drug.
Pregnant women or nursing mothers should also avoid intake of Tamiflu to tackle their influenza virus infections. Its intake can have some side effects on the unborn child or nursing infant. These women should be always open about talking with their doctors regarding intake of this medicine. Patients who suffer from medical conditions such as kidney problems should also avoid this drug. They can seek advice of their doctors instead of taking this drug at their own risk.
If you are already taking other medication for influenza virus treatment, then you should first ask your doctor before starting Tamiflu medication. It can check possibility of any serious reactions due to ingredients of Tamiflu.
Bird flu is a disease caused by a specific type of avian (bird) influenza virus, the so-called H5N1 virus. This virus was first discovered in birds in China in 1997, and since then has infected 125 people in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia, killing 64 of them. It is spread by infected migratory birds (including wild ducks and geese) to domestic poultry (primarily chickens, ducks, and turkeys), and then to humans.
Some infected people have developed abnormal clotting profiles resulting in excessive bleeding—which was a frequent clinical symptom in the deadly so-called Spanish influenza of 1918-19, which killed more than 100 million people worldwide. Indeed, bird flu shares a number of disturbing characteristics with the 1918-19 influenza virus. These two viruses have, in fact, recently been shown to be similar genetically. And in a recent laboratory experiment with mice, the 1918-19 virus was found to produce 39,000 times more viruses four days after infection than the regular seasonal human flu strain. The 1918-19 virus killed 100 percent of the mice that were infected with it, compared to none of the mice infected with the regular flu strain. With a current “case fatality rate,” or death rate of approximately 50 percent in humans, bird flu is obviously also a very deadly disease.
There are only a few reports in the medical literature describing the clinical features of bird flu in humans. The clinical spectrum of H5N1 infection ranges from asymptomatic infection—where the person doesn’t even know he or she is infected—to fatal pneumonia and multiple organ failure. Some infected individuals develop liver or kidney dysfunction, and there were two children who died from the virus that came to medical attention because of diarrhea and seizures related to encephalitis (infection of the brain). However, the most common presentation is one of fever, cough, and trouble breathing. Approximately 70 percent of patients also have diarrhea, and a few patients have had only gastrointestinal symptoms (such as stomach ache, vomiting, and diarrhea) and no breathing problems.
Deaths have generally been in normally healthy people. The first report in the medical literature of deaths from bird flu was on 12 patients living in Hong Kong. Their median age was nine years, with a range of one to 60 years. All presented with fever, and eight had symptoms or signs of upper-respiratory infections (five had clinical and X-ray evidence of pneumonia when first diagnosed). Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, including stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, were present in eight patients. There were a total of five deaths (one died with Reye’s syndrome, which is associated with taking aspirin in children).
In a study of 10 patients in Vietnam with laboratory-confirmed avian influenza (H5N1), the mean age of the patients was 13.7 years. For eight of the patients, there was a clear history of either direct handling of poultry (chickens or ducks) or exposure to sick poultry in the week before the onset of illness. All presented in January 2004 with cough, shortness of breath, and fever, and seven had diarrhea; none had myalgia (muscle aches)—which is often found in the regular seasonal flu. Notably, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was administered to five patients, four of whom died (treatment was probably started too late for the medication to be effective—it must be given within 48 hours after onset of symptoms to be effective). In total, eight of the patients died, for an 80 percent case fatality rate or death rate.
As is apparent from the descriptions above, the presenting symptoms of individuals with bird flu are very similar to the symptoms of the normal seasonal flu. Infections caused by either the bird-flu virus (H5N1) or the seasonal influenza virus can be completely asymptomatic—that is, cause no symptoms at all. Fever, cough, malaise (feeling ill), and gastrointestinal symptoms are common to both infections. Excessive bleeding occurs only with bird flu, but currently this symptom doesn’t appear to be common. Difficulty breathing is more common with severe cases of bird flu, not seasonal flu. Runny nose and sneezing are found only with colds (or allergies).
The cough in either type of infection is what is referred to in medicine as “nonproductive”—meaning there is no sputum brought up when coughing, or if any sputum is brought up, it is white in color. This type of cough is characteristic of upper respiratory viral infections. As either type of infection progresses or worsens, tissues may be damaged, disrupting the normal structure and function of the infected cells. This in turn may allow bacteria to grow and also cause damage. When this happens following a viral infection, it is referred to as a “secondary” bacterial infection. When this occurs, the color of the sputum characteristically turns yellow or green. If this happens, antibiotics are indicated to treat the bacterial infection. (Antibiotics are not indicated in the treatment of viral infections, because they don’t work.)
It is safe to assume that during a bird-flu pandemic, most individuals who become infected with the bird-flu virus will either be asymptomatic—having no symptoms—or their illness will not be severe enough to require hospitalization. The small percentage who do become seriously ill will have to be hospitalized, and treated with either of the two antiviral agents available, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza). A smaller subset of that group will develop life-threatening complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which requires treatment with a mechanical ventilator, a respirator.
Some individuals may develop other serious complications such as liver failure, kidney failure, neurological problems—such as seizures, paralysis, psychiatric problems such as delirium or psychosis, or bleeding problems. However, it is reasonable to predict that most people infected with the virus will not die and will not have significant residual symptoms, although a small percentage will.
Bradford Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
The Frank Group
P.O. Box 138
Lakewood, NY 14750
[http://www.AvoidBirdFlu.com]