Avian flu redux

Some more on the growing concern over the H5N1 avian flu. I caught most of last weekend's airing of "The Next Plague" on The History Channel, described thusly on their web site (http://www.historychannel.com):

"With the current threat of Avian Flu spreading worldwide, President Bush talked openly about the possibility of an epidemic in the coming years. The Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization say that we are long overdue for a deadly epidemic, and it isn't a question of if but when. Here in the US the questions are already being asked. Are we ready? How can we prevent it? What will be the cost in lives? We'll look at what effect a large-scale epidemic would have on the United States and the rest of the world. We'll ask what steps pharmaceutical companies are taking in developing vaccines and an antidote. If a nationwide quarantine is put into effect, who will enforce it--the National Guard? We also examine new evidence that the Great Epidemic of 1918 may have been an Avian Flu."

Some take-aways for me: even more contrast between the U.S. preparation efforts versus U.K. and France (as it regards stockpiles of Tamilflu) than what I recalled from the September piece on ABC's PrimeTime. Although I don't have 'magic bullet' faith in Tamiflu saving us all, it was interesting that apparently the U.S. has stockpiled enough courses of treatment for about 1% of the population, versus 25% and 20%, respectively, for U.K. and France. Makes you go, "why is that?"

Another take-away: probably should review whether a few more days worth of food and supplies on hand would be prudent, in the event that quarantine activity, or our own good judgement, means we can't go out for food and basics. It's a challenge, though. Most people don't want to go nuts planning for emergencies, but also don't want to overlook low-effort/low-cost opportunities to make these potential situations better for their families. Where do you draw that line? One of the comments from "The Next Plague" offered an image that fuels that kind of thinking: consider the disruptions and gaps in service that occurred in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast with Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. Now broaden that from regional impact, to where its happening in just about every city and town to some degree. Yeah, I probably will grow the pantry inventory a bit.

May we all get ready, and then not need it!

Are outside the box food solutions safe?

I was cruising through some of the article links at The Endowment for Medical Research (http://www.endowmentmed.org) and came across this item about a food-related element of China's successful manned space flight earlier this month. An excerpt from the article: "'The experiment results show vitamin content of vegetables grown from space seeds is 281.5 per cent of that of ordinary vegetables,' the state media said, with customary precision."

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/22/wseeds22.xml

Not a new idea, as you can find numerous articles from a variety of sources on that subject, such as these from 2003 and 1995, respectively.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/77416.htm
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/Quarterly/Q95_1/vegetable.html

Great to think about energy going into how to produce more quantity, better quality, etc. where food is concerned. But how can we tell the penicillin-level discovery from the wish-we-hadn't-done-that invention. Especially with our track record for more of the latter than the former. Ask the Romans about lead plumbing, or our age about DDT, and the 75,000+ synthetic chemicals loose in our environment since the early 20th century*. Which is why there are a few questions like this one regarding space-radiated seeds:

http://ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2001/2001-01-26g.asp

When we have a choice on food, may we use it wisely. It makes a difference now, as well as later.

DB

(* as quoted from 2001 Bill Moyers PBS report in "How To Survive On A Toxic Planet" 2nd edition, Dr. Steve Nugent, pg.17)

Defending your house against H5N1

The latest strain of the avian flu continues to march across the globe, with a confirmed occurence in the UK, according to these reports from MSNBC and BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4370106.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9776460&&CM=EmailThis&CE=1

More and more of us are able to remember its technical "H5N1" name as the media exposure increases. If it rivals the 1918 "Spanish" flu pandemic as many are warning, we are in for an experience that most on the planet have never known. We can barely imagine what it could be like, and probably mostly don't want to think about it -- running late for work, can't miss the favorite TV show.

A Sept 2005 item on ABC's PrimeTime

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Investigation/story?id=1130392&page=1

indicated that the US probably had around 2 million treatments of the only known drug thought to be effective after infection (Tamiflu), out of a planned 20 million treatments thought to be needed for this kind of outbreak. With no vaccine available for this strain, this drug, and any efforts to limit exposure, are seen as the only weapons we have to deal with this. No need to argue about the competency of the planning, greed of suppliers, etc. If these numbers are accurate, and the pandemic risk has been portrayed accurately, we have a big, fat exposure ... of biblical proportions, as they say.

If you don't feel like waiting to see if US authorities are successful in getting access to Tamiflu in competition with the EU, Australia, Japan, OPEC nations, and anyone else with the funds, start doing your homework on what this could be like for you and your family. Find the best immune-boosting strategies you can get, and start using them now. Optimizing your body's own defenses might be your best hope against a million-death event like this.

For more background on the flu, see:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4949542
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_killerflu/clues.html

The beginning ...

"The end of a matter is better than its beginning" according to the writer of Ecclesiastes.

You ever meet anyone that lives like that is true? Maybe our circumstances have too much to dread to get continuously excited about how they'll end. But I'm sure there are many in the southern coastal regions of the U.S. who are glad the 2005 hurricane season is coming to an end, even if their recovery challenges continue. Wowee.

Being just tired enough of how we're all robbed of what we should be getting in the way of health and quality of life, I was thankful to hear new stories last month of other 'ends of matters' that were dramatically better than the beginning. Of child and parent told to accept and cope with a toxic reaction to a vaccine, apparently permanent. Of a nutrition change that got natural defense and repair systems back in the game. And a restoration of quality of life than no one had told them they could expect.

Here's hoping that we all get tired enough of the health status quo that we take back individual responsibility, and press to get back what's been stolen. Are you happy with your state of health? I'm ready to find out what we've had coming to us all along. We were designed for better than this.