Doug's Dynamic Drivel

Here’s an email I received today titled Swine Flu Advice. I have made minor changes to it in the form of formatting (changing to numbered bullet points to make reference easier) otherwise it is identical to what I received

A friend of ours is a Dr. down in the San Marcos/NB area and sent this out. I felt it contained some insightful stuff not seen on the news. Marc is a very intelligent and “with it” guy, he worked as a botanist for Pfizer in South America…then decided to become a Dr. I hope it helps answer some questions and it does have some good suggestions for alternative medications etc.

1. The virus is infectious for about 2 days prior to symptom onset
2. Virus sheds more than 7 days after symptom onset (possibly as long as 9 days) (this is unusual)
3. Since it is such a novel (new) virus, there is no “herd immunity,” so the “attack rate” is very high. This is the percentage of people who come down with a virus if exposed. Almost everyone who is exposed to this virus will become infected, though not all will be symptomatc. That is much higher than seasonal flu, which averages 10-15%. The “clinical attack rate” may be around 40-50%. This is the number of people who show symptoms. This is a huge number. It is hard to convey the seriousness of this.
4. The virulence (deadliness) of this virus is as bad here as in Mexico, and there are folks on ventilators here in the US, right now. This has not been in the media, but a 23 month old near here is fighting for his life, and a pregnant woman just south of San Antonio is fighting for her life. In Mexico, these folks might have died already, but here in the US, folks are getting Tamiflu or Relenza quickly, and we have ready access to ventilators. What this means is that within a couple of weeks, regional hospitals will likely become overwhelmed.
5. Some of the kids with positive cases in Comal County had more than 70 contacts before diagnosis.
6. There are 10-25 times more actual cases (not “possible” cases — actual), than what is being reported in the media. The way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the CDC on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each “confirmed” case right now.
7. During the night, we crossed the threshold for the definition of a WHO, Phase 6 global pandemic. This has not happened in any of our lifetimes so far. We are in uncharted territory.
8. I expect President Obama will declare an emergency sometime in the next 72-96 hours. This may not happen, but if it doesn’t, I will be surprised. When this happens, all public gathering will be canceled for 10 days.
9. I suggest all of us avoid public gatherings. Outdoor activities are not as likely to lead to infection. It is contained areas and close contact that are the biggest risk.
10. Tamiflu is running out. There is a national stockpile, but it will have to be carefully managed, as it is not enough to treat the likely number of infections when this is full-blown. I don’t think there is a big supply of Relenza, but I do not know those numbers. If I had to choose, I would take Relenza, as I think it gets more drug to the affected tissue than Tamiflu.
11. You should avoid going to the ER if you think you have been exposed or are symptomatic. ER’s south of here are becoming overwhelmed — and I mean that — already. It is coming in waves, but the waves are getting bigger.
12. It appears that this flu produces a distinctive “hoarseness” in many victims. The symptoms, in general, match other flu’s; namely, sore throat, body aches, headache, cough, and fever. Some have all these symptoms, while others may have only one or two.
13. N-Acetyl-Cysteine — a nutritional supplement available at the health food store or Wimberley Pharmacy, has been shown to prevent or lessen the severity of influenza. I suggest 1200mg, twice a day for adults, and 600mg twice a day in kids over 12. It would be hard to get kids under 12 to take it, but you could try opening the capsules and putting it on yogurt. For 40 pounds and up, 300-600 mg twice a day, for less than 40 pounds, half that.
14. Oscillococinum, a homeopathic remedy, has been vindicated as quite effective in a large clinical trial in Europe, with an H1N1 variant. You can buy this at Hill Country Natural Foods, or the Wimberley Pharmacy.

I will try to keep everyone posted if I have any new information. Meanwhile, don’t be afraid just avoid infection. The fewer people infected the easier it will be for our public officials to manage it.”

The above is a perfect example of what Americans have been subjected to for the last eight years. Ruled by fear. When I first read this I thought that it was written by a Republican, but after more consideration I think this was written by someone in a militia. It not only spreads fear but also sneakily gets the point across that government can’t help and is about to take away your rights to assemble.

Notice anything that gives it away? How about the be afraid component. Or the outright lies such as number 7? If you visit the WHO site you will see we are actually in phase 5 not phase 6.

Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

pandemic – scary word isn’t it. You can bet the militias and the right wing will make the most of that – morons like Michelle Malkin are already trying remember. Note how there is nothing in that threat level that identifies the mortality rate of the infection. Good reason too, pandemics don’t need to be deadly, they just need to be wide spread. Here’s the definition for Phase 6 – the “scary” phase

Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way.

What’s that you say no mortality rating?

Then there’s the bit about Obama declaring an emergency and taking away the right to assemble in public. Oh and look he’s an insider because he knows when this will happen so you better trust and believe him (but don’t trust anyone else they are all lying to you) Gee where have we heard all of this before.

Then there’s the bit about homeopathy. Now if ever there was a give away that the person writing this is not a medical doctor that’s it right there. No one in their sane rational mind actually believes there is any scientific basis for homeopathy outside of the placebo effect. No rational person would make this claim. Homeopathy is a complete fraud based on the most outrageous pseudo-scientific nonsense.

Homeopathic products are made from minerals, botanical substances, and several other sources. If the original substance is soluble, one part is diluted with either nine or ninety-nine parts of distilled water and/or alcohol and shaken vigorously (succussed); if insoluble, it is finely ground and pulverized in similar proportions with powdered lactose (milk sugar). One part of the diluted medicine is then further diluted, and the process is repeated until the desired concentration is reached. Dilutions of 1 to 10 are designated by the Roman numeral X (1X = 1/10, 3X = 1/1,000, 6X = 1/1,000,000). Similarly, dilutions of 1 to 100 are designated by the Roman numeral C (1C = 1/100, 3C = 1/1,000,000, and so on). Most remedies today range from 6X to 30X, but products of 30C or more are marketed.

A 30X dilution means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times. Assuming that a cubic centimeter of water contains 15 drops, this number is greater than the number of drops of water that would fill a container more than 50 times the size of the Earth. Imagine placing a drop of red dye into such a container so that it disperses evenly. Homeopathy’s “law of infinitesimals” is the equivalent of saying that any drop of water subsequently removed from that container will possess an essence of redness. Robert L. Park, Ph.D., a prominent physicist who is executive director of The American Physical Society, has noted that since the least amount of a substance in a solution is one molecule, a 30C solution would have to have at least one molecule of the original substance dissolved in a minimum of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water. This would require a container more than 30,000,000,000 times the size of the Earth.

There’s much more that could be said about this letter and how bad it is but I’m just plain disgusted with it. As I started this post NOW was playing on PBS and the host was talking about the poor standing of the US internationally on science and maths scores. The person who wrote that email would be just as happy to keep it that way – keeping people ignorant is the only way to ensure such egregiously wrong messages get implanted and take root.

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