Swine Flu, Drugs and Money

OK…I don’t want to minimize or make light a serious situation. I am just so over all of this swine flu crap! Not the people who have died or become sick from it…the researchers and pharmaceutical companies creating the ‘vaccines’.

I know that I am not a medical research genius, nor am I versed in anything medical (barring band-aids, asprin, gauze, chicken noodle soup and sleep) but…this flu thing is not new. This has been going on for decades.

What the F are these pharmaceutical companies doing? It is my belief that they have collected enough information to see some sort of freaking pattern…to anticipate something. These are the companies that are awarded billions of dollars every freakin year to get us well when we get sick. The same companies that create medications that have ‘typical’ side-effects that make people need yet another of their medications. (If that is not the first sign of a scam….I don’t know what is.)

(See the post on my personal tango with medications)

Now, if we can split atoms, fly in space, produce huge quantities of mind altering drugs (that work just fine) and are able to rid the earth of things like Black Plague…

When I recently looked at the following timeline, it kind of hit me that someone ain’t doing their job. H1N1 has been circulating for 91 years.

1918
Pandemic
“Spanish flu” H1N1
The most devastating flu pandemic in recent history, killing more than 500,000 people in the United States, and 20 million to 50 million people worldwide.

1957-58
Pandemic
"Asian flu" H2N2
First identified in China, this virus caused roughly 70,000 deaths in the United States during the 1957-58 season. Because this strain has not circulated in humans since 1968, no one under 30 years old has immunity to this strain.

1968-69
Pandemic
"Hong Kong flu" H3N2
First detected in Hong Kong, this virus caused roughly 34,000 deaths in the United States during the 1968-69 season. H3N2 viruses still circulate today.

1976
Four soldiers in a US army base in New Jersey are infected with swine influenza, resulting in one death.

1977
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
“Russian flu” H1N1
Isolated in northern China, this virus was similar to the virus that spread before 1957. For this reason, individuals born before 1957 were generally protected; however children and young adults born after that year were not because they had no prior immunity.

1997
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
H5N1
The first time an influenza virus was found to be transmitted directly from birds to people, with infections linked to exposure to poultry markets. Eighteen people in Hong Kong were hospitalized, six of whom died.

1999
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
H9N2
Appeared for the first time in humans. It caused illness in two children in Hong Kong, with poultry being the probable source.

2002
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
H7N2
Evidence of infection is found in one person in Virginia following a poultry outbreak.

2003
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
H5N1
Caused two Hong Kong family members to be hospitalized after a visit to China, killing one of them, a 33-year-old man. (A third family member died while in China of an undiagnosed respiratory illness.)
H7N7
In the first reported cases of this strain in humans, 89 people in the Netherlands, most of whom were poultry workers, became ill with eye infections or flu-like symptoms. A veterinarian who visited one of the affected poultry farms died.
H7N2
Caused a person to be hospitalized in New York.
H9N2
Caused illness in one child in Hong Kong.

2004
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
H5N1
Caused illness in 47 people in Thailand and Vietnam, 34 of whom died. Researchers are especially concerned because this flu strain, which is quite deadly, is becoming endemic in Asia.
H7N3
Is reported for the first time in humans. The strain caused illness in two poultry workers in Canada.
H10N7
Is reported for the first time in humans. It caused illness in two infants in Egypt. One child’s father is a poultry merchant.

2005
H5N1
The first case of human infection with H5N1 arises in Cambodia in February. By May, WHO reports 4 Cambodian cases, all fatal. Indonesia reports its first case, which is fatal, in July. Over the next three months, 7 cases of laboratory-confirmed H5N1 infection in Indonesia, and 4 deaths, occur.
On December 30, WHO reports a cumulative total of 142 laboratory-confirmed cases of H5N1 infection worldwide, all in Asia, with 74 deaths. Asian countries in which human infection with H5N1 has been detected: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and China.

2006
H5N1
In early January, two human cases of H5N1 infection, both fatal, are reported in rural areas of Eastern Turkey, while cases in China continues to spread. As of January 25, China reports a total of 10 cases, with 7 deaths. On January 30, Iraq reports its first case of human H5N1 infection, which was fatal, to the WHO.
In March, the WHO confirmed seven cases of human H5N1 infection, and five deaths, in Azerbaijan. In April, WHO confirmed four cases of human H5N1 infection, and two fatalities, in Egypt.

In May, the WHO confirmed a case of human H5N1 infection in the African nation of Djibouti. This was the first confirmed case in sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout 2006, 115 human cases of H5N1 infection occur, with 79 deaths.

2007
H5N1
In early January, two human cases of H5N1 are confirmed in Indonesia. By the end of 2007, 88 confirmed cases occur in Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Vietnam, with 59 deaths.

H7N7
In May, four cases of H7N7 avian influenza were confirmed in the United Kingdom among individuals exposed to infected poultry.

2008
H5N1
On May 28, Bangladesh reports its first case of human H5N1 infection to the WHO. By the end of the year, 40 cases are confirmed in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam.

2009
H5N1
On January 7, Indonesia confirmed a new case of human infection with H5N1 influenza. Since that time, new cases have been identified in Egypt, China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Appearance of a new influenza strain in humans
H1N1
In April, human infection with a new strain of H1N1 influenza is confirmed in Mexico. Within weeks, human infections spread to the United States and cases begin occurring in other regions around the world.

(*timeline obtained from the National Institute of Health)

Anyway…I say that we should all, as a country, boycott all drugs medicines and live our lives as the cavemen and all of those other ancient fuckers did back in the day.

A few months of that and I bet those same companies who could not figure out how to stop the flu would quickly find the cure.