On re-establishing our Constitution rights…

There must be a sense of urgency if we are to avoid the excesses of the GWB administration in the Obama administration or in administrations yet to come.  Once an office-holder gets power, it is very difficult to reclaim the power and give it back to its rightful owners (“We, the People”).  

It is also clear that Obama will abandon his principles in the name of “getting SOMETHING done.”  This has held true for every controversial issue that has come before us in the last couple of years (and before that when he voted “present” in the IL State Senate).

The only way we can get our rights re-established within the current governmental structure is to enact campaign finance reform in order to shift the power back to the people and seize it from fat-cat Big Business and their special interest groups and lobbyists.  Until we do this, Congress and the Executive Branch will allow them to “pay to play” and will not make decisions that benefit the people.

Campaign Finance Reform is the first and most critical step.

Once that is in place, a healthcare bill can be passed that benefits the people and not the insurance companies, healthcare providers and Big Pharma.

Decisions about how to solve the economy will move back from “welfare for Big Businesses” and the proper restraints and regulations that were eroded since the Reagan years (and even before that) will be re-established.

And, of course, if we re-establish the natural balance between the three branches that the authors of the Constitution intended (and which have worked reasonably well in the past), it stands to reason that our rights and protections will be re-established as well.  All the executive abuses of the past, from torture, rendition and the writ of habeas corpus to Executive Orders and all the provisions in the last few FISA amendments and the Patriot Act will cease to exist in their present form. 

We must acknowledge that “We, the People” do not have to relinquish our constitutional rights and protections in order to be safer.

 

Fear causes us to make bad decisions out of desperation in order to “feel better” or less fearful of our enemies and the potential threats it presents to our country and its citizens.  And what it really accomplishes is to change what is good about our society and form of government based on our fear and desire for safety.  We only have to look in our past to see how we slaughtered Indians by the millions and imprisoned Japanese American citizens in our own concentration camps because we didn’t trust people who didn’t look like us.

And we must pass a rule that amendments that are not germane to a bill cannot be included in any bill.

We also must demand the SCOTUS rule on whether or not an Executive Order is constitutional and binding, particularly if it includes provisions that are unconstitutional (abolishing the writ of habeas corpus, etc.).

And we must clearly establish the Right to Privacy, which will resolve such issues as abortion and homosexual marriage (and, for all practical purposes, many of the wedge issues that have plagues us since 1980).  I believe the Right to Privacy does exist.  If you look at the Bill of Rights, it is quite apparent that our Constitutional framers believed in the “man’s castle” theory which clearly establishes our inherent Right of Privacy.

Anyway, I think we must approach this issue in two ways:

First, get back control over our elected officials, who have reason to fear Big Business and Special Interests because of the enormous cost of running a successful re-election campaign, through passing campaign finance reform.

Second, we must try to educate “We, the People” and make them realize how dangerous it is to set such precedents that shift too much power to either of the three branches and shift power from the People to the government.  We must re-establish the inherent controls and balance between the three branches of government and the unconstitutional shift of far too much government power to the Executive Branch.  Even if we like and trust (or think we do), the guy in office now, we must remember that these precedents, once set, will empower and candidate that occupies these governmental position in the future. 

Unchecked power and unaccountable authority just don’t work, whether we are speaking of individuals or a political party.  We have seen that throughout the ages, and especially since 1980, when the political parties and special interests influenced the general public in becoming more and more polarized.  And that is the real danger. 

A democracy must be “people-oriented” and “people controlled “  Any act or action that contributes to American society by solving societal problems or preventing abuse by a government branch that refuses to acknowledge their accountability to the law of the land and to We, the People, must be effective and results-oriented in order to succeed and achieve the true goals of a democracy.  Every time we allow wedge issues to consume public discourse and further polarize Americans or sit back and watch our inherent constitutional rights and protections “flushed down the toilet” — regardless of any fear that permeates political discourse or public discourse — we move further and further way from the true freedoms that only a democracy can provide.

Abandoning our democratic values in exchange for the delusion that we are safer is the greatest “win” the terrorists could have hoped for…. and we gave this to them out of fear.

The GWB administration was masterful when it came to fear-mongering.  They proved how instilling fear in the general population could successfully empower an unhealthy, unchecked Executive Branch who believed themselves to be above the law.  And we also see how the country was bankrupted by the GWB administration to the point where the People are now financing with their own tax dollars poorly run companies with incompetent or criminal executive management; who deserve to be punished, not rewarded with multimillion-dollar executive bonuses BEFORE they have paid the American taxpayers back for their bailout money… These are the same executives that routinely and for a significant period of time made bad management decisions and were even criminally negligent to the point that their actions consist of a criminal breach of their fiduciary responsibilities.  And then we allow them their million-dollar bonuses while we are punished for their crime by having to carry the load of an out-of-control national debt.

Campaign Finance Reform is the first step

Without it, the Constitution will not be restored to its original intent, real healthcare that first protects the best interests of the People and not Big Business, Big Pharma and other Special Interest will never pass, and Big Business, the NRA and Special Interests will continue to have improper, excessive access to our elected officials, which results in the power to secretly write bills that benefit them or their industry.

Taking back the healthcare debate….

OK, I’ll admit I’m venting a little….

It’s time for a little sanity and rationality. I’m tired of the angry mob ranting and screaming over scheduled speakers in the healthcare town halls even before they get a chance to utter their first word. I have read H.R. 3200 and H.R. 676 and I’m still working on reading the rest of the proposals, so I do at least know and understand what is in H.R. 3200, which is what the media has been referring to when they talk about the healthcare bill.

Let me say upfront that I do not support H.R. 3200 because it does not accomplish what I believe needs to happen for real healthcare reform, which is Medicare for All – a single-payer universal healthcare solution that gets the for-profit insurance companies out of the healthcare business permanently. Why?  Because it is the nature of for-profit insurance companies, mandated by law, that they must make a profit for their stockholders, which increases our premiums and deductibles.

The first responsibility of insurance company executives is to their stockholders, not to their insureds (patients).  And, especially in recent years, we have seen policy premiums, deductibles and co-pays rise astronomically and coverage is continually cut back further and further while insurance company CEOs continue to get hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly bonuses….

Every town hall I have seen on the tube shows people screaming at the politicians or other presenters about unrelated issues or making wild accusations like the Palin comment about “death panels,” which is not just incorrect, it is grossly misrepresentative and a completely irresponsible remark for a former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate to make.

And I am tired of hearing how anyone who does not support the verbal lynchings that go on in the town halls is suppressing free speech and being a bully. Those in attendance of the town halls who are respectful and ask the ranters to be quiet long enough for the speaker to make his or her presentation aren’t being bullies just because we want to hear what the scheduled speaker has to say before we make comments or ask questions. I’m sick and tired of ill informed idiots trying to shout the speakers down rather than have a rational, factual discussion about healthcare…..

This issue is much too important to allow special interests and those only concerned with scoring political points based on propaganda, lies and fabrications to take over the discussion. I fear that the stranglehold that corporations and special interests have over politicians (because we have not dealt with much-needed election reform and campaign finance reform) is coming back to bite us in the butt once again.

There are plenty of logical reasons to oppose any of the healthcare bills — none of them are perfect, nor will they ever be, and some of them may well be worse than doing nothing. But the reality is that there is a huge inequity in our healthcare system because of lack of access to care based on unaffordability, uninsurability (because of pre-existing illnesses) and “job lock” (having to stay at a job you don’t like because changing insurance companies could jeopardize your coverage based on pre-existing conditions). Those who can easily afford the premiums and co-pays are happy with what they have, and why shouldn’t they be? But over 47 million (and counting, since the numbers grow as unemployment rises) people have no healthcare and even more have inadequate healthcare coverage — and worse still, they often don’t know it and don’t find out until the need it.

The town hall ranters speak about “taking their country back,” but from whom?

From my view, it looks like “we the rational” need to take this issue back from “those the hysterical” that are dominating the news!  Some of these demonstrators are simply honest, but ill-informed and easily manipulated, folk being used by the right wing-nuts to score political points.  Some are right wing-nuts or special interests that are deliberately trying to confuse and obfuscate and manipulate Americans using fearmongering to reject healthcare reform, yet again, and, often, not based on their perception of the need for healthcare reform, but because it provides them a convenient opportunity to score political points against a political opponent.  In other words, any issue will do if it creates a backlash against the opposing party.

And, given the change in public attitudes regarding healthcare and the recognition that this crisis has serious economic implications in contrast with the economic and political forces opposing healthcare reform, this may be the last real chance we have for a very long time to make any progress toward solving our healthcare crisis.

At this point, we Americans who understand the importance of this issue are all going to have to stand up and claim ownership of this issue and make a concerted effort to get the debate back to what should be the real focus: single-payer universal healthcare v. for-profit insurance company-dominated healthcare. And our common goal should be working together to solve problems, not fearmonger.

It is amazing to me how many people have no idea what single-payer universal healthcare really is. They think it is socialized medicine, and it is not. It is a “hybrid” system that makes the government the insurer, reducing the overhead of for-profit insurers by about 26%, but the healthcare providers are still privately owned and controlled.

It is equally disturbing to find that many of the people making these wild accusations about what is in the healthcare bill haven’t read any of the proposals yet.  What’s worse, even our elected officials admit they haven’t read the bill(s) either, and some have already admitted they don’t intend to.  It’s hard to wrap my head around the level of arrogance an elected official must have in order to vote on a bill he or she hasn’t read.  Why do they think we put them in office?  We certainly didn’t put them there just so they’d have a media platform, and the ability to get contributions for the next campaign.

A perfect example is the “death panels” comment by Palin. There is no such thing as death panels where government officials or medical professional make life or death decisions about patients in any of the bills. What she was referring to is the end-of-life consultation provision in H.R.3200 which simply allows healthcare professionals to be reimbursed for the time they spend explaining the medical content of Living Wills, et al., to patients. These consultations are completely voluntary on the part of patients, who request a conference with the doctor or nurse practioner to sit down with the patient and explain what each provision in a Living Will (Advance Directive for Healthcare) means, medically speaking.  More about Living Wills later….

The other bill where the “death panel” charge was wrongfully made was regarding the Health Information Technology provision in the Stimulus bill: the provisions contained constitute an amendment to the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).  See http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/usc_sup_01_42.html for complete text). There is no provision in the stimulus bill for “death panels” which would review a patient’s medical records and decide to approve or deny coverage based on his or her value to society (age, general health, etc.).  Oddly enough, insurance companies do that now in their appeals process.

The Health Information Technology section is amending a previous bill that mandates a national database information exchange with a codified format that will allow health information systems to “speak” to each other and to access medical records of individuals. All this must conform to HIPAA standards regarding privacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_Accountability_Act ).

Now, back to Living Wills and the bogus “death panels” charge regarding the H.R.3200 (commonly referred to by the media as the healthcare bill or ObamaCare) –go to the Library of Congress website (http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111whxT0k:e513253), and see SEC. 1233. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION.  Advance care planning consultation “means a consultation between the individual and a practitioner described in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning….” and “An explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses;” and “An explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy [someone designated by the patient to make medical decisions should the patient become unconscious or incompetent],” and so on.

Every individual should have a Living Will (Advance Directive for Healthcare), which is a legal document with instructions on what to do should he or she (the patient) become ill or injured and is unable to communicate his or her wishes directly. The medical practicioner refers the patient to a number of resources (some funded by the government that are free or low cost), including attorneys and other professionals who can help the patient determine his or her resources and the options that are available to him or her should hr or she need hospice care or other special end-of-life services.  There is no “death panel” – no committee of government officials or healthcare professionals voting to see if grandma lives or dies.

Of all the misrepresentations made thus far, I find this the most objectionable, particularly since it is creating fear in the elderly about something which all of us need to address BEFORE WE BECOME INCOMEPTENT AND UNABLE TO MAKETHESE DECISIONS FOR OURSELVES. Shame on you, Sarah Palin, for promulgating this nonsense!

Now, if you recall, I stated early on in the piece that I don’t like the H.R.3200 healthcare bill (ObamaCare); so, you might ask yourself, why am I defending parts of it?  Well, it’s not the bill itself I am concerned about defending, it’s correcting the lies and propaganda.  In order for our country to get past the hyperpolarization and political gamesmanship that pervades the public forum, we must start speaking truthfully with accuracy and clarity about all the issues and bills – whether we like them or not.  In order to “speak truth to power,” we first must begin speaking truthfully.  If we don’t like a bill or are against an issue, we should be able to articulate truthfully the reasons why without resorting to fabrication, emotionalism and propaganda.  My concern is that we as a people have not made good decisions in the recent past, due in large part to the fact that we are too busy trying to manipulate each other rather than respectfully argue the pros and cons of an issue with truth, accuracy and clarity.

I believe that honesty may not always be the best policy, particularly if the truth does not serve your interests, but honesty is ALWAYS the sincerest form of respect.  When you respect someone, you are honest with them.  And it is time that our elected officials earned our respect by showing us the respect of being honest with us.

For those of you who are proactive in nature and responsible enough to want to inform yourselves, go to www.thomas.gov (the Library of Congress website) and search for bills using the word “healthcare.” You will come up with about 250 entries to work your way through. The two major proposals that have gotten some media attention are H.R. 3200 (ObamaCare) and H.R.676 (the only single-payer option that I am aware of), but there are about six other plans.

The bottom line is that we need accurate, complete, clear information. I believe that Obama made a mistake to not have a solid plan to discuss before holding these town hall meetings. However, these meetings could be effective if they were used to discuss possible provisions, their pros and cons, and find out from the people what they need and want rather than dictating to them what the administration thinks they need and want.

Timing is everything. Preparation is the next most important thing, and the administration blew it on both counts. But it is not too late for the American citizens to stand up and take the issue back from the special interests and insist on sanity, clarity and truthfulness. We need to get the country focused on solving problems rather than acting out in anger and ignorance, because whether you like any of the bills proposed or not, healthcare is the one, single most important issue that prevents American labor from being competitive internationally.

And it is a national shame that the richest country in the world ranks only 37th internationally in terms of healthcare – lower than all the European countries and even Cuba. As Robert Kennedy once said of America:  we can do better than this!  And we must if we want to regain our economic power and stability.

Where does America rank in healthcare quality and efficiency?

The assault on healthcare reform has begun. For the next three years, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs and other halthcare profiteers will spend billions in advertising and more billions in lobbying to convince us that we have the BEST healthcare system in the world and that reform will ruin our system. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have claimed a reputation for quality healthcare by deceit. We are not the best in the world; we are 37th on the list behind most EU countries with government-run simgle-payer universal healthcare.

Single-payer government-managed healthcare is the only way to bring costs down. I have worked in several hospitals and clinics while in college and shortly after, so I am not speaking in ignorance.

The real problem is that insurance companies must make a profit, and to do so, they must up the premiums and deny as many claims as possible. When care is denied, it results in loss of life or loss of quality of life. Further, most insurance companies do not pay claims for preventive healthcare. They wait until the problem becomes chronic or acute, when it is too late and when the costs for healthcare go up astronomically.

The old standby fear-mongering that “a government bureaucrat will decide your healthcare” can easily be countered with the fact that WE ALREADY HAVE BUREAUCRATS DECIDING OUR HEALTHCARE — INSURANCE COMPANY BUREAUCRATS — and they do not have our best interests at heart, but rather the health of the company.

If the government provides the same healthcare as all Federal employees have available to them, that is an improvement, but not the best we can do. A better solution is for the government to put us all on the same basic coverage as Medicaid, but Federally run rather than State run. The premiums for those not indigent would be lower and the defaults for emergency care of indigent would be significantly less. It would profit us in the long run by having a healthier populace but, more important to business, a healthier workforce and less overhead to figure in the cost of labor for Big Business.

This would make us far more competitive with foreign labor (with the exception of the third world countries who treat their workers and citizens as expendable resources). Real reform in healthcare will only be possible with some government control over cost. I do not believe the value of a person’s life or quality of life should be sacrificed to the bottom line.

Arius (from another blog) said:
France, Germany, and Great Britain all have nationalized health care – and they ALL spend less per capita than we do. Stick THAT in your stethoscope and listen to it.

There is a theory that competition will bring prices down. So far it has not. There is more price-fixing among medical practices, pharmaceutical companies and HMOs than there is real competition that benefits the consumer. Competition does not guarantee a low price. Examples of how government cost regulation kept prices low is when they controlled milk prices when I was young. When the regulation ended, prices went up astronomically. And then there is the breakup of Ma Belle that was promised to lower our phone bills and improve our service than’s to competition. Well, our phone bills went up immediately after the break-up and the service went down, and this has been going on for a while now. Even the introduction of the mobile phone did not improve long-distance prices for land-line service, which is why most folks use a mobile phone for long distance calls, and many (especially the young) only have a mobile phone.

Arius is right. The superiority of our healthcare is a myth. Here is a good list of resources regarding world health statistics: http://search.who.int/search?ie=utf8&si … itesearch=

The following table shows where the US ranks in comparison to other countries in terms of healthcare systems and their efficiency (infant mortality, etc.). The US in 37, behind virtually every EU country and Canada.

So, don’t pretend that we are so superior to everyone else. We are not. For the U.S. to be 37th in the world is shameful given the resources that we have.

Table 1. Overall efficiency in all WHO member states
                         [Country names shortened by blogger]

1	France	96	Fiji
2	Italy	97	Benin
3	San Marino	98	Nauru
4	Andorra	99	Romania
5	Malta	100	St. Kitts & Nevis
6	Singapore	101	Moldova
7	Spain	102	Bulgaria
8	Oman	103	Iraq
9	Austria	104	Armenia
10	Japan	105	Latvia
11	Norway	106	Yugoslavia
12	Portugal	107	Cook Islands
13	Monaco	108	Syria
14	Greece	109	Azerbaijan
15	Iceland	110	Suriname
16	Luxembourg	111	Ecuador
17	Netherlands	112	India
18	U.K.	113	Cape  Verde
19	Ireland	114	Georgia
20	Switzerland	115	El Salvador
21	Belgium	116	Tonga
22	Colombia	117	Uzbekistan
23	Sweden	118	Comoros
24	Cyprus	119	Samoa
25	Germany	120	Yemen
26	Saudi Arabia	121	Niue
27	U.A.E.	122	Pakistan
28	Israel	123	Micronesia
29	Morocco	124	Bhutan
30	Canada	125	Brazil
31	Finland	126	Bolivia
32	Australia	127	Vanuatu
33	Chile	128	Guyana
34	Denmark	129	Peru
35	Dominica	130	Russia
36	Costa Rica	131	Honduras
37	U.S.A.	132	Burkina Faso
38	Slovenia	133	Sao Tome &  Principe
39	Cuba	134	Sudan
40	Brunei Darussalam	135	Ghana
41	New Zealand	136	Tuvalu
42	Bahrain	137	Côte  d’Ivoire
43	Croatia	138	Haiti
44	Qatar	139	Gabon
45	Kuwait	140	Kenya
46	Barbados	141	Marshall Islands
47	Thailand	142	Kiribati
48	Czech Republic	143	Burundi
49	Malaysia	144	China
50	Poland	145	Mongolia
51	Dominican Republic	146	Gambia
52	Tunisia	147	Maldives
53	Jamaica	148	Papua New Guinea
54	Venezuela	149	Uganda
55	Albania	150	Nepal
56	Seychelles	151	Kyrgyzstan
57	Paraguay	152	Togo
58	South Korea	153	Turkmenistan
59	Senegal	154	Tajikistan
60	Philippines	155	Zimbabwe
61	Mexico	156	Tanzania
62	Slovakia	157	Djibouti
63	Egypt	158	Eritrea
64	Kazakhstan	159	Madagascar
65	Uruguay	160	Viet Nam
66	Hungary	161	Guinea
67	Trinidad & Tobago	162	Mauritania
68	St. Lucia	163	Mali
69	Belize	164	Cameroon
70	Turkey	165	Laos
71	Nicaragua	166	Congo
72	Belarus	167	North Korea
73	Lithuania	168	Namibia
74	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	169	Botswana
75	Argentina	170	Niger
76	Sri Lanka	171	Equatorial Guinea
77	Estonia	172	Rwanda
78	Guatemala	173	Afghanistan
79	Ukraine	174	Cambodia
80	Solomon Islands	175	South  Africa
81	Algeria	176	Guinea-Bissau
82	Palau	177	Swaziland
83	Jordan	178	Chad
84	Mauritius	179	Somalia
85	Grenada	180	Ethiopia
86	Antigua & Barbuda	181	Angola
87	Libya	182	Zambia
88	Bangladesh	183	Lesotho
89	Macedonia	184	Mozambique
90	Bosnia & Herzegovina	185	Malawi
91	Lebanon	186	Liberia
92	Indonesia	187	Nigeria
93	Iran	188	Congo
94	Bahamas	189	Central African Republic
95	Panama	190	Myanmar
		191	Sierra Leone

 

http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper30.pdf. p. 18

More about flu vaccines

What are vaccines and toxoids?

When you are exposed to a live virus in nature, your body tries to fight it by building antibodies. If your body is successful, you develop immunity much as if you have been vaccinated. If your body is not successful, you contract the disease (become symptomatic).

Immunity can be acquired naturally or artificially. In either case, the host is exposed to an antigen (foreign protein), the antigen is recognized, and the host builds a complex immune response to neutralize the antigen.

Vaccines artificially expose the host to antigens which then elicit an immune response. There are two types of vaccines: killed vaccines and modified live [attenuated] vaccines (MLV). Killed vaccines are composed of agent antigens but not living agent. Modified live vaccines are composed of non-virulent, living strains of the agent [virus or antivirulent bacteria].

Toxoids are harmless derivatives of microbiologic toxins that simulate an active immune response to toxins released by pathogens and other poisonous sources (i.e., tetanus toxoid). (http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/hs161/hint-vaccines.htm)

Modified live (attenuated) vaccines (MLV) are quicker acting and more immediately effective.

Killed vaccines may be killed viruses, killed bacteria called bacterins, or killed toxins called toxoids that were created and killed by either heat or chemicals.

In killed vaccines an adjuvant is added to the solution of killed organisms to help it stimulate the immune system. Dead virus or bacteria are not as easily recognized by the immune system without an adjuvant. The adjuvant also holds the killed organisms at the injection site. This allows time for the immune cells to respond to it. (http://www.productionvalues.com/ProductionValues/vaccine_basics/vaccine_basics.html)

…[A]ntibodies made in response to vaccination with one strain of influenza viruses can provide protection against different, but related strains. A less than ideal match may result in reduced vaccine effectiveness against the variant viruses, but it still can provide enough protection to prevent or lessen illness severity and prevent flu-related complications. In addition, it’s important to remember that the influenza vaccine contains three virus strains so the vaccine can also protect against the other two viruses. For these reasons, even during seasons when there is a less than ideal match, CDC continues to recommend influenza vaccination. This is particularly important for people at high risk for serious flu complications and their close contacts. (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/season.htm)

How are these vaccines made and who decides which strains to put in the yearly flu vaccine? 

Each year, three strains are chosen for selection in that year’s flu vaccination by the WHO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Influenza_Centers”>Global Influenza Surveillance Network. The chosen strains are the H1N1, H3N2, and Type-B strains thought most likely to cause significant human suffering in the coming season (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#cite_note-102#cite_note-102).  

…[A]ntibodies made in response to vaccination with one strain of influenza viruses can provide protection against different, but related strains. A less than ideal match may result in reduced vaccine effectiveness against the variant viruses, but it still can provide enough protection to prevent or lessen illness severity and prevent flu-related complications. In addition, it’s important to remember that the influenza vaccine contains three virus strains so the vaccine can also protect against the other two viruses. For these reasons, even during seasons when there is a less than ideal match, CDC continues to recommend influenza vaccination. This is particularly important for people at high risk for serious flu complications and their close contacts.  http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/season.htm)

The composition of virus vaccines for use in the 2008-2009 Northern and Southern Hemispheres influenza season recommended by the World Health Organization on February 14, 2008 (http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/vaccine_north2008_9/en/index1.html) was: 

• an A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1)-like virus;
• an A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus (A/Brisbane/10/2007 was used at the time);
• a B/Florida/4/2006-like virus (B/Florida/4/2006 and B/Brisbane/3/2007 (a B/Florida/4/2006-like virus) were used at the time).  (http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/recommendations2008_9north/en/index.html) and http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/recommended_compositionFeb08FullReport.pdf)

 

The composition of virus vaccines for use in the 2009-2010 Northern Hemisphere influenza season recommended by the World Health Organization on February 12, 2009 http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/vaccine_north2009_10/en/index1.html)  was:

an A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1)-like virus;

• an A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus;
• a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#cite_note-101#cite_note-101 and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#cite_note-102#cite_n)

H1N1 influenza-A is actually a hybrid or re-assortment of human, H5N1 avian virus and swine flu strains. 

Some thoughts about this hybrid strain of “swine” flu….

Let’s talk flu (influenza), specifically, the new hybrid strain of “swine” flu, as it has been affectionately called until yesterday.   “Swine” flu is a misnomer, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has now designated it as the H1N1 influenza A strain (H1N1-A will be the unofficial abbreviation used to refer to this strain herein).  Why? Because H1N1-A is actually a hybrid or re-assortment of human, avian and swine flu strains.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate that our Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Institute of Health (NIH) and the WHO are on top of this. Focusing our efforts and resources on prevention and immediate appropriate response is important.  But panic is never called for, nor does it ever improve the situation — it only makes things worse.  One example is Egypt’s slaughtering of all pigs in the country.  Thanks to the WHO for making an effort to combat the ignorance.  Pigs are not the problem.  Let me be plain:  you cannot get the h1n1 a strain of the flu virus from eating cooked pork.

How is this strain transmitted? The NIH and WHO have told us that this strain is passed human-to-human, meaning contact with pigs is not how you “catch” this strain of the virus.  One of the traits of any germ (virus, bacteria, microbial, parasite) is transmission — how they are passed from one victim to another.  They can be air-borne, blood-borne, water-borne, transmitted by physical contact, or ingested.  This H1N1 influenza A strain can be transmitted by contact. or air-borne, as is my understanding. Further, “scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics” (http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-sci-swine-reality30-2009apr30,0,1930617.story).

What are vaccines and toxoids?

When you are exposed to a live virus in nature, your body tries to fight it by building antibodies. If your body is successful, you develop immunity much as if you have been vaccinated. If your body is not successful, you contract the disease (become symptomatic).

Immunity can be acquired naturally or artificially. In either case, the host is exposed to an antigen (foreign protein), the antigen is recognized, and the host builds a complex immune response to neutralize the antigen.

Vaccines artificially expose the host to antigens which then elicit an immune response. There are two types of vaccines: killed vaccines and modified live [attenuated] vaccines. Killed vaccines are composed of agent antigens but not living agent. Modified live vaccines are composed of non-virulent, living strains of the agent [virus or antivirulent bacteria].

Toxoids are harmless derivatives of microbiologic toxins that simulate an active immune response to toxins released by pathogens and other poisonous sources (i.e., tetanus toxoid). (http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/hs161/hint-vaccines.htm)

Modified live (attenuated) vaccines (MLV) are quicker acting and more immediately effective.

Attenuated means the virus cannot cause disease but it can reproduce in the body cells and stimulate immunity. (http://www.productionvalues.com/ProductionValues/vaccine_basics/vaccine_basics.html)

Killed vaccines may be killed viruses, killed bacteria called bacterins, or killed toxins called toxoids that were created and killed by either heat or chemicals.

In killed vaccines an adjuvant is added to the solution of killed organisms to help it stimulate the immune system. Dead virus or bacteria are not as easily recognized by the immune system without an adjuvant. The adjuvant also holds the killed organisms at the injection site. This allows time for the immune cells to respond to it. (http://www.productionvalues.com/ProductionValues/vaccine_basics/vaccine_basics.html)

…[A]ntibodies made in response to vaccination with one strain of influenza viruses can provide protection against different, but related strains. A less than ideal match may result in reduced vaccine effectiveness against the variant viruses, but it still can provide enough protection to prevent or lessen illness severity and prevent flu-related complications. In addition, it’s important to remember that the influenza vaccine contains three virus strains so the vaccine can also protect against the other two viruses. For these reasons, even during seasons when there is a less than ideal match, CDC continues to recommend influenza vaccination. This is particularly important for people at high risk for serious flu complications and their close contacts. (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/season.htm)

Given all the misinformation and rumors flying about, I thought it might be time to address some of the myths and truths.  Let’s start with the myths:

Myths

1.  Myth:  This pandemic is being used by the government to distract us from all the ‘bad” things it is doing.

It is inevitable that someone will always raise suspicion about a “Wag the Dog” scenario (distracting Americans from what’s going on with a crisis or war).  But the reality is most Americans are already distracted enough with trying to find a job, pay their mortgage, etc. – all those daily and monthly personal challenges that keep them too bushed to realize what’s going on until it has already happened.

2.  Myth:  The government is going to institute forced quarantine in FEMA concentration camps.

The reason this H1N1-A strain of swine flu does not present that option is because it is NOT 100% fatal or even highly virulent or toxic in its current form.  The fatalities so far could probably be considered about what you get from a pandemic of the “regular” human flu.  If this strain mutated or re-assorted (swapped genes) with another virus and became highly toxic or fatally virulent, and the casualties were so high as to warrant this for public safety, it might be possible to “sell” mass quarantines to Americans  But we are a LONG way from that scenario.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:  More than 13,000 people in the U.S. have died of complications from seasonal flu since January; and it’s expected to continue killing hundreds of people a week. In total, about 36,000 people a year die from the flu in this country; and worldwide, the annual death toll is somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000. One scientist tells the Los Angeles Times that just because the swine flu is being identified in more countries doesn’t mean it’s spreading especially quickly, saying: ‘You don’t ever find anything that you don’t look for.’  (http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/30/has-swine-flu-story-been-overblown/)

3.  Myth:  This strain (H1N1 influenza A) re-assortmentcould only have been genetically engineered in a “black” laboratory and/or is a test for bioweapons..

Flu viruses are known to be notoriously unpredictable, and this [or any live] strain could mutate at any point — becoming either more benign or dangerously severe. But mounting preliminary evidence from genetics labs, epidemiology models and simple mathematics suggests that the worst-case scenarios are likely to be avoided in the current outbreak.

“This virus doesn’t have anywhere near the capacity to kill like the 1918 virus,” which claimed an estimated 50 million victims worldwide, said Richard Webby, a leading influenza virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn….

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health published genetic sequence data Monday morning of flu samples isolated from patients in California and Texas, and thousands of scientists immediately began downloading the information. Comparisons to known killers — such as the 1918 strain and the highly lethal H5N1 avian virus — have since provided welcome news.

“There are certain characteristics, molecular signatures, which this virus lacks,” said Peter Palese, a microbiologist and influenza expert at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. In particular, the swine flu lacks an amino acid that appears to increase the number of virus particles in the lungs and make the disease more deadly…. And a pandemic doesn’t necessarily have a high fatality rate…. As the virus adapts to its human hosts, it is likely to find ways of spreading more efficiently. But evolution also suggests it might become less dangerous, Olsen said…. The longer the virus survives, the more chances it has to mutate into a deadlier form. (http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-sci-swine-reality30-2009apr30,0,1930617.story)

Mosquitoes are responsible for more disease and deaths in ONE year than all the wars since the beginning of time.  Mosquitoes bite humans, pigs and birds, so it is quite possible for all three strains of the virus to find a common host (initially, the mosquito) and be transferred to a human or animal host, where, in either place, it can “percolate” and re-assort (swap genes), creating this new strain.  Voila!  No gene-splicing or black laboratories operating in stealth creating bioweapons had to make this strain. 

Viruses mutate and re-assort (swap genes) all the time, both naturally and with genetic engineering.  This strain of the flu virus is a re-assortment of swine flu, avian (bird) flu and human flu.  All that would be required to possibly create a mutation or reassortment/gene swapping among these three strains would be a common host and it would not even be necessary for all three strains of the virus a present in the same host at the same time.

How could the virus be transmitted from host-to-host?

One possibility is insects.  Let’s entertain my “off-of-the-top-of-my-head” theory on possible transmission of all three strains to one host.  Mosquitoes and birds don’t pay attention to borders or border guards.  They are disease carriers — famous for carrying diseases like malaria, West Nile virus, Western Equine Encephalitis, yellow fever and many, many other diseases.  A mosquito could bite an infected pig and/or bird and/or person and have all three viruses in its body at the same time.  Each time the mosquito bit another host, those viruses would be present and “percolating” away, eventually re-assorting/swapping genes or mutating, adopting some common characteristics of each strain.  Or, a person infected with human flu strain could go to his job at a pig farm, come in contact with an infected pig, acquire the swine flu strain, and get bitten by a mosquito who fed off a bird infected with the avian flu strain, and, voila! — all three strains are now living in one host and percolating away….

So far as we know, this H1N1-A strain of the flu virus has been primarily passed human-to-human via physical contact or air-borne (much like human flu is passed).  The fact that this outbreak occurred right around Spring Break explains a possible “logistics” of the transmission to the U.S. and other countries, since Mexico is know for its hospitality.  Thanks to a blogger (Brisbane), I became aware that there is a theory that an accidental shipping of a mixture of strains of the highly contagious (easily spread) human H2N3 virus was shipped with the highly virulent H1N5 avian flu in about February of this year, but all original sources say this was contained, and it is highly unlikely that it played a part in this new H1N1-A strain. (http://www.prisonplanet.com/medical-director-swine-flu-was-cultured-in-a-laboratory.html; http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baxter_International) It was discovered when the test subjects (ferrets) died suddenly and unexpectedly after being administered the test vaccine. Additionally, there is no evidence that the original strain of swine flu was ever introduced in any of these strains or exposed in any hosts.

There is the odd chance that this strain could be passed by any insect or animal carriers.  That’s how West Nile was spread. That is how malaria is spread. Mosquitoes are responsible for more deaths ANNUALLY than all the wars since the beginning of time collectively.  And Mexico, where the outbreak seemingly has occurred, has a warm climate and opportunity for insects like mosquitoes to come into contact with humans, pigs and birds.

4.  Myth:  You can catch this strain of “swine” flu from pigs.

This hybrid “swine” flu strain (H1N1-A), is transmitted human-to-human as far as we can tell.  It is possible for a carrier from another species to pass it from one host to another, but pigs have not been found to carry this human strain of the virus, rather, only the original swine flu strain.  Likewise with birds.  So killing all the pigs in the world won’t prevent this strain of the virus from propagating.

GENEVA – The World Health Organization [WHO] announced Thursday it will stop using the term “swine flu” to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift came a day after Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu….  ‘Rather than calling this swine flu … we’re going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A,’ Thompson said. Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs Wednesday even though experts said swine flu is not linked to pigs and not spread by eating pork. Angry farmers protested the government degree. In Paris, the World Organization for Animal Health said Thursday ‘there is no evidence of infection in pigs, nor of humans acquiring infection directly from pigs.’  Killing pigs ‘will not help to guard against public or animal health risks’ presented by the virus and ‘is inappropriate,’ the group said in a statement.  (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090430/ap_on_he_me/un_who_swine_flu).  For similar info, see http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1894703,00.html?cnn=yes).

5.  Myth:  We need to take DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) off the banned pesticide list (and de-regulate all the EPA’s banned pesticides and fungicides.

In the course of reading about flu and how it is transmitted and, then, mosquitoes and how they are the #1 carrier of disease, I found out some interesting facts that address another myth going around:  that we need to resurrect DDT.  Not so.  Allow me to explain why.  DDT is an insecticide that has been proven to cause harm to both bees and bird eggs (the shells become too thin to last through hatching).  DDT also stays within the soil for quite some time, and it enters our water sources through run-off from rainwater and/or floods.  

In the second half of World War II, it was used with great effect among both military and civilian populations to control mosquitoes spreading malaria and lice transmitting typhus, resulting in dramatic reductions in the incidence of both diseases.

In 1962, Silent Spring by American biologist Rachel Carson was published. The book catalogued the environmental impacts of the indiscriminate spraying of DDT in the US and questioned the logic of releasing large amounts of chemicals into the environment without fully understanding their effects on ecology or human health. The book suggested that DDT and other pesticides may cause cancer and that their agricultural use was a threat to wildlife, particularly birds. Its publication was one of the signature events in the birth of the environmental movement. Silent Spring resulted in a large public outcry that eventually led to most uses of DDT being banned in the US in 1972.^[4] DDT was subsequently banned for agricultural use worldwide under the Stockholm Convention, but its limited use in disease vector control continues to this day in certain parts of the world and remains controversial.^[5]

Along with the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the US ban on DDT is cited by scientists as a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle in the contiguous US.^[6]  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT)

DDT was attributed to the near extinction of the bald eagle.  Eagles are an apex predator (meaning they are one of the ones on top of the food chain).  When eagles or other birds of prey or other apex predators become endangered, it is a sign that the environment and their habitat are being damaged.  Fortunately, this is no longer a problem. 

Public Enemy Number One:  Insects, particularly Mosquitoes

At least 140 species of birds, including songbirds, hawks, owls, eagles, waterfowl, woodpeckers and hummingbirds, have tested positive for West Nile virus in the United States. At least 77 of those species are found in Washington. Corvids (ravens, crows, jays, magpies, etc.) are the group most commonly affected by the virus. (See http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/research/west_nile/wnvaffected.html for a list of wildlife species that have tested positive for West Nile virus elsewhere in the United States). Besides birds, some free-ranging mammal species, including caribou, squirrels, wolves, bear, and deer, have tested positive for the virus.  (http://wdfw.wa.gov/factshts/westnilevirus.htm)

Now let’s discuss some truths about the virus and how to prevent it:

Truth

1.  Truth:  It has been proven that insecticides and other chemical pesticides are not good long-term solutions for killing disease-carrying insects and vermin.

Adult female mosquitoes require blood to reproduce, so they seek out creatures with circulatory systems. Their quest is enabled by the fact they are attracted to the signature of carbon dioxide that humans and animals emit when we exhale. Traps have been developed using this principle.  (http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-mosquitoes/)

A variety of options should be considered, though existing chemical pesticides typically cause more long-term problems than they solve. Chemical poisons kill natural mosquito predators more effectively than mosquitoes. Over time, predators such as fish, mosquito-eating insects and bats die out, while mosquitoes develop resistance, enabling them to multiply in ever-larger numbers in a losing battle often referred to as “the pesticide treadmill.’ (http://www.batcon.org/bhresearcher/bv8n2-4.html)

An easier and better, more lasting solution would be using natural biological means:

Fish, dragonfly nymphs and diving beetles are natural predators of mosquito larvae, while dragonflies, birds and bats feed on adults (http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05526.html).

Such as mosquito dunks:

For pools and ponds too large to be dumped, one simple option is the mosquito dunk that utilizes a bacteria that is only lethal to insect larva. The dunks, shaped like small donuts, use a bacterially derived pesticide called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti). Bti disrupts the life cycle of insects that lay their eggs in standing or running water.

It is non-toxic to humans, amphibians, fish, crustaceans, adult insects, flatworms and mollusks. Neither is it toxic to insect predators of the mosquitoes, such as dragonflies. The dunks are inexpensive, can be simply dropped into the breeding pools and generally last for several weeks to months. The dunks will usually survive if the pool dries out and is then refilled with rain or drainage water, according to Robinson. (http://agnewsarchive.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/ENTO/Jul1403a.htm).

or mosquito-eating bats, like in TX:

Another way to control for flying insects is to establish air superiority. For mosquitoes, ruling the skies means encouraging allies such as bats. (http://agnewsarchive.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/ENTO/Jul1403a.htm).

 

Individuals of some bat species can capture from 500 to 1,000 mosquitoes in a single hour^1,2, and large colonies can consume enormous quantities. For example, a Florida colony of 30,000 southeastern bats (Myotis austroriparius) was estimated to consume 50 tons (45 t) of insects annually, including over 15 tons (13.5 t) of mosquitoes,³ and from 77.4% to 84.6% of little brown bats (M. lucifugus) living in the northern U.S. and Canada eat mosquitoes.^4,5 Nursing mothers of these species eat up to their body weight in insects nightly^6, and often can be attracted to live in bat houses.⁷( http://www.batcon.org/bhresearcher/bv8n2-4.html)  

For more info:  http://www.batcon.org/ or http://www.batcon.org/bhresearcher/bv8n2-4.html; http://www.birdsamore.com/critters/bats.htm

or mosquito-eating birds:

A number of national organizations, states and towns have recognized the value of Purple Martins and other swallows in helping to control mosquitoes and other flying insect pests.  Similar recognition has been given to bats, as another natural predator, feeding on flying insects (http://skipper.physics.sunysb.edu/mosquito/mosquito.DOC).

or mosquito-eating fish:

The larval stage is aquatic and feeds on subsurface micro-organisms. Mosquito larva when first hatched are about one-sixteenth inch long. When mature, they measure as much as a quarter inch long. They don’t have gills and must move to the surface to breathe. To do so, they don’t so much swim but wiggle. Hence, among those on familiar terms with insects, such as Dr. James Robinson, Extension entomologist, the larva are known as ‘wigglers’….

In farm ponds, fathead minnows, bluegill and many other species of sunfish will readily eat wigglers. Gambusia, or mosquitofish as they are called, particularly like wigglers. In ornamental backyard ponds, goldfish or koi carp will control the wigglers as well. Amphibians such as frogs and salamanders present in ponds may also help.  (http://agnewsarchive.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/ENTO/Jul1403a.htm)

2.  Truth:  Prevention is the greatest factor in deterring any disease or disease-carrying insect infestation. 

You can best prevent disease by frequent hand-washing and coughing or sneezing into the crook of your arm – not your hands, which you use to touch doorknobs, shake hands, etc.  Practice good personal hygiene, kitchen, bathroom and general home hygiene.  Stay home if you are sick so as not to infect others at work, school or in public places.  Get plenty of rest, drink lots of water and juice, eat right and exercise.  In other words, all the things that you should be doing anyway.

Prevent insect infestation by making sure there is not a nurturing habitat in which insects can live and breed.  Don’t leave food out.  Treat your pets for parasites.  Make sure there is no standing water wherein the female mosquitoes can lay their eggs is the best way to prevent infestation.  Keep your grass cut.  Make sure you have screens on your windows.  But you can’t get rid of mosquitoes completely, even with all the chemical and natural means of killing them.

A final word

Arrogance and impatience should not drive decision-making when it comes to using pesticides that are harmful to the environment, to wildlife and, ultimately, to humans.  It is easy to rationalize that it is OK when allowing emotions to give in to fear-mongering, even when there is significant proof to the contrary.  

Nor should we let ourselves be seduced by anti-government/anti-regulation/anti-environmental activists that don’t see the big picture in protecting our environment or who are using this “crisis” to fulfill their own political agenda.

Fear-mongering and the panicked, emotional, “knee-jerk” reactions are the enemy to successfully fighting this or any pandemic or health threat. Remember, when you find yourself reacting, you’re not in control….

UPDATE: Thanks to Shar, a fellow blogger, I became aware of an article written in the UK that discusses the possible source of the virus (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/27/swine-flu-search-outbreak-source) This article suggests that a pig farm located in Mexico (already under investigation for illegal dumping) may have illegally dumped waste into a waterway, thereby infecting an entire town nearby.  Half of the town became ill (about 1800 people), but it was before the outbreak of this strain of flu was identified. The samples that were extant were sent to a lab in America, where they have been confirmed to be the H1N1 influenza A virus. This happened in February of this year. Please check it out!