SWINE FLU

We are facing a pandemic of swine flu. We are told to wash our hands. The fact is that these viruses and bacteria are incubating on factory farms. On these farms the animals are confined in very close quarters and kept "healthy" by feeding them antibiotics as if they were food. Animals such as pigs, cattle, and chickens are fed tons of antibiotics. You are told not to give your child an antibiotic for an ear infection, because it might cause resistance to antibiotics. But these animals are given not a few pills, but tons of pills. This is the real cause of antibiotic resistance. If it is not stopped, the human race is going to be back in the age of having nothing to treat infections. Everything will be resistant to antibiotics. We are fast approaching that time. And there is not much that you or I can do about it.

The flu of 1918 was a swine flu and it was particularly deadly. One would think that one hundred years later we would not have to worry about a repeat of that flu. However, the more we have learned about it, the worse it sounds. We now know that particular flu killed its victims by over-stimulating the immune defense system. The people who died, died as a result of their immune defense systems going into overdrive and killing them. The victims were the healthiest members of society. They were not the very young or the elderly. The high death rate was among people between the ages of 20 and 50. The were the strongest and most productive members of the society.

What can we do today to fight the flu? Would medications that weaken the immune defense system and are given to transplant patients help to fight that type of flu? These are the immuno-suppressive drugs. Maybe that would help people who are severely ill. The best approach is to avoid the flu. I don't know whether the immune defense system actually helps to prevent flu. Maybe there are other factors involved in prevention. My own personal view of prevention is that it is important to avoid alcohol, sugar (desserts), processed foods, and fast foods. Avoid foods that contain sugar. This involves most of our familiar foods: cereals, breads, TV dinners, etc. Then certain supplements are important: potassium, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin C. Still, no one can know for certain how to fight it.