A rogue flu strain has surfaced in New Zealand, infecting even those who have had their annual vaccination.
Most flu sufferers this year have had the H1N1 influenza A strain, or swine flu, against which the latest vaccine offers good protection.
But about 8 per cent of cases have involved a new strain that had changed quite a lot, National Influenza Centre director Sue Huang said yesterday, and there had been a reported surge in immunised people catching flu.
The problem was caused by a different strain of the H3N2 influenza A virus surfacing unexpectedly this year, she said.
The flu vaccine had three components - two influenza A strains and one B strain - which were selected each year to match the strains predicted to strike the following winter.
More:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/10650629/Vaccine-no-match-for-rogue-flu-strain
_______________________Gary:
Its wrong to call this a "rogue": This flu is merely doing what a flu virus does - it mutates often. That's flu for you and this is why flu vaccines are of little value as an increasing number of studies are showing.
http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/04/is-seasonal-flu-vaccine-actually.html
What really annoys me about all this hype about flu is:
- Research shows that the annual flu vaccine is mostly ineffective http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/04/is-seasonal-flu-vaccine-actually.html
- There is an almost religious "flat earth" fervour amongst medical and health officials to the extent that even the mere suggestion that a particular vaccine may not be effective is met with howls of protest. Look at the facts please!
- Immunity from a vaccine is temporary at best; whereas the immunity gained from contracting the actual disease is lifelong and gives some resistance against the next variant. The more one contracts the flu, the less severe any further infections - I can attest to this personally as I have got older.
- Because the flu virus is constantly mutating there is one defence that we must focus on and that is our immune system - our defence system that has evolved with the millions of pathogens that occupy our environment. People who get really sick are the ones with compromised immune systems. Where's the advice on how to ensure our immune defences are robust?
Why is there no publicity about how to bolster our immune defences?
The answer is simple: There is no commercial benefit and, in fact, such advice is bad for business. Vaccines are worth millions of dollars to medical practices in New Zealand and worth even more millions to the all-powerful pharmaceutical industry.
How to bolster your family's immune defences
- High dose vitamin C.
- Echinacea and lysine.
- Selenium.
- Zinc.
- Magnesium - in fact - all the alkalising nutritional minerals.
- The B vitamins.
- The fat soluble vitamins - A, D, E and K.
- High antioxidant diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables and bright spices, especially turmeric.
- A diet that is rich in fats and proteins.
- Bone broths; especially chicken broth.
- Avoid stress - get relaxation time every day. Do an adrenal fatigue recovery programme (your adrenals help regulate your immune system). Contact me if you think you have adrenal fatigue.
- Do not over or under exercise - exercise should be invigorating - not exhausting.
- Promote habitual nose breathing, especially for children, asthmatics and anybody with lung or heart problems. Mouth breathing is a sure risk for ear, nose and throat infections. Mouth breathing further encourages the nasal tissues to swell and become infected - a vicious cycle of trouble! Do a Buteyko breathing course: Contact the Buteyko guru - Glenn White here http://www.buteykobreathing.
nz/ - Do Buteyko if you are a habitual snorer (snoring dries out and irritates the mouth and throat tissues making you a sitting duck for infections! http://www.buteykobreathing.
nz/Sleep-Apnea.html - Be aware that many prescription drugs can suppress or weaken your immune health, some deliberately. Contact me if you have any concerns about current medication.
- Expose yourself to infections such as colds and flus when you are in a healthy and rested condition - get the flu over and done with and you will be immune to that strain for life and resistant to any new variants. At worst, a healthy person will be out of action for no longer than 10 days (take even more vitamin C etc and broths when you are ill).
Even if you decide to go with the vaccines for your family, the decision to do so in no way reduces the importance that you concentrate on supporting your immune health. In fact, this may be more important because there is growing concern that most vaccines impart only partial and/or temporary immunity and may actually render the recipient more vulnerable to the target disease, requiring booster vaccines for life! Take the whooping cough vaccine for example - referring to this interesting collection of Pubmed studies:
And read this:
"The recent news articles to hit the mainstream media in the past week finally states what public health officials and epidemiologists have known for some time: those vaccinated against pertussis are carrying and spreading the bacteria and are responsible for most of the outbreaks."
My position regarding vaccines
I am still of two minds: I think there are benefits to be gained from vaccines; however, I think we have lost all perspective with the money-making benefits completely taking over the whole issue of immune health and disease control and, at the expense of promoting basic good health, including stress management, good nutrition, non-patent treatments and even the importance of good housing and sanitation.
There is no way we can vaccinate against the millions of bugs out there which are always adapting to what we throw at them chemically (take antibiotic resistance for example). Our only sure defence is our incredibly complex and effective immune system. This should be our focus, rather than trying to take over using costly and only partially effective technology.
Getting sick is part and parcel with being human - how we respond to an infection, such as a virus is the big question: A healthy person will have a virus done and dusted within about 10 days and ultimately better off due to a primed and more robust immune system; whereas an unhealthy person will be smashed and further weakened by the same pathogen.
Take Ebola for example: We should be engrossed in studying the survivors and those who have the antibodies but never fell seriously ill. How come they survived? What protected them? Nutrition and being generally in a good state of health is key, I would wager.
The jury is far from out regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccines. In the meantime, my advice is to concentrate on nurturing your inner defences.
