Could specialization in medicine be keeping us from finding an effective way to prevent a potentially disastrous bird flu epidemic?
Specialization in medicine - as in other branches of science and art - is an asset, but it also has its drawbacks. Invariably, specialized knowledge tends to develop where the money is, where grants and facilities are available. We have a myriad of experts analyzing the latest virus in great detail, dissecting it, defining its genetic sequences and its potential dangers. That is where the money is: development and manufacture of vaccines and drugs to counter that one specific threat, that specific mutation of the virus.
With all this attention on the details, we seem to miss the bigger picture. Could there be other, much better means of preventing a pandemic than tailor-making a vaccine or drug? Perhaps yes, but we are not looking - because all the money is in vaccine research, drug development and genetics.
A real preventive strategy would look at three areas:
It would look at where the constant supply of ever new viral strains comes from. Consequently, it would strive to make the bird population less prone to developing viral outbreaks. Chicken farms come to mind with their crowded conditions that promote the spread of any virus. Hygiene, better conditions for the birds, better nutrition for the birds, whatever is needed.
It would seek to develop and deploy a non-specific, all-encompassing immune enhancing strategy in humans. Some herbal or nutrient combination - not a vaccination - that actually makes persons more resilient and healthy. Strategies abound. We just need to decide on the best one, find the right combination.
It would seek to apply known effective anti-viral agents in those humans who have contracted a potentially pandemic virus. Vitamin C in megadose therapy comes to mind. It has been shown effective and should be given routinely by medical doctors and in hospitals - certainly until we find something better.
Too many virologists and not enough thinkers
Virologists will do what they were trained to do. They will come up with a vaccine that takes months to produce and routinely is of more than dubious effect. This is becoming more and more apparent in the yearly race for a flu vaccine. Guesswork is rampant and as often as not, the vaccine is useless or worse.
Why is it we don't think in terms of a sweeping strategy that starts with the source of contamination and strengthens human immune capacity in a general way while using what has already been proven effective?
Because all the money is in pharmaceuticals. All the research is about pharmaceuticals. All government regulators hear is the advice of pharmaceutical advisers and advertisers.
We have lost common sense, it seems, and are all worshiping the virus-god. We have a love-hate relationship with it. We study it and analyze it. We develop poisons to destroy it. We wage war against it. The war is fought right inside our bodies. It's poison against virus and incidentally, our body becomes the battle field. I bet if we really looked we could see the wounded and the dead...
Yet we have bodies that are immensely capable of dealing with any bacteria and any virus. It's routine, day in, day out. It has been going on for as long as human bodies exist. If we only supported our bodies in their vitality and in their capability of taking care of intruders, we would be fine.
The proponents of pharmaceutical intervention will say "bollocks you need to fight the virus". Make war on the virus, much like make war on drugs and make war on terrorism - affront and destroy the invader. Only - it doesn't seem to work. By directly opposing a generic threat, we end up perpetuating the problem instead of solving it. The next pandemic is as certain as the next sunday ball game, according to the experts.
My challenge is: Where is your comprehensive strategy? Are we not focused too narrowly on the virus of the moment while we forget to look at the larger picture?
Here are two recent articles to illustrate my point.
One is short and full of hope, and it goes a long way of starting us out on the way to a more sane strategy to get a grip on the problem. An Indonesian researcher has actually found a concoction - strange as it may seem - that has shown a promising effect. It apparently prevented "infected" chicks from getting sick. This was first published on Xinhuanet and later re-posted on the Curezone Forum.
The second article is a special report, recently published in the Scientific American. It is an illustration of what we are doing, how we are getting into the most minute detail, figuring out the moves of the "enemy", the virus and planning our counter-moves. The article does make fascinating reading but it also shows how we are eternally behind in finding a vaccine, and how we never seem to arrive at a real solution. Why?
Read and make up your own mind.
Even the comics are starting to weigh in on the discussion. And at times the comics - court jesters in the old times - are the only ones who dare say what the emperor does not want to hear. Here are links for you to enjoy Jon Stewart's scathingly brilliant Daily Show piece on the bird flu.
Quicktime Movie Link (106 MB)
MP3 Audio Link (6.7 MB)
So here is my question - why not look at the bigger picture? Pharma's profits are not ALL there is in this world!
Let me also give credit where credit is due. Here is an email from a friend in the UK, which did play a role in making me write this article. Otto says:
"There is a lot of talk on the subject of "Bird Flu", most of it hyped-up media reports, scare mongering and the Pharmas being fed hundreds of millions in consequence, for drugs which have no track record of successfully combating this human variant of that bug, the Pharmas don't even know yet which type it is and how to provide a cure. They must be laughing all the way to the bank !
But nobody is asking the question why this bug is not prevented from infecting birds in the first place and where and how it originates.
It's like the old Malaria. It's more effective eliminating the breeding grounds of mosquitoes spreading it rather than providing a cure for it, which needs constant adjustments to cope with new strains of it."
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See also:
Clinical Guide to the Use of Vitamin C
The Clinical Experiences of Frederick R. Klenner, M.D., abbreviated, sumarized and annotated by Lendon H. Smith, M.D.
Treatment of the flu with massive doses of vitamin C
Tamiflu - It Kills Rats! Does it stop Bird Flu?
The Observer: Roche makes a killing
Sunday October 23, 2005 - As panic spreads over avian flu, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant is accused of putting profits before people. Nick Mathiason reports
SENATE BILL 1873 BANS DRUG & VACCINE DAMAGE CLAIMS
This Latest Health Scare Could Wipe Out Millions… of Pounds
LA Times: An epidemic of overreaction
By Marc Siegel, MARC SIEGEL is an internist and associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine. He is the author of "False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear"
Bird Flu: Fearmongering For Total Control?
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And here are copies of the two articles cited - sometimes links go bad...
Indonesian researcher finds herbal formula to curb bird flu
(original on xinhuanet)
2005-09-15 20:48:57
JAKARTA, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- An Indonesian researcher has found a herbal formula to ward off bird flu virus on chicken, saying that there is a possibility of using the formula on other animals and humans.
Sumardi, 42, a researcher at the Food Technology School of Semarang's Soegipapranata Catholic University, accidentally found the formula in July.
In a telephone interview with Xinhua from the capital of Central Java Province of Semarang on Thursday, Sumardi said, the formula basically comprised four traditional medicinal plants: Java chili powder (piper retrofactum), white turmeric extract (curcuma xanthorriza), temu ireng extract (curcuma aeruginosa) and powder of fragrant wild ginger (zingiber aromaticum).
Sumardi mixed these four materials with bee honey, cane sugar, and some water.
Among the four basic materials, zingiber aromaticum had the strongest effect in blocking the attack of the lethal virus, he said.
"The zingiber aromaticum has ions of OH minus and OH plus that can easily react. It is strongly predicted that the ions curb the growth of H5N1 virus," he added.
The researcher cited that in normal conditions, one virus of H5N1 could develop into four within two seconds.
"So the scores of the bird flu virus in chickens being attacked will not increase, and the number of virus can be declined as the virus has a life cycle," he said, "So the chickens can survive, despite the fact that they grow slower."
These chickens are safe to be consumed as long as they are cooked with at least 80 degree Celsius, he said.
Sumardi said, in July he tried this formula with 400 chicks, which were places close to carcasses of chicken that had died of the H5N1 virus, somewhere in East Java province.
He divided these chicks into four groups of 100 each. The first group was given no medicine at all. The second group was given a low dose of 10 percent, the third group of 20 percent and the fourth 30 percent.
"On the fourth day, all the chicks treated with the formula with various doses had survived, but those without having the treatment all died," said Sumardi.
But, he said that if the formula was given to the poultry in too high doses it could decline chickens' desire to eat.
Asked whether the formula could be used for other animals such as goat, pig, and cow, he said, "I believe so, it needs an examination."