Flu death statistics, myths.

[Una]

nak

How often do people die of the flu? This article, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460645,00.html said that 36,000 people die of it annually. I don't know that I believe that, and I was hoping that some of you wise mama's had any links to solid information.

The article has several myths that they are busting.

I especially dislike the first "myth" they attempt to disprove in the article. Essentially they are saying that if you don't get get it not only will you miss out on work because you're going to be miserable, but you could also pass something on to someone that could REALLY do some harm.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by Una

nak

How often do people die of the flu? This article, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460645,00.html said that 36,000 people die of it annually. I don't know that I believe that, and I was hoping that some of you wise mama's had any links to solid information.

The article has several myths that they are busting.

I especially dislike the first "myth" they attempt to disprove in the article. Essentially they are saying that if you don't get get it not only will you miss out on work because you're going to be miserable, but you could also pass something on to someone that could REALLY do some harm.

The 36,000 people figure is very misleading. Here is a quote from Dr. Miller "The National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone (257 in 2001, 727 in 2002, 1,792 in 2003, 1,100 in 2004, and 1,812 in 2005). Bacterial pneumonia causes some 60,000 deaths each year, mainly in the winter, when surveillance data show increased prevalence of the flu virus. Using a mathematical (Poisson) regression model, officials estimate that the flu virus triggers some of the winter-time deaths from pneumonia, along with deaths in people with cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses. More than 34,000 of those "36,000" flu deaths are what officials estimate are "influenza-associated" pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths."

here is the whole article http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller27.html

Myth #1 pisses me off. So I should inject myself with toxic chemicals and contribute to weakening my own immune system to protect others who may have a poor immune system already??

Myth #5 also irks me . "But even if the vaccination doesn’t prevent someone from getting the flu, it still prevents the severity of the illness overall, Fiore said." I have gotten the flu several times in my life (and I know the difference bewteen a cold and the flu) and the time I was the SICKEST was the time I got that stupid vaccine.

[Full Heart]

What gets me is that 36,000 has not dropped any despite rising flu vax rates.

AARP just had an article about how ineffective it is for the elderly and despite a majority of the elderly is vaxed it has not reduced deaths at all. I would like to see an article where those myths are exposed!

[Sileree]

There have been a few articles out about this in some British medical journals. The links are on my other computer, I'll have to post them later.

[Una]

Myth number two bothers me a lot as well. They go on to say that getting the shot doesn't cause you to get sick, or to get others sick, but then they go on to mention FluMist. I'm not at all convinced that squirting a live virus up someones nose won't get them sick.

[Sileree]

Here are the two BMJ articles:

Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence

Are US flu death figures more PR than science?

[Scattershoot]

From the article:

In a good year, the vaccine is about 70-90 percent effective in preventing the flu in the general population

According to this WEBMD article, the flu shot didn't help once single bit (0 percent effective) in theses two studies.

http://www.weather.com/activities/he...l?from=hp_news

What always interests me is when researchers start throwing around numbers, as if they can't completely create those numbers out of thin air. It's like the new "safe" amount of melamine which is officially one part per million now. All you heard was melamine will kill you, and it is deadly poison, then all of a sudden there's an actual "safe" amount allowed in what some people give babies. We know it's safe because the FDA told us. Like Vioxx and mercury.

The flu death numbers are just as ridiculous in my opinion. They always throw out the 36,000, but almost NEVER mention it's a combined number. The flu only numbers are much, much smaller. Then those numbers are very dubious as well. You have an elderly person, given tons of meds, lying in a bed most of the day in a depressing nursing home. That person has a load of health issues. That person gets the "flu" and dies and they list the cause as the flu, when it was obviously a host of other factors.

The vaccinate by guilt method is really the big push now. "If you don't care about yourself or your own children, at least try and care about the other helpless children of the world." You could dedicate your entire life to helping children in need, but somehow if you don't decide to inject yourself with potentially deadly toxins that they admit don't work you are somehow a neglectful and uncaring human being.