<http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/11/13/what-is-the-real-cause-of-influenza-epidemics.aspx>What
is the Real Cause of Influenza Epidemics?
flu, influenza, cold, flu shot, vaccination, inoculation, vitam
Influenza does not follow the predicted patterns
for infectious diseases. In fact, there are
several conundrums associated with influenza epidemics, such as:
1. Why is influenza both seasonal and ubiquitous
-- and where is the virus between epidemics?
2. Why are influenza epidemics so explosive?
3. Why do epidemics end so abruptly?
4. What explains the frequent coincidental timing
of epidemics in countries of similar latitudes?
5. Why did epidemics in previous ages spread so
rapidly, despite the lack of modern transport?
A theory gaining weight in the scientific
community explains influenza epidemics as a
result of a dormant disease, which become active
in response to vitamin D deficiency. This theory
provides answers for many of the above questions.
A disease that remains dormant until vitamin
D-producing sunlight exposure is reduced by a
winter or rainy season would explain a widespread
seasonal disease with a rapid onset and decline.
There is compelling epidemiological evidence that
indicates vitamin D deficiency is just such a
"seasonal stimulus." Recent evidence confirms
that lower respiratory tract infections are more
frequent, sometimes dramatically so, in those
with low levels of vitamin D. Researchers have
also found that 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day
abolished the seasonality of influenza, and
dramatically reduced its self-reported incidence.
Sources:
* <http://www.virologyj.com/content/5/1/29>Virology Journal 2008, 5: 29
*
<http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/22/bc-fku-shot-paralysis.html?ref=rss>CBCNews.ca
October 22, 2008
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
With flu season in full swing here in the United
States, you need to be aware that your vitamin D
levels play a direct role in your risk of getting the flu.
The vitamin D levels in your blood fall to their
lowest point during flu season, which generally
coincide with low-sunlight seasons. Less than
optimal vitamin D levels will significantly
impair your immune response and make you far more
susceptible to contracting colds, influenza, and other respiratory infections.
Dr. John Cannell and colleagues introduced the
hypothesis that influenza is merely a symptom of
vitamin D deficiency in their paper
<http://www.whale.to/a/cannell.html>Epidemic
Influenza and Vitamin D, published in the journal
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?orig_db=PubMed&db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=Epidemiology%20and%20infection%5BJour%5D%20AND%201129%5Bpage%5D%20AND%202006%5Bpdat%5D>Epidemiology
and Infection two years ago, which adds even more
weight to this latest research in the Virology Journal.
Unfortunately, conventional medicine’s answer to
preventing the flu is not to increase vitamin D
levels, but rather to encourage, or even mandate,
flu shots. What they don’t tell you is that flu
shots, at best don’t work, and at worst, can make your health worse.
New Studies Show Flu Shots Don’t Even Work
A recent study published in the October issue of
the
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?orig_db=PubMed&db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Archives%20of%20pediatrics%20%26%20adolescent%20medicine%22%5BJour%5D%20AND%202008%2F10%5Bpdat%5D%20AND%20Szilagyi%5Bauthor%5D>Archives
of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found that
vaccinating young children against the flu had no
impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor
visits during two recent flu seasons.
Additionally, no studies have conclusively proven
that flu shots prevent flu-related deaths among
the elderly, even though this is one of the key
groups to which they’re pushed.
Yet despite these findings, physicians like Dr.
Danuta Skowronski, epidemiologist at the B.C.
Centre for Disease Control, keep insisting that
the benefits of the flu vaccine outweigh the risks for most people.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
If you actually weigh the benefits found by these
studies (no apparent benefits) against the
reported risks (fever, malaise, the flu, allergic
reactions and Guillain-Barré syndrome, just to
name a few), you’d have to employ some fairly odd
math to come to that conclusion.
In the CBC News article above, a man who
contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome and was
paralyzed for almost five months after receiving
his flu shot wants to warn others of the risks
inherent in this widely pushed vaccine.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune disease
that attacks your nervous system – similar to
muscular sclerosis. The B.C. Centre for Disease
Control estimate your chances of developing that
particular disease from the flu shot as one in a
million. However, if you get it, the consequences can be severe.
Research Shows Optimal Vitamin D Levels Protect You From the Flu, Naturally
In the United States, the late winter average
vitamin D is only about 15-18 ng/ml, which is
considered a very serious deficiency state. It’s
estimated that over 95 percent of U.S. senior
citizens may be deficient, along with 85 percent
of the American public. No wonder the flu runs rampant each year.
Remarkably, researchers have found that 2,000 IU
of vitamin D per day abolished the seasonality of influenza!
Please note that this is far higher than the
recommended daily allowance (RDA) spouted by
public health agencies like the American Academy
of Pediatrics, which just announced that they’re
doubling the RDA of vitamin D for children to 400
IU. This new guidance still falls absurdly short
of what’s needed to keep kids healthy, especially during flu season.
In order to prevent the flu, children need 2,000
IU a day of vitamin D, while adults need anywhere
between 4,000 to 5,000 IU per day. The key is to
make sure you monitor your vitamin D levels by
blood testing, to make sure your levels are therapeutic and not toxic.
For more information about safe sun exposure and
tanning, vitamin D testing, and the recommended
forms of supplementation when sufficient sunlight
is not available, please see my article Test
Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency,
which includes recent, and vital, updates.
Vitamin D Can Also TREAT the Flu!
If you are taking the above doses of vitamin D
the odds of you getting the flu are very
remote. However, if you do come down with the
flu, keep in mind that you can also use vitamin D
therapeutically to TREAT the flu.
The therapeutic dose of vitamin D is 2,000 units
per kilogram of body weight (one pound is 0.45
kg). The dose would be taken once a day for
three days. (This could be a very large dose if
you are very heavy – as high as 2-300,000 units per day).
This is the dose that Dr. John Cannell, founder
of the Vitamin D Council, has been using very
successfully for a number of years.
If you start this program early on in the
illness, it should be able to completely wipe out the flu in short order.
Another useful supplement you could try, should
you come down with a case of the flu, is olive
leaf extract, which you can find in most any
health food store. Olive leaf extract has been
found to be a potent broad-spectrum antiviral
agent, active against all viruses tested,
including numerous strains of influenza and para-influenza viruses.
Related Articles:
[]
Avoid Flu Shots With the One Vitamin that Will Stop Flu in Its Tracks
[]
Flu Shot Facts -- Battling Influenza
[]
Mandatory Flu Shots for Preschoolers Cause Outrage
<*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}><
<*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the Kingdom!<*}}}><
Prayer for Unborn Life:
O GOD OF LIFE AND LOVE, You have given us the
gift to participate with You to bring new life
into the world. But, all too often, the mother's
womb, which should be a nursery of life, becomes
instead a place of it's destruction.
Help us to remove this evil and ensure respect
for all life made in Your image and likeness,
called to fulfill its promise on this earth,
and destined to find a home with you for all eternity.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our God, Our Savior, and Our ALL.
Amen.
<*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}><
<*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the Kingdom!<*}}}><
Prayer for Unborn Life:
O GOD OF LIFE AND LOVE, You have given us the
gift to participate with You to bring new life
into the world. But, all too often, the mother's
womb, which should be a nursery of life, becomes
instead a place of it's destruction.
Help us to remove this evil and ensure respect
for all life made in Your image and likeness,
called to fulfill its promise on this earth,
and destined to find a home with you for all eternity.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our God, Our Savior, and Our ALL.
Amen.
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