Posted on 12/24/2010 10:14:52 AM PST by Smokin' Joe
Intensive care units across Britain are almost full as the NHS faces one of the worst flu outbreaks in a decade.
Some hospitals have only one or two life-support machines left and critically ill patients are being transferred by ambulance to other trusts.... >snip< Senior doctors report that they are seeing the highest number of flu cases in more than 20 years and expect the situation to worsen over the coming weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Not to create a kerfluffle, but folks should be aware of this.
Love how they try to substitute swine flu for flu in the title while the article talks about flu in general.
Guess they are trying really hard to sell last years leftover and unwanted swine flu shots...
Pandemigogues!!!
=8-)
Fear of catching the swine flu is one of the reasons I don’t watch “The View”. (Stolen from that great American, Larry the Cable Guy).
I guess we better mandate flu shots for everyone. You think that government controlled health care might some day demand it, or deny you treatment if you refused your shot and got sick?
Thanks for the heads up. The flu is hitting hard around here right now.
It is H1N1 flu. That is why so many are ending up in intensive care and not just home in bed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/ferguswalsh/2010/12/is_swine_flu_a_worry.html
All they need to take is 10000 IU’s D3, unless they’ve outlawed nutritional supplements there. The D3 will prevent flu better than the flu shot, just without the mercury, msg, and animal body parts.
Anyone who wants to know what’s going on in the UK right now should read the daily news thread on the PFI forum. It will be here in the US shortly. Mutations have made it more aggressive, and there is a likelihood that neither having had a vax or previous infection will offer protection. I had swine flu last year and it took me months to get well. It’s not a hoax, overblown or made up. It’s real. And it will be much worse this year.
Here’s today’s News Thread, they have a new one daily:
http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewtopic.php?t=4276&start=0
Niman’s latest commentary this morning.
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12241002/H1N1_Cluster_Leicestershire.html
Commentary
H1N1 Death Cluster In Leicestershire UK Raises Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 17:20
December 24, 2010
Tests are being carried out to see if a number of people, including young children, have died from flu or respiratory disease.
It has been reported that three adults have died from swine flu and six children aged under five have died from viral respiratory diseases in Leicestershire in the past few weeks.
NHS managers refused to comment on the numbers until they have the results of laboratory tests to confirm the causes of death.
The above comments describe an H1N1 death cluster at Leicestershire, UK. However, since the cases have not been lab confirmed, they are not included in the HPA fatality list, which is a gross under-estimate. It is likely that similar unreported H1N1 deaths are widespread in the UK, s Since H1N1 is treatable with anti-virals, and treatment is most effective when started within 48 hours of symptoms, it is likely that many cases are tested and found to be positive, but unreported because cause of death has not been “verified”. Similarly, positives are also likely to be a gross under-estimate because the rapid test for H1N1 has a very low sensitivity (as low as 10%, which means that 90% of H1N1 infected cases test negative).
The recent report of 460 ICU cases, which are largely from H1N1, has sounded alarm bells because of the rapid rise in such cases (302 were reported three days earlier) and the limited ECMO capacity (which were severely taxed last season when only 180 patients were in ICU beds).
Thus, the true magnitude of the current and growing problem is not well understood by the general population, where vaccination rates are low, and mixed messages on “normal” flu deaths continue to misinform.
Interesting. I had the swine flue last year, and it sucked! There was a guy I grew up with that was in ICE for two weeks because of it.
The H1N1 didn’t hit as hard as was first feared, but is nothing to mess with.
The ‘pond’s’ not that far away...
btt
I’m not taking flu shots because they use thimersol (mercury) as a preservative. How can anyone tell me it’s safe to have this injected into my body when the people who remove it from the hospital do so treating the leftover shots as hazardous toxic waste?
I read this morning that Florida’s flu season has started early this year. With all the holiday travelers and even friends and relatives getting together from smaller areas, the bug is going to be spreading rapidly. Take precautions, y’all.
Thanks, Smokin’ Joe.
Will double up on vitamin D3. (The word “kerfluffle” tickles my funny bone. I’m easily amused.)
Merry Christmas!!
Ahhh, yes - time for the annual “government knows best” flu vaccine media blitz.
My elderly neighbor swears by the sun and fresh air. Whenever going out to the store or being around large crowds, he’ll come home and walk around the yard breathing deeply to clear his lungs. Of course, wash your hands frequently.
Importantly, the reason the NHS is overwhelmed with a relatively few number of IC patients, is because they, like most of the health systems in the West, including the US, are based on the “push” supply system.
This means they have very little extra of anything. They only get what they need for the number of patients they expect to have, plus just a little bit. Then, if say one hospital gets a few unexpected extra patients, all needing the same thing, say an antibiotic, they have to borrow supplies from other hospitals who have a little extra.
However, this can turn deadly in a hurry. As far as influenza goes, for example, the typical flu season in the US needs about 100,000 respirators. Nationwide, we have about 104,000 respirators.
This means that if there is a bad year for influenza, and you need a machine to help your breathe, you may very well get put on a waiting list.
And, of course, if there is a catastrophic health emergency, like a “killer” influenza, a LOT of people won’t be able to get any treatment at all.
And that is why we have triage. It means that the people who might live go here, the people who will probably die go there, and everybody else, well, it sucks to be you.
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