Swine Flu Kills Obese People: Is U.S. Primed for a Pandemic Catastrophe?

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) The fact that nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are clinically obese is worrisome for a whole new reason: Evidence emerging from a hospital in Michigan (and published by the CDC) appears to indicate that obese patients may be very easily killed by swine flu.

In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's report on death and disease, researchers documented the case of ten swine flu patients at a Michigan hospital who became so ill they were put on ventilators. Three of the patients ultimately died from the infection. The kicker? Nine of the ten were obese, and two of the three who died were severely obese.

As reported by Reuters, CDC virologist Dr. Tim Uyeki said, "What this suggests is that there can be severe complications associated with this virus infection, especially in severely obese patients."

Notably, five of the patients showed evidence of blood clots in their lungs, indicating severe cellular trauma in the lungs. Nine of the patients suffered from multiple organ failure, and six experienced kidney failure.

What it means for the U.S. population

These findings are especially worrisome because nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are now clinically obese. Combined with widespread vitamin D deficiency, nutritional deficiencies and pharmaceutically-induced immune suppression, the U.S. population is more vulnerable to a pandemic right now than any other population in the history of the world.

The American people, in other words, are primed for a pandemic. Virtually no one in America is both physically fit and nutritionally healthy anymore. Shockingly, most Americans don't even recognize physical fitness anymore, thinking that excess body fat is normal and that obese babies are just "chubby." Should the circulating swine flu combine with seasonal flu this fall, it could devastate the immunologically vulnerable U.S. population, potentially killing millions.

There's no mystery here

The number of patients reviewed in this study is quite small (only ten), but even so, this could be a warning sign of more deaths to come from infected, obese patients. Of course, there's really no mystery why obesity may cause extreme vulnerability to swine flu infections: The virus kills through an inflammatory process, and obesity is, itself, a highly-inflammatory condition that only exacerbates the deadliness of the H1N1 virus.

Patients who have made themselves obese -- for whatever reason -- have also unleashed a storm of inflammatory cytokines in their blood, and these cytokines are precisely what get over-excited during the body's response to a swine flu infection, leading to organ damage and death. This is precisely why people wishing to survive the coming pandemic must make a special effort to attain a high level of physical and nutritional health before such a pandemic arrives.

Being obese compromises your body's immune system, liver, heart, lungs and kidneys. This puts a serious additional burden on your body, leaving few spare resources for fighting off infections. That's probably why nine out of ten swine flu victims documented in the Michigan hospital were obese.

The bottom line in this study is quite clear: Don't be obese during the next pandemic. If you are obese now, let this bit of knowledge provide whatever extra motivation you need to drop some excess body fat and reduce the inflammatory burden on your body's organs. Obesity is, after all, readily reversed through simple changes in diet and exercise habits.

Make no mistake: There will be another deadly pandemic that sweeps through our population. No one knows whether H1N1 swine flu is the next "big" pandemic, but if it is, there will be a very clear pattern among those who are killed by it: People with poor health; who are poisoned by pharmaceuticals and chemical additives; who are obese, vitamin D deficient and who live on processed foods.

Don't be one of those people. Stay healthy, fit and well-nourished. Eat superfoods and living foods. Exercise at least three hours a week. Keep your body weight in check and you'll have a huge health advantage in not just the next pandemic, but also for your own longevity and wellbeing.

Stay healthy and you'll stay alive, through both good times and bad.

Sources: Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/midd... --end of article.

Comment: While the author comes on a bit strong, the take home message is that we are responsible for taking care of our body temples. Please don't be offended at the warning message!

Suzanne

Swine-Flu Forecast is Grim

In a disturbing new projection, health officials say up to 40% of Americans could get swine flu this year and next and severeal hundred thousands could die without a sucdessful vaccine campaign and other measures.

The estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are roughly twice the number of those who catch flu in a normal season and add greater weight to hurried efforts to get a vaccine ready for the fall flu season.

Swine flu has already hit the U.S. harder than any other nation, but it has struct something of a glacing blow that is more surprising than devastating. The virus has killed about 300 Americans, and experts think it has sickened over 1 million, comparable to a seasonal flu.

Health officials say flu cases might explode this fall, when schools open and become germ factories....The World Health Organization estimates that 2 billion could become infected worldwide.

The CDC estimates are based on a flu pandemic from 1957, which killed nearly 70,000 in the U.S. but was not as severe as the infamous Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19. The number of deaths and illnesses from the virus would drop if the pandemic peters out or if efforts to slow it are successful, according to CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.

While flu shots are being pushed, health officials might urge other measures such as avoiding crowded places, washing hands, covering coughs, etc.

Because so many more people are expected to catch the new flu, the number of deaths over 2 years could range from 90,000 to several hundred thousand, the CDC calculates. In a normal season, about 36,000 people die from flu and its complications. --The Denver Post, July 25, 2009.

Suzanne

Pig 'Flu Farms' Threaten Global Health

After dominating the news for weeks, swine flu has started to take a backseat to other concerns. But health officials have not forgotten that the 1918 flu pandemic first appeared as a mild outbreak in the spring and then muated to the form that infected a third of the world's population and killed millions of people in the U.S. alone. Crowded pig farms likely led to the emergence of the new H1N1 swine flu virus, and they create the perfect breeding ground for this and other unstable viruses to mutate into even deadlier forms.

In May, 2009, PCRM placed a digital ad in a Washington, D.C., metro station urging U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to shut down intensive pig farms to reduce swine flu risk.

One-third to one-half of pigs on modern farms have antibody evidence of influenza viruses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On massive pig farms, intensive crowding and poor sanitatary conditions allow viruses to replicate and mutate rapidly. once a viral mutant emerges, it is spread by farm workers and the transport of livestock.

In a letter Vilsack, PCRM president Neal Barnard, MD, pointed out that leading health experts have expressed concerns about factory farming. Five years ago, the American Public Health Assoc. called for a moratorium on new factory farms. Last year, the PEW Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production cited numerous public health issues associated with factory farms and recommended the phaseout of intensive confinement on farms.

The average American now consumes more than 200 pounds of meat a year, including a significant amount of pork. A collective shift to a vegetarian diet could help eliminate the farms that breed infectious disease. --Reprinted (by permission) from Good Medicine, Summer 2009, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Suzanne

Pork Flu?

The World Health Organization cautioned that meat from pigs infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus should not be used for human consumption. Despite some suggestions to the contrary, it is possible for flu viruses to survive the freezing process and be present in thawed meat, as well as in the blood, according to the WHO. --Reprinted (by permission) from Good Medicine, Summer 2009, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Suzanne

Thanks for opening this topic, Suzanne!

It's important to note both the official WHO point of view and the NaturalNews angle, thank you.

The info I've seen, from two independent sources, is that this bout of flu is most unlikely to be sourced in pigs, and that the vaccine being developed at break neck speed for the WHO is equally most likely not to be safety tested adequately and not meant to restore health very well.

Also, most flu medications, and especially NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) except for aspirin, are far more risk-laden for children suffering from flu. They'll aggravate the effect on the body of the flue itself. Tylenol is one of the few listed as safer for children.

Brave doctors' advice is that this 'swine flu' isn't a natural phenomenon (not actually from pigs) and the best treatment is to boost immunity - as advised in Suzanne's posts - and to steer clear of tamiflu and whatever new vaccine comes out now. Paracetemol is still ok for adults, far as I could tell, but as always check with your doctor.

I wonder, they referred to ten dead in Michigan for one of the articles above. Why did they not include such information from other parts where people have died from this disease? It would seem to have been the responsible thing to do to get better numbers to work with.

Are any televised etc statistics/reports on this reliable? Illness and death are sad and tragic, but why isn't this simply ordinary flu??? There's far too much propaganda round this simply to trust brand new medicine..., or recommended increased innoculation.

Swine flu...: foot and mouth is actually bovine flu - do humans get it, and does it even harm cattle?? There's something afoot in this latest WHO & UN project...

Canada Looks at Vitamin D for Swine Flu Protection

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has confirmed that it will be investigating the role of vitamin D in protection against swine flu.

This agency started a study in 2008 on the role of vitamin D in severe seasonal influenza, which it said it will now adapt to the H1N1 swine flu virus.

Part of the researchers' goal is to ascertain whether vitamin D levels are in any way responsible for the fact that most people with seasonal influenza develop a mild illness, but a small minority go on to develop severe symptoms.

According to PHAC, results from its study will indicate the extent and nature of the role of vitamin D in severe seasonal influenza. --Natralngredients, August 10, 2009.

Comment: You do not have to wait until results from this study come in. We already have an abundance of evidence that sunlight is a natural healer as well as a preventive modality. Yes, the body synthesizes vitamin D upon exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight.

Be sensible now, and don't overdo it and be mindful of the other natural healing modalities that work together with adequate sunlight: pure air and water, rest, correct diet, exercise, trust in divine power, etc.

Suzanne

"There's something afoot in this latest WHO & UN project..."

Yeah?

Am I misunderstanding the following link and its sub links or should Swine Flu not be considered a surprise but merely the result of an experiment which the CDC at least in part participated in several years ago?
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01040502/Korea_Recombination_Reassortment.html