Home » Posts tagged 'h3n2'

Tag Archives: h3n2

Olduvai
Click on image to purchase

Olduvai III: Catacylsm
Click on image to purchase

Post categories

Post Archives by Category

The Flu Is FAR WORSE Than We’re Being Told: Tens of Thousands of Americans Are DYING

The Flu Is FAR WORSE Than We’re Being Told: Tens of Thousands of Americans Are DYING

We all know that this year’s flu season is bad. I have been pouring over numbers and reports over the past few days, and it’s actually even worse than we’re hearing about. Tens of thousands of Americans are dying. It’s now worse than the 2009 swine flu outbreak and is on track with the 2014-15 strain. And it’s not showing any signs of slowing down.

Despite this, the media is downplaying the severity of the flu and the government makes the statistics pretty difficult to find. Are they trying to avoid a panic? Do they know something we don’t?

Here’s what you need to know about why this year’s flu is so dangerous.

This Year’s Flu Strain Is More Deadly

The dominant Influenza strain this year is H3N2. This particular strain has a history of causing more hospitalizations and more deaths. According to the CDC:

In the past, H3N2-predominant seasons have been associated with more severe illness and higher mortality, especially in older people and young children, relative to H1N1- or B-predominant seasons. Between 1976 and 2007, for example, CDC estimates that an average of 28,909 people died from flu during H3N2 seasons, compared to 10,648 people during non-H3N2 predominant years.

That’s a difference of 18,261 adults each year. And that’s in a good year.

In addition to H3N2 producing a more serious infection in general, this year’s particular H3N2 influenza virus is particularly virulent. The number of deaths due to influenza or complications to the flu, such as pneumonia (a secondary bacterial infection following influenza), varies from year to year.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What We Can Learn 100 Years After the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918

What We Can Learn 100 Years After the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918

It has been 100 years since the Spanish flu infected 500 million people around the globe and wiped out an estimated 20 million to 50 million of them. (source)

And here we are, potentially on the cusp of another influenza pandemic. H3N2, or the “Australian flu” is making the rounds this year and has spread to the UK, among other countries. This map from the UK Sun shows the spread – and the potential for a pandemic.

This flu is particularly deadly. 745 people died from it in Australia in late 2017.

The NHS says that Australian flu symptoms have rapid onset:

  • a sudden fever – a temperature of 38C or above
  • aching body
  • feeling tired or exhausted
  • dry, chesty cough
  • a sore throat
  • a headache
  • difficulty sleeping
  • loss of appetite
  • diarrhea or tummy pain
  • nausea and being sick

The symptoms are similar for children, but they can also have ear pain and lethargy.

As well, the “Japanese Flu” and the “French Flu” are two other strains that are running rampant, although their symptoms aren’t as severe as those of the Aussie H3N2. The Japanese Flu, also known as the Yamagata flu, is less serious but far more contagious. The French Flu is H1N1 and has been deadly for some sufferers.

The United States is having a bad year also.

Here in the US, an epidemic is rapidly becoming deadly and overwhelming hospitals.

18 people have died in Dallas, Texas from the flu and 27 have died in California. Hospital waiting rooms are jammed with flu victims, the doctors are running out of medication, ambulance services are strained and even IV bags are in short supply. Influenza is widespread in 36 states, according to the CDC.

Here’s the CDC’s map of the flu’s spread throughout the US as of the last day of 2017.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Epidemic Levels: Tens of Thousands Infected as this Year’s Flu Vaccine Totally Ineffective 

Epidemic Levels: Tens of Thousands Infected as this Year’s Flu Vaccine Totally Ineffective 

The 2017-2018 flu season has shown to be particularly nasty this year —in part, they believe, because of a less effective vaccine. Each month, flu case have multiplied and CDC has already warned this year’s flu will be worst than the last. To date, 23 states are showing widespread influenza levels and many believe this season could easily reach epidemic levels.

Headlines across the country are indicative of epidemic fears.

An Ineffective Flu Shot Has Led to Health Concerns

The results of tests performed by public health laboratories, as well as the age group distribution of influenza positive tests, during the current week are summarized below.

Week 50 Data Cumulative since
October 1, 2017 (Week 40)
No. of specimens tested 1,623 15,994
No. of positive specimens* 795 5,046
Positive specimens by type/subtype
    Influenza A 689 (86.7%) 4,387 (86.9%)
    A(H1N1)pmd09 58 (8.4%) 366 (8.3%)
    H3N2 611 (88.7%) 3,965 (90.4%)
    Subtyping not performed 20 (2.9%) 56 (1.3%)
    Influenza B 106 (13.3%) 659 (13.1%)
     Yamagata lineage 75 (70.8%) 438 (66.5%)
     Victoria lineage 10 (9.4%) 39 (5.9%)
      Lineage not performed 21 (19.8%) 182 (27.6%)

*The percent of specimens testing positive for influenza is not reported because public health laboratories often receive samples that have already tested positive for influenza at a clinical laboratory and therefore percent positive would not be a valid indicator of influenza activity. Additional information is available at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/overview.htm.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

This Flu Season Begins the Risk of a Pandemic 2018-2019

A possible new pandemic is forming from a deadly strain of flu emerging from Australia and will be headed to the UK as the normal flow of travels would take it. Britain will perhaps be hit with the worst flu season in 50 years. Already, there are about 170,000 cases of flu reported in Australia which is more than double this season than usual.

The strain of flu is called H3N2, and the number of flu deaths in Australia over winter has not yet been released, but it’s thought to be the worst in many years. The last major flu epidemic was in the 1968 pandemic which began in Hong Kong killing more than a million people worldwide. Flu pandemics have been linked to fluctuations in climate, and new research connects the world’s four most recent pandemics to the cyclical cooling of the Pacific Ocean near the equator.

The cyclical research correlating everything reveals that the four flu outbreaks that swept the world in the past 100 years all followed periods of global cooling. These were in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009 (in this last instance, the H1N1 “swine flu”). When sea-surface temperatures sank abnormally low, this correlates to large flu pandemics. This cooling is associated with  La Niña, a phase in a larger climate pattern. La Niña is the cool counterpart to El Niño, which is marked by unusually warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. It is now clear that both events alter weather patterns around the globe.

While the typical Transverse Wave cycle event would be every 22.75 years, but the Longitudinal Wave structure simultaneously exists and the complexity of these wave points to this season as turning up the risk factors for a pandemic flu season in 2018 and 2019.

Olduvai IV: Courage
Click on image to read excerpts

Olduvai II: Exodus
Click on image to purchase

Click on image to purchase @ FriesenPress