Pestilence

[LindaRS]

I just copied these from CNN's front page:

Officials worry illness spreading through Midwest
A respiratory virus is sending hundreds of children to hospitals in Kansas City, and Colorado, Illinois and Ohio are reporting cases with similar symptoms. One doctor says she's "never seen anything quite like this."

NEW Dengue fever spreading in Tokyo
NEW Country plans Ebola lockdown

[colporteur]

I read this as well. I may be wrong but cannot help  but think they are blowing this out of proportion when we look at the upsurge in Alzhiemers as the 6th leading killer and then adding all the other health issues. That's not to say that there is not an increase in the flu etc.. but is it really epidemic compared to the millions dying of cancer, heart disease, etc., etc. ?

On the other hand with the way so many people eat and live is it any wonder that health issues are on the increase ? It is startling the filth that people are choosing to live in and it is not because of poverty. A good deal of it is caused by  pets living in the house. I have approached houses that I would not enter because the odor just about knocked you over before I even got to the door. Even with the door closed the stench leaked outside and it was enough to gag a maggot. I did not want to even guess what it was like on the inside. I have entered those houses (sometimes) and shallow breathed until I grew accustomed enough to stand it. When I left my clothing stunk and sometimes I could taste tobacco in my mouth from the air.  Foul air, foul food, alcohol, lack of exercise, unsanitary issues and it is no wonder that disease is on the increase.

[Mimi]

Here is the link:  http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/06/health/respiratory-virus-midwest/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[colporteur]

 Yes, that is the one I read. I'm just thinking that at this point "hundreds" does not compare to millions who suffer from other diseases. Perhaps this will escalate. The US has a plague of cancer, hearty disease, autoimmune diseases and Alzheimers and people seem not to be alarmed.

[LindaRS]

If you didn't notice, there were, not one, but three headlines about communicable diseases on CNN last night. When I think of pestilence, I don't think of those diseases that are not communicable from person to person or animal to person. Lifestyle diseases and chronic diseases are not, by and large, pestilences that spread from one person to the next via body secretions. Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease, while prevalent killers, are not diseases which develop rapidly and spread quickly from one person to the next such as ebola often infecting entire communities, regions, and countries.

[colporteur]

 Yah, the media hypes everything. I guess I do not view the flu in the US anything close to epidemic. At least not yet. This country seems primed to over react to everything. The industry has a large segment of the population as afraid of the flu as they are of cancer and there is no comparison.

[colporteur]

What I read said that "hundreds" were hospitalized. That sounds like a lot and if one of your family members or friends were in the hospital that would be one too many. However they said "hundreds" and not "thousands." If we use the round figure of 1000 hospitalized in the US that would be 1/30th of 1% of the population. It would take another 29,000 people hospitalized because of  the flu in order to reach 1% of the population and last I heard  none have died from it. While I am not down playing the flu I do not see that as a crisis. We know a crisis is coming however and this could be a harbinger of things to come.

[colporteur]

 I think my family is recovering from the flu they are talking about. We are in one of the states  they code yellow. I got it first. It was a little different in that it did not hit very hard in terms of muscle aches or diarrhea but is heavier on the mucus build up and respiratory effect. It seems to be kind of a hanger oner. As usual my son was hardly even touched by. It was for him little more than a very mild cold that lasted one to two days. I believe there  is a reason for that but will not go into it publically. Suffice to say, he does not have all that mercury, aluminum, and other stuff in his body like most children do. The rest of us including my daughter have about the same effects with perhaps me getting hit the worst as I was really run down and then did not stop working until I had to.

[JimB]

This year has seen a record number of cases of a mysterious paralyzing illness in children, U.S. health officials said Monday.

The current mystery can be traced to 2012, when three cases of limb weakness were seen in California. The first real wave of confirmed illnesses was seen in 2014, when 120 were reported. Another, larger wave occurred in 2016, when there were 149 confirmed cases. So far this year, there have been 158 confirmed cases.

As of Monday, there were 311 illness reports still being evaluated.  Source