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A/H1N1 Swine Flu supposedly is a chance result of an accidental mutation between avian, human and swine flu viruses in a host animal- that animal being humans.  Putting aside the chance that A/H1N1 virus is a man made virus, could global warming be the cause?  There is no Absolut answer- so far.

A/H1N1 Swine Flu so far attacks, subsides and then mutates, does a reassortment dance and then becomes more deadly —all the while infecting humans.

In a report titled, “Avian Influenza Virus Glycoproteins Restrict Virus Replication and Spread through Human Airway Epithelium at Temperatures of the Proximal Airways“…. blah, blah, blah says the report and this: 

Avian influenza viruses are adapted for growth at 40°C, the temperature of the avian enteric tract. However, the human proximal airways, the likely site of initial inoculation by influenza viruses, are maintained at a cooler temperature (32°C), suggesting that zoonotic transmission may be limited by temperature differences between the two hosts. Using an in vitro model of human ciliated airway epithelium, we show that avian influenza viruses grow well at 37°C, a temperature reflective of distal airways, but are restricted for infection at 32°C.  http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000424

Avian influenza viruses grow well at 37°C, but are restricted for infection at 32°C- .  Would it be fair to say that Avian Flu viruses like it hot, hot, hot to spread, but when the temps begin to drop, so do the numbers of cases?  

The Mexican data show cases of pneumonia – a proxy measure for severe flu – soared in April, mainly in Mexico City. April temperatures there range between 11° and 26 °C, climbing higher than the summer average in London, UK. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17100-warm-weather-may-not-halt-swine-flu.html

April and May when the virus first appeared in Mexico City shows an average temperature of Mexico City at 79 degrees F.  In June as we see  decline in the number of reported cases, we also sees a decline in the average temperature to 76 degrees F in Mexico City.http://www.mexico-vacation-rebate.com/mexico_city_weather.html  Could a few degrees colder help kill H1N1?

Look to the Northern Hemisphere where Summer has finally appeared- we see an increase in flu reported illnesses.  In the southern hemisphere the standard, seasonal flu season is just beginning.

Are these countries giving a hint of what is coming to the U.S. this fall and winter?  

” The JTF-HD CONPLAN 5003-08 has been revised to incorporate new guidance and procedures contained in USPACOM CONPLAN 5003-08, published 23 Apr 2008.  Primary changes include adopting the six-phase concept, aligning the document to the new JOPES format, and, clearly delineating the supported and supporting command relationships for clarity of responsibilities of each participating response organization.  This revision also includes changes that have been promulgated through the US Federal Government’s National Response Framework (NRF), which clearly defines the role and responsibilities of the Federal Coordinating Official (FCO), the Defense Coordinating Official (DCO), and, the State Coordinating Official (SCO) in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that is used to manage the Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA).”  http://www1.apan-info.net/Plans/ConceptPlan5003/tabid/2054/Default.aspx

But American troops may also be called on to respond at home, to quell domestic disturbances. The US military has long had so-called Garden Plot plans to respond to civil disturbances. Under the Insurrection Act, Federal troops have been deployed ten times from 1957 [in Little Rock] to 1992 [in Los Angeles]. United States Northern Command [USNORTHCOM], responsible for Homeland Security operations, has developed Concept Plan (CONPLAN) 2502 Civil Disturbance Operations.

The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Homeland Security promulgated the “Guidance on Allocating and Targeting Pandemic Influenza Vaccine” in July 2008. Vaccine will be allocated and administered according to tiers. The highest priority Tier 1 consists of 24 million Americans, including 700,000 deployed military forces. Another 1.5 million national security personnel are among the 15 million Americans in Tier 2.  http://sitrep.globalsecurity.org/articles/090506329-military-implications-of-pande.htm

The population clock at http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html 306 million people; most of who are not in the Top Tiers and will not be entitled to quick vaccine access; if in fact, the unproven vaccine works in the first place.  Funny how it is the tax payer who foots the bill, is last on the list.

Rain, shine, cold or hotter than hell, you and I are at the bottom of the list of tiers to receive any kind of vaccine.  Seeing as it is Baxter Pharmaceutical  who has announced it has begun to mass produce a vaccine, I’ll pass based on past history of malfeasance. 

I am going to lay in the sun, tan like George Hamilton, suck down a few Absolut martini’s, wash my hands more than usual; turn up the Ipod from lawn mower noise pollution, and as Joe Biden advised quite sometime ago- stay off the subways to avoid the H1N1 Flu.

I can’t believe I am thinking that its 6 months until winter.  Apparently the A/H1N1 flu doesn’t like the cold weather either.

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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“Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker.” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/quotes  All hail God, Jesus, Mohamed, Allah, the Pharaoh’s, Mother Nature, whom, whatever and Buddha too, as Baxter International Inc. (BAX) has launched full-scale production of a vaccine for the A/H1N1 flu virus that could be  ready for use as early as July.  http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090612-714016.html 

We’re talking two weeks until projected availability! So much for clinical testing or knowing if it works. Novartis has announced it is ready to rock and roll of on it’s own vaccine.  Replikins’ officials say the company’s PanFLu™ vaccine is ready for clinical and a host of other pharma companies apparently have our ass covered to resist our exposure to the latest supposed freak of nature, Influenza A/H1N1.  Others can be found here at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/vaccine-for-pandemic-h1n1-swine-flu-scientists-roll-up-sleeves/

The creator must love us humans and especially the scientists at Baxter, but in the most humble offering of advise- wake the frig up.  No way on God’s green earth could a company, not only a company with a laboratory 50 miles away from the Swine Flu ground zero outbreak, with a history of malfeasance develop a vaccine within days of receiving the “seed virus” from WHO, be ready to ramp up production of a vaccine against the H1N1 Swine Flu, and save the world from a potential catastrophic proportion of millions of sick and dead.

I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night.  The virus is allegedly a brand new strain that is targeting young and  healthy people.  The Main Stream Media would have us believe it is a never before seen intercontinental mixture of human, avian and pig viruses from America, Europe and Asia but the leading scientists of the world are calling bullshit, proving that this has been around for perhaps more than 15 years.

Various sources are reporting this new undetected virus that has occurred basically is a freak of nature that is now spreading across the world infecting thousands via human to human contact,  and glory be the pharmaceutical companies are ready with a vaccine within days of WHO announcing a Pandemic.  Oh, get a F*%)!ng grip on reality. 

How long has the AIDS virus been around?  Scientists have had years to study it;  “HIV mutates rapidly, and in the vast majority of people these antibodies cannot completely neutralize the many mutant versions of the virus present in any single person” http://www.iavi.org/research-development/Pages/is-an-AIDS-vaccine-possible.aspx  Mutant versions?  The reassortment of H1N1 and its mutations are all over the map from Gen Bank.

Some licensed vaccines, called live-attenuated vaccines, use a crippled but living version of the targeted pathogen—or disease-causing organism—to teach the immune system what it must attack to prevent infection. Such vaccines, however, cannot be developed against HIV because of concern that the crippled HIV might revert to its disease-causing form. But live-attenuated SIV vaccines have proven effective in protecting rhesus macaques from infection with SIV, providing a proof of concept for an AIDS vaccine.

SIV is the simian immunodeficiency virus- originated with monkeys and mutated to humans.  Bird Flu, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Russian Flu- is it all the business of monkeying around with human lives.

First off, a virus is for all intents and purposes not a living thing so tell me how you are going to kill it?  You aren’t and neither is Baxter, Novartis, or Obama. 

You might put faith in Obama to fix everything from the auto and banking industry to health care reform, but why is he so confident in a plan for mass inoculations at this stage is when there is little proof they would be effective?

Baxter is supposed to follows a BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) protocol to prevent cross-contamination of materials. “It was a combination of just the process itself, (and) technical and human error in this procedure,” said Baxter’s director of global bioscience communications Christopher Bona, ” when samples of H5N1 from Baxter’s Austrian labs contaminated batches of the less harmful H3N2 seasonal flu virus that it was supplying to European nations.

This is not the first time that vaccine companies have been caught distributing vaccines contaminated with deadly viruses.

In 2006 it was revealed that Bayer Corporation had discovered that their injection drug, which was used by hemophiliacs, was contaminated with the HIV virus. Internal documents prove that after they positively knew that the drug was contaminated, they took it off the U.S. market only to dump it on the European, Asian and Latin American markets, knowingly exposing thousands, most of them children, to the live HIV virus. Government officials in France went to prison for allowing the drug to be distributed. The documents show that the FDA colluded with Bayer to cover-up the scandal and allowed the deadly drug to be distributed globally. No Bayer executives ever faced arrest or prosecution in the United States. http://swine-flu-virus.com/alert-potentially-deadly-swine-flu-spreading-throughout-the-u-s.html

In The U.S. we have two vaccine committees, Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/BloodVaccinesandOtherBiologics/VaccinesandRelatedBiologicalProductsAdvisoryCommittee/default.htm) & ACIP ( http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/ACIP/default.htm): The Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices.  How many of the people on these committees have ties to the pharmaceutical industry while they pick, choose and approve waivers eliminating liability? 

Since 9-11 our economy has been focused on terrorism risk management, now we turn to pandemic risk management- how convenient for Obama’s health care reforms and pharmaceutical companies profits.  The latest report from the Markle Task Force urges the President and Congress to take swift action to ensure that policy makers have the best information available to confront a stark set of 21st century national security challenges. http://www.markle.org/resources/national_security/

Thanks be to the Gods in White Coats.

Related posts:https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/baxter-pharmaceutical-plant-in-mexico-ground-zero-for-flu-outbreak/

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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Now that The World Health Organization has issued a full pandemic threat,  I find my antennae tuning in to the rapid manufacture and issuance of drugs, vaccines and potential for mass inoculations. 

Drug makers have obtained the new influenza A H1N1 seed virus in the past two weeks, enabling them to begin the production process by growing the virus in eggs.  http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSWLA645920090611 

Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG http://www.novartis.com/  said today, it has produced a first batch of experimental swine flu vaccine.  The vaccine hasn’t yet been tested and cannot be used in humans yet. It was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines, the company said. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=476980&publicationSubCategoryId=200  Damn, that was fast and they didn’t have to use eggs solving a potential problem for those with egg allergens.

Not to be outdone, Sinovac Biotech Company,http://www.sinovac.com/ a vaccine-focused biotech company in China, started efforts to manufacture A/H1N1 influenza vaccine for human use on Monday, after it received the flu strain samples from the WHO, reported Beijing News Tuesday. There are another 10 Chinese drug companies that will obtain the flu strain samples “NYMCX-179A” from the WHO this week. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90880/6675151.html

It can take five or six months to come up with an entirely novel influenza vaccine,” says John Sterling, Editor in Chief of GEN- Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. “There is a great deal of hope that biotech and pharma companies might be able to have something ready sooner.” http://www.genengnews.com/articles/chitem.aspx?aid=2938  In just two weeks he has been proven wrong,  as as scientists around the world are accelerating their efforts to develop a vaccine against the H1N1 influenza virus (Swine flu) as rapidly as possible.  

Chan from WHO said she would recommend that vaccine manufacturers proceed with mass production of an inoculation against the new swine flu strain as soon as they finish production of seasonal vaccine, which she estimated would be complete in about two weeks.  HHS spokesman Bill Hall said Thursday that no decision has been made on full-scale production because there is no need yet to make that decision….. The agency awarded a contract several weeks ago to five manufacturers to develop an H1N1 antigen. The companies are producing pilot lots. Clinical testing will take place over the summer, Hall said.  At the end of the summer, HHS will decide whether to go into production. http://entertainment.wagerweb.com/wtf/who-swine-flu-at-stage-6-and-unstoppable-11967.html 

 Dr. Rambaut says”…the increased detection of mildly deleterious mutations resulting from intensive epidemic surveillance; such mutations would more typically be eliminated and escape detection mutations could be adaptations to the new host species….http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnfv/ncurrent/pdf/nature08182.pdf  and at his blog http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/groups/influenza/ 

Andrew Rambaut, PhD, of the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Evolutionary Biology says “These pages exist to enable the rapid dissemination of results resulting from the analysis of genetic data from the ongoing Influenza A/H1N1 outbreak attributed to swine flu. All data used, unless otherwise specified, was made available by GISAID –http://platform.gisaid.org/dante-cms/live/struktur.jdante?aid=1131 or NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/  and can be obtained directly from these sites. It is also reviewed at http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/jun1109rambau.html

Citing the world’s best scientists and research- clearly virus mutations can escape detection, have multiple reassortment, have been around for years and contrary to the Pork Industry claims- eight genomic segments of the novel H1N1 have been circulating in swine populations for a number of years, up to 17 years.  How they got there,only God knows- at least so far.

More importantly, how could WHO, the CDC, NATO, IMF, WB, Department of HHS, and any other agency order an H1N1 antigen or a vaccine when the scientists are still studying the viruses genetic make up and its mutations? Drug makers just got a virus seed two weeks ago, yet clinical studies will take place in the U.S. this summer?  What about the criteria for safety, potency and quality?  Will these anticipated clinical testings take place on animals before the initiation of human clinical trials?

Are you willing to stand in line for an untested vaccine against H1N1?  Maybe they will develop an oral one that can be mailed via the post office while you are in isolation or quarantine.

One year ago, a new technology predicted that significant outbreaks of the H1N1 flu virus would occur within 6 to 12 months…Would- not Could!  The predictions, made by Replikins, were based on correlations of flu virus specimen and Pub Med documentation of major outbreaks during the past 90 years.” Naturally Replikins’ officials say the company’s PanFLu™ vaccine is ready for clinical trials.  Other H1N1 vaccine programs covered in the GEN article include those at Medicago, VaxInnate, NanoBio, Vaxart, Pulmatrix, and Purdue University.  Novavax plans to create a virus-like particle-based (VLP) vaccine against the H1N1 strain, which obviates the need for a live virus seed for manufacturing. The VLPs contain the proteins that make the virus’ outer shell and the surface proteins, without the RNA required for replication. props to  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152456.php

How could these companies have known?  How much money are they about to make?  How much more money is Obama going seek for a vaccine?  Will the vaccine kill more people than the virus as in the previous Swine Flu scare?

Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “things could possibly be very different in the fall, especially if things change in the southern hemisphere, and we need to start preparing now in order to be ready for a possible H1N1 immunization campaign starting in late September,” she said.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/12/content_11528978.htm .

This year’s seasonal flu shot http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/feb1309selection-br.html changed one of the three strains used in flu vaccines, keeping the influenza A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 variants used in this year’s vaccine, both of which are labeled Brisbane strains. The influenza B component of this year’s flu vaccine was from the Yamagata lineage.  This was decided in February prior to the H1N1 outbreak; how sure are they months later that this year’s annual flu shot will not do more harm than good or encourage viral mutations?

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/”>http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ has the flu surveillance report.

Over at the Virology blog http://www.virology.ws/2009/06/09/influenza-virus-toilet/ the author spotted the words ‘Kills Flu Virus’ on a bottle of Clorox toilet bowl cleaner. 

Some idiot is going to drink this to prevent the flu; just like they will stand in line to get a flu shot.  

Related posts

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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Human beings have been both fascinated and appalled by randomness. On the one hand, we love the thrill of a surprise party, the unpredictability of a  romance, the freedom of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. We abhor uncertainty’s dark side.  Terrorists attacks and accidents happen.  We never know if we’ll be that one in a million statistic to hit the lottery, get struck by lightening or contract some mutated virus like A/H1N1 Swine Flu.

If you live the the U.S. statistically it appears you have a better chance of catching H1N1 than in the other 74 countries the virus has been reported in.  According to  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124464616272602341.html#mod=rss_US_News  “Nearly half of the world’s confirmed swine flu cases, or 13,217, are in the U.S.”  The CDC has the numbers at about 14,000 confirmed or probable cases of swine flu. Overall, a small percentage of the population unless you are one of the 27 Americans who got the flu and died. http://www.cdc.gov/ The numbers are expected to rise as the CDC will updates it statistics tomorrow.

“On the basis of available evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic has been met. I have therefore decided to raise the level of pandemic alert from phase 5 to phase 6, the world is now at the start of the pandemic,” Margaret Chan said.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/12/content_11528799.htm  The start?  In the U.S., a public health emergency was declared April 26,2009. 

The World Health Organization http://www.who.int/en/  would have been negligent had they not made  it official, declaring a Phase 6 alert in response to the H1N1 swine flu virus .  Phase 6 is the WHO’s highest alert level and indicates an influenza pandemic is under way. 

This H1N1 variant is going after people with healthy immune systems.   It is spreading geographically and is unusual, continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere when normally flu viruses die off with warm weather.  H1N1 is proving to be a resilient little bugger.

Scienceblogs argues http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/06/swine_flu_lets_scrap_the_pande.php “Instead of revamping the alert system, WHO should consider scrapping it in favor of an up-to-date information system,” relying on globalization of information from the Internet.   Pretty ironic seeing as the WHOIS data base has not been updated for ’09. The author assumes that countries would actually be forthright and we know that Mexico waited weeks to tell the world.  “Suddenly, a whole village got sick somewhere, or young and healthy people fell ill”, said Larath Gollogly, a spokesperson at WHO in Geneva. http://genevalunch.com/2009/06/11/who-declares-phase-6-pandemic-in-ah1n1/  Suddenly! 

Andrew Rambaut of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and colleagues estimated the timescale of the development of the epidemic. They determined it was derived from several swine viruses and the initial transmission to humans occurred several months before recognition of the outbreak. “Despite widespread influenza surveillance in humans, the lack of systematic swine surveillance allowed for the undetected persistence and evolution of this potentially pandemic strain for many years,” the researchers said. The original article in Nature is available here as a PDF here http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnfv/ncurrent/pdf/nature08182.pdf 

 

 

 

“The unsampled history of the epidemic means that the nature and location of the genetically closest swine viruses reveal little about the immediate origin of the epidemic, despite the fact that we included a panel of closely related and previously unpublished swine influenza isolates.”

 

 

In upping the designation to the highest level 6 the U.N. agency has covered it’s ass and reiterated what all the research points to, that “The virus is not stoppable,” she {sic Chan}  said. “I would advise them to maintain vigilance, enhance surveillance and be prepared for the arrival of the novel H1N1 in their country.”

Yes, we all want countries to be prepared as possible to contain the virus but, WHO has hasn’t ruled out that H1N1 could turn into a more virulent strain or affect different populations differently. Chan by stating that this is the start of the pandemic, issues a huge warning and again brings up the conspiracy that this H1N1 mutation may be man made, may be a race-specific bio-weapon and, at least according to experts at The Institute of Evolutionary Biology- they do not know its origin.    

“Genetic weapons capable of wiping out specific ethnic groups are no longer the stuff of science fiction, military and scientific advisers with the British and American governments have admitted,” states the report from  A 1999 UK Sunday Herald piece  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_19990509/ai_n13937769/  The article, New Weapons of Ethnic Cleansing says, “Technology is now far enough advanced to give even small nations the ability to create so called “G-Bombs”, ethnically-targeted biological missiles with warheads tipped with plague or anthrax, designed to eliminate entire racial groups.”  Could a “G-Bomb” be inserted into a vaccine?

The report issued 10 years ago by the British Medical Association said that race-specific bio-weapons would be ready within 5 years- , “enabling governments to target victims solely on their genetic make-up.”  If you add together a number of different markers for different populations you can start to be specific to a target population,” said Nathanson.  Once a markers is identified, a virus could be designed to look for them on entering the body. It would scan the DNA of cells looking for markers and if it found them it would insert itself into the host DNA and start the process of infection.”

” G-bombs would use genetic markers specific only to particular races to trigger the virus – anyone without the genetic marker would be unaffected. Scientists could manipulate the structure of the plague virus to attack only a person who had a race-specific DNA code. One race- specific trait determined by genes is the body’s reaction to lactose. Asians and Europeans have different DNA markers determining lactose reaction. This kind of knowledge could be used to construct a virus which only attacks Asians, and could lead to a scenario where a plague- laced bomb dropped on a city would wipe out the entire Asian community but leave every white person alive.”  Is H1N1 a virus capable of scanning DNA cells looking for markers to start the process of infection?

“Advanced forms of biological warfare that can target specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool,” stated the September 2000 Rebuilding America’s Defenses report at http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf  released by the Project For A New American Century.  Who defines what race is no longer useful is apocalyptic to the entire human race.

The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention is supposed to prohibit offensive research, but there is little doubt that there is black box biodefense research going on not only the U.S., but by other countries as well. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, also known as the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention or BWC, prohibits the development, production, stockpiling and acquisition of these weapons. The BWC thus supplements the prohibition on use of biological weapons contained in the 1925 Geneva Protocol.http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsp/biologic.html

Project Jefferson, was a covert 2001 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency program designed to determine if the current anthrax vaccine was effective against genetically engineered-modified bacteria. After the program’s existence was revealed by the New York Times in 2001, the Pentagon announced that it intended to complete the project and that the results would be classified. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Jefferson 

Project Bacchus was a covert investigation by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency US Defense Department to determine whether it is possible to construct a bioweapons production facility with off-the-shelf equipment. In the two-year simulation, the facility was constructed, and production of anthrax-like bacterium was successfully completed. The participating scientists were able to produce about one kilogram of highly-refined bacterial particles.  The bacteria were milled to particle sizes of 1-5 microns with machinery bought on the open market in the US. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1449 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Bacchus.

Project Clear Vision was a covert investigation of Soviet-built biological bomblets conducted by the Battelle Memorial Institute under contract with the CIA. Projects Jefferson, Bacchus and Clear Vision were the focus of the 2001 book Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War http://www.amazon.com/Germs-Biological-Weapons-Americas-Secret/dp/0684871580

H1N1 does not know borders and to date we are unclear of its origin.  The U.S. has pretty good sanitation and living standards, yet the highest numbers of cases so you would think the odds so far are in your favor.  Nope- the virus is more contagious than seasonal flu the Geneva-based WHO says.  In seasonal flu, each person who comes in contact with someone who’s sick has a 5 percent to 15 percent probability of illness, according to a statement posted the WHO’s Web site. In swine flu, the probability increased to 22 percent to 33 percent.

The World Bank in October noted that a “moderate” pandemic like the 1957 Asian flu could kill 14.2 million people and shave 2 percent from the global economy in the first year.  The odds are they will loose more than a few customers.

Related posts

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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swine_flu_map1 

Flu maps look so pretty with all the colors.  My favorite is The Global Disease Health Map http://healthmap.org/swineflu.  It tracks everything from the seasonal and H1N1 Swine Flu to Chicken Pox, with only 8 cases reported.  Too bad every dot is disease. Rhiza Labs offers a map here http://www.swineflumap.us/.  Another here  http://swineflumaps.com/ , Pediatrics offers this http://pediatrics.about.com/od/swineflu/l/bl_swine_flu_map.htm, The Wall Journal Tracking map is here http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-SWINEFLUMAP0904.html, The New York Times map is here, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/27/us/20090427-flu-update-graphic.html cbcnews Canada offers http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/27/f-swine-flu-map.html

Whatever map you select, the numbers of H1N1 Swine Flu will vary by source; but Victoria, Australia  now has the highest recorded per capita rate of swine flu in the world and is being blamed for exporting the virus around Australia. It has the fourth highest number of infections worldwide after the US, Mexico and Canada, but the highest per capita load. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25603115-2862,00.html?from=public_rss.  Sydney, Australia is reporting Patient One.  Six-year-old Nicholas Darcy is the recipient of the first Australian “community transmission” of swine flu – catching the disease from someone with no known links to a host country or source.  http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25548525-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss NO KNOWN LINKS is a pretty scary prospect. 

While virus knows no borders, the number of new cases appears to be tapering off and I wonder if it is just the calm before the storm.  Previous flu outbreaks like H3N2  Hong Kong Flu, and the 1918 Spanish Flu had a tapering off period that led to full pandemic status. “New viruses sometimes arise late in spring, morph during the summer, and come back in the fall in a more virulent, severe strain says http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/each-new-outbreak-medical-sleuth-case .

Epidemiology began in 1854, when London physician John Snow suggested removing the handle from a water pump after noting victims of a cholera outbreak had used it. 

While sanitation and science is much improved to prevent H1N1 Swine Flu, are we still only 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon and the concept of the small world phenomenon? You’ve probably heard of the Six Degrees concept. Any one person (including  Kevin Bacon) is connected to any other person through six or fewer relationships, because it’s a small world.  A world so small that Swine Flu has reached nearly every Continent, save Greenland and Antarctica. A six year old provides proof he was not six degrees away from the flu.

Sixdegreeslogo

SixDegrees.org harnesses two important online trends: the exponential growth of social networks and the increasing interest in using the web for raising money for charity among family and friends. Through SixDegrees.org, people can upload their own photos and stories and fundraise for the charity of their choice with their own charity badges and AIM Pages.  http://www.sixdegrees.org/ Truly worthwhile.

The trend of previous illnesses asks if  the strain will mutate and change to become more virulent; is it becoming resistant to anti-virals like  Tamiflu? Who is getting sick and where? How old are the infected?  What is the the death rate and infection rate?  How do we begin to deal with a massive outbreak? 

No one is immune, even New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who traveled on Friday to Shanghai, China, on an economic development trip, was informed early Sunday that a passenger on the airplane in which he was traveling was confirmed to have signs and symptoms of an influenza-like illness, suspected to be of the H1N1 — or swine flu — subtype.  He is in precautionary quarantine. http://www.wdsu.com/news/19683611/detail.html

Trust for America’s Health, The Center for Biosecurity, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation teamed up publishing a review of  the initial response to the swine flu called Pandemic Flu: Lessons from The Frontlines http://healthyamericans.org/report/64/pandemic-flu-frontlines that outlines some basic procedural maneuvering.  It reviews 10 early lessons learned from the response to the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak, 10 ongoing core vulnerabilities in U.S. pandemic flu preparedness, and case studies of challenges communities around the country faced when responding to the outbreak.

Experts predict a severe pandemic flu outbreak could result in up to 1.9 million deaths in the United States, approximately 9.9 million Americans needing to be hospitalized, and an economic recession with losses of over $680 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product says TFAH- Trust for America’s Health http://healthyamericans.org/pandemic-flu/.   Recent economic challenges will be nothing compared to a full blown Pandemic.

State and Federal officials in the U.S. are proposing  S. 1143, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1143 a Public Health Workforce Act to to establish various programs for the recruitment and retention of public health workers and to eliminate critical public health workforce shortages in Federal, State, local, and tribal public health agencies and health centers.  I imagine this bills primary goal is make sure America has the people and resources to vaccinate to people with mass inoculations but in pure socialistic tendency, the bill “…may give hiring priority to any individual who has qualified for and is willing to execute a contract to participate in the Program.”  The private sector gets overlooked, yet again. 

Obama begins his world tour to promote socialized government Healthcare with his Organizing For America group.  Obama recently asked Congress for another $2 billion in supplemental funds to fight the novel H1N1 influenza epidemic, on top of $2 billion requested a month ago, and also proposed to tap federal economic stimulus funds for up to another $3.1 billion for the same purpose according to CIDRAP –http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/jun0509funding.html 

Flu Wiki http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=About.About shares flu knowledge support and extends information to advance both preparation for and the ability to cope with events as they unfold primarily without reliance on the government.

Sadly Alberta farmer Arnold Van Ginkel, whose swine farm was Ground Zero for the Influenza A (H1N1) in Canada voluntarily, culled all his 2,000 plus herd which was earlier quarantined by federal health authorities according to http://www.vitabeat.com/alberta-farmer-whose-swine-farm-started-influenza-a-h1n1-in-canada-culls-herd/v/10342/.  Again, so much for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, this was just One.

Lastly, one bit of good news, a new H5N1 recombinant vaccine virus has been developed by the WHO Collaborating Centerhttp://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/17890/new-recombinant-h5n1-vaccine-virus-available.   Influenza sequences are available in GenBank as soon as they are processed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/FLU/SwineFlu.html .  Now if they can only identify how this all got started in the first place. 

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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Stand1990 

Conspiracy, science fiction, reality and all things aside, this Swine Flu, or Influenza H1N1 is one huge threat.  I wonder if this latest pandemic could end up in a Captain Trips reality.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Trips  Captain Trips was the name of a superflu from Steven King’s best seller, The Stand.  I just finished my third read of the 1000+ page book and recommend it highly. Captain Trips, A6 is also mentioned in Night Surf, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark TowerSadly I am stuck on page 25 of Atlas Shrugged- yawn.

In The Stand, a form of superflu called Captain Trips originates in an American biological weapons lab under the Mojave Desert in California. The official code name of the virus development project was “Project Blue.”  Believed to have been created by breeding a hybrid of influenza and an AIDS like illness, 99.4% of the human population is vulnerable and the disease is universally and swiftly fatal to those that catch it.  Some people have immunity (although it is implied that the survivors are chosen by a higher power). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Trips 

King outlines the total breakdown and destruction of society through widespread violence, the failure of martial law to contain the outbreak, and eventually the death of virtually the entire population.  Science Fiction?  Future Reality? Martial Law in America?  Fema Camps? We pray that a higher power could save humanity, but we also pray for cures that so far, have not stopped deaths inevitable knock on the door. 

Whatever your personal thoughts on God, the invention of vaccines and medicine have for the most part prevented millions of deaths.  So did Satan create the virus?  Who would might we identify as evil today?  Government?  Pharmaceutical Companies?  Scientists? Terrorists?  http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/vaccins-the-who-dr-robertson is convinced it is the God of Science. 

Dr. Leonard Horowitz, Harvard trained in emerging diseases implicates an “Anglo American network of engineers in a conspiracy to commit genocide.”  http://www.healthyworldstore.com/downloads/mexican_flu_2009-special_report_by_dr._leonard_horowitz.pdf” 

Dr. James S. Robertson, England’s leading bioengineer of flu viruses for the vaccine industry, and avid promoter of U.S. Government funding for lucrative “biodefense” contracts, along with collaborators at the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), helped Novavax, Inc., in Bethesda, Maryland, produce genetically-modified recombinants of the avian, swine, and Spanish flu viruses, H5N1 and H1N1, nearly identical to the unprecedented Mexican virus that has now spread to the United States. The outbreak was precisely timed to promote the company’s new research and huge vaccine stockpiling contracts, according to Dr. Horowitz http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articlerender.cgi?artid=1242433

In response to the outbreak, Novavax is making a VLP, virus-like particle vaccine, candidate against the outbreak strain. Using Novavax’s recombinant technology, the VLPs will be genetically matched to the H1N1 influenza strain recommended by CDC, with the potential to induce specific and protective immunity. Further, the VLP approach has the potential of a rapid response as vaccine may be made and released for administration within 12 weeks of knowing the genetic sequence of the outbreak strain.http://www.pharmaceuticalonline.com/article.mvc/Novavax-Announces-Enrollment-In-The-Second-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO  That is some impressive timing I’d say.  So much for long term studies, efficacyand long term side effects.

Whatever our government’s involvement in possibly creating the virus in the first place, it has been working on a program for responding to a mass superflu outbreak as early as 2001:    

HHS has also developed the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile Program (NPS) into a major national security asset. The purpose of the NPS is to be able to rapidly respond to a domestic biological or chemical terrorist event with antibiotics, antidotes, vaccines and medical materiel to help save lives and prevent further spread of disease resulting from the terrorist threat agent. Operated by HHS’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the NPS Program would provide an initial, broad-based response within 12 hours of the federal authorization to deploy, followed by a prompt and more targeted response as dictated by the specific nature of the biological or chemical agent that is used.  One of the NPS “12-hour Push Packages” was brought to operational status on September 11th. CDC delivered a 12-hour Push Package of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies by ground, vendor managed inventory by air, and a technical advisory team in New York City, all within 7 hours of the order to deploy. Three out of the four non-military aircraft in United States airspace on the night of September 11th were carrying National Pharmaceutical Stockpile assets and personnel to New York City.

The Stockpile Program was developed as a supplementary response asset mainly to address biological and chemical terrorism. But following the events of September 11th, the program is now being expanded for response to an all-hazards event. The Stockpile presently is able to provide a full course of anthrax post-exposure prophylaxis to more than 2 million persons. Secretary Thompson has directed that the Stockpile development be accelerated to provide increased anthrax prophylaxis capacity for 12 million persons, and CDC will reach that level of response within the next 12 months. We will also add four more push packs to the eight already located across the country, making more emergency supplies available and augmenting our existing supplies of 400 tons by another 200 tons.

But we must accelerate the production of vaccines and antibiotics and invest in essential programs to ensure the speedy and orderly distribution of antibiotics and other supplies in the event of a biological event. That is why the President has called for an additional $1.5 billion in federal funding for those areas most critical to our ability to respond to bioterrorist threats. His proposal includes include $643 million to expand the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile and $509 million to speed the development and purchase of smallpox vaccine.

Just last week, Secretary Thompson announced that Acambis Inc., with support from its subcontractor, Baxter International Inc., has been awarded a $428 million contract to produce 155 million doses of smallpox vaccine by the end of 2002. Production of the vaccine under the new contract could begin as soon as this month and, once completed, will bring the total number of vaccine doses in the nation’s stockpile to 286 million by the end of next year, enough to protect every United States citizen, if needed. In light of increasing concerns regarding the possible use of biological agents such as smallpox in acts of terrorism or war, HHS is undertaking efforts to stockpile as much vaccine as needed to protect the nation in the event of an outbreak of smallpox. http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t011205.html

Ironically, Baxter Pharmaceutical after numerous faux pas including distributing Avian Flu vaccines, and AIDS type II tainted plasma is the WHO’s leading choice in developing an H1N1, Swine Flu Vaccine. https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/vaccine-drug-deadly-costs-mistakes-threaten-pandemic/.  Baxter also has a plant within 50 miles of ground zero for the flu outbreak in Mexico City, Mexico.  Gee, I thought smallpox was eliminated.

Curiously during the morning of 9/11, the U.S. was sponsoring five war games exercises paralyzing standard operational procedures. http://www.oilempire.us/wargames.html  National Pharmaceutical Stockpile Program (NPS) has been renamed- The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Whatever name you give, the game shows we are unprepared for a pandemic outbreak. 

Let’s hope practice makes perfect: 

The next National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09) is scheduled for July 27 through July 31, 2009. NLE 09 will be the first major exercise conducted by the United States government that will focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery.  NLE 09 is designated as a Tier I National Level Exercise. Tier I exercises (formerly known as the Top Officials exercise series or TOPOFF) are conducted annually in accordance with the National Exercise Program (NEP), which serves as the nation’s overarching exercise program for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating national level exercises. The NEP was established to provide the U.S. government, at all levels, exercise opportunities to prepare for catastrophic crises ranging from terrorism to natural disasters.  http://truthjunkie.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/fema-national-level-exercise-2009-nle-09/ Mmm?  Practice for pandemics like Captain Trips, Swine Flu, Avian Flu, and Ebola too? 

Hope the terrorist don’t choose the end of July for an attack, we’ll be busy- just like we were on 9/11.

 You might enjoy these related Flu Posts-

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

 For a satirical update on the FDA’s fast track approval of Obama O’s cereal from Cheerios maker General Mills check here https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/obama-os-cereal-general-mills-and-cheerios-gains-fda-approval/

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