Why the world isn't ready for the coming influenza pandemic, World Health Organization warns

Saturday, November 13, 2004 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: influenza, influenza pandemic, H5N1

A global influenza pandemic isn't something that most people think about on a day-to-day basis. But it could soon become front-page news, if the fears of the World Health Organization are realized. The group is concerned about the ripening conditions for a global outbreak of a particular bird flu strain currently present in Asia. What makes this situation all the more serious is the humbling fact that the world simply doesn't have the manufacturing or distribution capacity to provide flu vaccinations to many people.

This frightening fact became quite evident this year with the shortage of flu shots in the United States. But it was also true in past flu pandemics such as the outbreak of 1918 which killed a startling 40 to 50 million people around the world, according to the World Health Organization. And that was at a time when the global population was much lower than it is today. Population density was also lower, and it was extremely difficult for people to travel from one region to the next. Even though, as many as 50 million people were killed by a single strain of the influenza virus.

Today, conditions are far more favorable to the spread of infectious disease. With high population density, and ease of air travel around the world, an outbreak could spread to virtually every city in the world in a matter of a few days. From there, it could spread relatively easily to citizens of those cities. That's why estimates of the number of people who could die in the next influenza pandemic are reaching astronomical proportions.

The US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 2 million and 7.4 million deaths would occur globally from the outbreak. But other scientists are offering much higher estimates: one noted Russian scientists estimates that as many as one billion people around the world could be killed by a viral outbreak that's expected to arrive soon. He simultaneously estimates hundreds of thousands would be killed in the United States alone.

So what's the correct number? Nobody knows, of course, but it's safe to assume that US authorities would downplay the numbers in order to avoid a public panic once the outbreak begins. After all, it now looks fairly certain that the United States won't be prepared for a pandemic, so the smart political play will be to minimize the number of reported fatalities caused by such an outbreak in order to avoid public criticism for not being prepared.

Right now, 50 people representing drug companies, governments, and vaccine licensing agencies are meeting in Geneva in a closed-door session to discuss what can be done to prevent this next coming flu pandemic. The World Health Organization has flatly stated there will not be enough vaccine to go around. On their web site, they say, "production capacity for a pandemic vaccine will be vastly inadequate unless other companies engage in vaccine seed development and preparation of batches for clinical testing." The group also stated that in the event of a pandemic, vaccine will be in short supply and will likely be unequally distributed.

Most people don't know that deadly flew pandemics appear approximately once every 27 years on our planet. As already mentioned, the 1918 influenza pandemic killed up to 50 million people. Other pandemics occurred in 1957 and 1968, well after the development of antibiotics, which turned out to be all but useless against infectious viral strains. Today, we are past due for the next viral outbreak, and many experts in the area of disease control and infectious diseases are predicting that the H5N1 bird flu strain is a likely candidate to make the cross-species jump and become the next infectious agent for humans.

The pandemic can be beat with nutrition

As usual, there is a much bigger picture to all of this, and a relatively straightforward solution to it. Getting a vaccine shot isn't the only way to prevent becoming a victim in the next flu epidemic. Your best defense, in fact, is your own immune system. And by boosting your immune system function, you greatly increase your defense against any infectious disease, including the next global pandemic viral strain. It doesn't mean that having a strong immune system will absolutely guarantee your survival, but remember that in every outbreak, there are people who survived the disease and people who don't. By and large, it is those with strong immune systems who are these survivors.

So how do you boost your immune system function and survived the coming flu pandemic? This is a topic I have researched at great length. It will be published in a new book at www.truthpublishing.com, which focuses on raising your flu immunity in order to survive both the common cold and highly infectious diseases, including influenza.

The short version of the information found in that book is that boosting your immune system function requires a significant change in lifestyle. The traditional foods, beverages, and biologically active drugs like caffeine that many people consume on a daily basis are immune system suppressors. People who wish to survive the coming flu pandemic will need to stop eating these foods and beverages. All metabolic disrupters must be eliminated from the diet.

At the same time, the human immune system needs the help of powerful nutritional supplements that exhibit active defenses against infectious diseases. After reviewing literally hundreds of these foods, vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements, I have narrowed the list to a short selection of the most powerful supplements and antiviral products that can be used to survive the next global pandemic. These will be covered in detail in the book. One of the best foods you can eat, by the way, for its antiviral properties, is garlic. Research also suggest that if you consume shiitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic on a daily basis, your immune system function will be strongly enhanced, dramatically boosting your defense against any flu.

There are also powerful Amazon herbs that show astounding immune system boosting effects. And yet FDA regulations don't allow the manufacturers of these herbal products to tell you that they boost your defense against the flu and other infectious diseases. However, as an independent journalists and health commentator with absolutely no financial ties to these products or their manufacturers, I can give you an honest review of the products and tell you exactly what the research shows them to be good for.

If you'd like to be alerted when this information is published, joined the NewsTarget Insider e-mail subscription list by entering your e-mail address on the form you see on this page. You'll receive an e-mail notice when the book is ready to be published, and you'll you will be able to download the book and educate yourself about the most powerful herbs, vitamins, minerals, and health food products that the research strongly shows exhibit antiviral effects. How powerful are the effects? So powerful that many of these substances outperform antiviral prescription drugs promoted by the drug companies themselves.

Get the vaccine if you have access to it

None of this means that you should avoid the vaccine if a global outbreak actually occurs. If there is a highly infectious disease that's killing people, I do recommend that you seek out vaccines wherever possible to give yourself the best chance of finding the disease. But as the World Health Organization is currently explaining, these vaccines are probably not going to be widely available. That means despite your best efforts, you may find yourself in a situation where you do not have access to the vaccine. Or you may have access to limited supplies of the vaccine and may have to make a choice between vaccinating your child or vaccinating yourself.

There are many situations in which you want to boost your immune system function using commonly available foods, herbs, vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements, and by far the best results will be achieved if you both get the vaccination and are able to boost your immune system function using these strategies that are well demonstrated to boost your immune system function.

Start getting healthy right now

By the way, if you are currently engaged in lifestyle habits that suppress your immune system -- such as smoking, using recreational drugs, eating junk foods or fried foods, or consuming soft drinks on a regular basis -- these are habits that you will need to drop far ahead of time if you wish to have strong immune system function in time for a surprise global pandemic. You can't just stop consuming these products one day and expect your immune system function to surge back to full health the following day. It typically takes a period of weeks or even months to restore healthy immune system function, and that means you need to start planning now.

This leads me to a startling position on health, wellness, nutrition and avoidance of disease causing foods and products: getting healthy may now may actually save your life. It used to be that good health was just a personal choice, where you might wish to feel better, extend your life span, eliminate chronic pain, or look better physically. But now, it could turn out that physical health and strong immune system function is important to literally survive.

The good news in all of this is that if you start preparing now, by investing in your own good health and making permanent lifestyle changes, you should have extra time to get ready before this global pandemic is unleashed around the world. But even the World Health Organization doesn't know the exact timing of this, and that means it's impossible for you or me to predict it as well. So the smart play is to get healthy now. Educate yourself about how you can boost your immune system function, and then start taking action steps to move in that direction immediately. By the time the global pandemic really starts to spread, you could find yourself with one of the strongest immune systems around. As other people are falling ill around you, you could end up sleeping off the entire infection in 24 hours, emerging as not only a survivor but an example of how to use disease prevention, nutrition and healthy lifestyle changes to survive one of the most vicious diseases the world has seen yet.

That's what I intend to do, by the way. My immune system function is so high that if I am offered a vaccine, I plan to refuse it. I'm absolutely confident in my own body's ability to fight off even highly infectious diseases, and I would rather that vaccine shot go to someone else who doesn't have the advantage of consuming superfoods and following a strategy of outstanding nutrition and lifestyle changes that I have been pursuing for several years. It doesn't mean I won't catch the virus, nor that I won't spend several days in bed overcoming it, but when a strong immune system is combined with selected vitamins and herbs, as well as plenty of sleep and a lack of stress, the human body is capable of overcoming practically any disease. Even H5N1.

Stick around, and I'll demonstrate it personally.