Ask Dr. Denton: Swine Flu Too!

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (Catholic Online) - Really, this is getting to be TOO much! Once again I felt compelled to keep up with the Dooms Day approach to U.S. medicine via 24hr News and thought I might put some more information out to those in need of some clear thoughts and facts.

Oh by the way those masks… not really necessary unless you are literally next to an infected person and they’re coughing on you.

If I seem a little skeptical… I am. The internet is filled with conspiracy fear blogs and the press can’t decide whether to scare us some more so we can stay glued to 24 – 7 news channels or do the right thing and give us facts. So off to the FACTS!

Swine flu is a popular term used for this newly found flu virus. It is really a mix of swine, bird, and human flu. Sound like it had to be developed in a lab somewhere in the dark world? Wrong! Just a common occurrence when dealing with viruses. Andrew Pekosz of the Johns Hopkins School of Health explains that swine flu gets its name from the two genes that determine whether humans are immune and what level of protection our bodies have against the virus.

There are many genes which make up the virus, but the two genes used to determine the human susceptibility in this particular virus are seen most commonly in swine. This is an influenza virus that can infect humans. It can pass from human to human by coughing on someone, or touching infected people or surfaces, then touching the mouth, nose or possibly the eyes. WASH YOUR HANDS PLEASE.

The symptoms of swine flu are like those of any other flu and include: fever, sore throat, cough, body aches and chills. Some people have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Have millions died like the Pen endemic of 1918? No. Per the Director of the Center for Disease Control on Wednesday so far there are over 40 confirmed cases in the entire US. The World Health Organization (WHO) informs us that the number of confirmed swine flu cases rose to 257 worldwide on Thursday, with cases in Mexico rising to 97 from 26, with seven deaths.

The WHO confirmed tally from the United States now stands at 109, with one death. The majority are from a school in New York where the flu cases were initially suspected. They don’t represent a new mini outbreak just confirmation of the ones already suspected.

Does this virus have all the genetic make-up to kill millions? No. "This virus doesn't have anywhere near the capacity to kill like the 1918 virus," said Richard Webby, a leading influenza virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

Has The CDC recommended washing our hands? Yes

Should we be concerned with the H1N1 virus terminology being thrown around like the terminator of hollow wood - oops, sorry I mean Holly Wood? No! This virus has a name and that scares people. WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency had expressed concerns that the term "swine flu" was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to ban pork products and order the slaughter of pigs. "Rather than calling this swine flu ... we're going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A," Thompson said.

This is simply the scientific lettering used by infectious disease physicians and medical personnel to describe this virus… Nothing more.

Does influenza virus lead to death in the United States every year? Yes Every year influenza takes the lives of people all over the world. So concern and caution are necessary. Good Hygene!

The treatment is simple. Drink plenty of fluids like water, Gatorade, and or Pediolyte. Get 8 hours of sleep per night. Eat nutritionally (Remember that leafy green thing called Spinach …….GREAT B Vitamins) and yes you can take Vitamin C pills. Remember more than 1000 mg of vitamin C twice per day is all your body will really absorb. P.S. No pun intended any more than this and you’ll have expensive urine but not much health benefit.

In immune compromised patients prescriptions for the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza) can be offered. WHO has started distributing its stockpile of 2 million treatments of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to regional offices, which will decide where to send them next. The current goal is to place these in the hands of Mexico and developing countries where these resources aren’t readily available.

Finally, Isaiah 45: 22 “Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other!”

Faith simply put, Not fear. God Bless, Dr. Denton

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Dr Denton D. Weiss, M.D. is board certified in both Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He and his wife Michelle strive for an integrated approach to life which recognizes the unity of the body, mind and soul. They are contributing writers for Catholic Online.

2009’s swine flu, whose main viral ancestor arose on U.S. factory farms in 1998, affords religious leaders an opportunity to address the moral ethics of industrial agriculture from both a human and animal imperative.
The world has now received another reminder of the potentially disastrous consequences of confining large numbers of animals inside cages and sheds, with little room to move. Industrial animal farms depend on a complacent public that does not entirely grasp what goes on inside these vast agricultural buildings.
It is time for religious communities to scrutinize such farms and draw attention to the fact that they are the source of massive animal cruelty and environmental degradation, as well as dangerous breeding grounds for disease.
The United States consumes more meat than any other place on earth. According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the average person consumed 222 pounds of meat in 2007. That’s an increase of 78 pounds in less than 60 years.
For the sake of profit and expedience, agricultural industrialists meet this demand by confining animals by the hundreds of thousands in cages and crates so small they can’t even turn around. Denied the slightest touch of mercy, they may lay in their waste, often unable to engage in basic movements, may never feel the ground underfoot or see the light of day. They are slaughtered at a rate of a million an hour around the clock.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states in For I was Hungry and You Gave Me Food: Catholic Reflections on Food, Farmers, and Farmworkers that the faithful must, “question certain farming practices, such as the operation of massive confined-animal feeding operations. We believe that these operations should be carefully regulated and monitored so that environmental risks are minimized and animals are treated as creatures of God."
This year’s emergence of swine flu shows once again that the lives of humans and animals are inexorably intertwined — for better or for worse. In the Hebrew Bible, Job said, “Ask the animals and they will teach you” (NRSV Job 12:7).
This time, they’ve given us a lesson we must heed, not just for their sake but for ours.
www.humanesociety.org/allcreatures

Christine Gutleben | 5/18/2009

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