You see, the immune system is called a “system” because it is comprised of various organs and sub systems that work together in harmony. The major parts of the immune system include

Thymus
Spleen
Lymph system
Bone marrow
White blood cells
Antibodies
Complement system 30 specific proteins which circulate in our blood plasma.
Hormones

Each part of the immune system depends upon proper nutrition in order to be able to function at peak efficiency. If even one component of the immune system under-performs, the entire system is at risk of failing. A failed immune system leaves the body with no protection from any type of attack. That’s why HIV and AIDS are such devastating diseases.

Unfortunately, most people have diets that fail to provide even the minimum nutritional levels that our immune systems requires to do its work. And that’s one of the major reasons why this flu season may be the worst one ever. Citizens of developed countries are eating diets that are high in saturated fats and sugars and low in vitamins and minerals. Many citizens of underdeveloped nations are suffering from malnutrition and even starvation. Whether the immune system is affected by too much of the wrong food, or not enough of any food is not what’s important right now. What is important is that most people’s immune systems are ill prepared to ward off this latest flu menace.

But you don’t have to let your immune system fail you when you need it the most. You have options.

You can give your body’s immune system exactly what it needs to operate a peak efficiency, and you can do it without having to eat a variety of special foods or ingesting handfuls of vitamins and minerals. All you need to do is Winterize your body by taking just one capsule per day.

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Judge your own diet

The traditional Atkins Diet doesnt sponsor much fruit too high sugar but think about that for one minute. An apple is a good food, a bowl of Apple Jacks cereal may not be on an equal level. One is highly processed sweetened by added white sugar and corn syrup, and one is natural, plucked from a tree and sweetened by the sun. Which would you choose? Dont shun fresh fruit for the sake of following your low carb diet to the letter.

Eliminating healthy, wholesome foods is not the best way to learn to eat better, but severely cutting back on the frequency of eating highly processed foods is. I saw a site which called it GM or MM God Made or Man Made. If you think of those terms when you go to choose your foods, it starts to make more sense. No one says you shouldnt eat chips, or whatever strikes your fancy, but make them a treat – and eat the GM foods more often.

Common Sense Diet

Common sense will answer the question about what to eat. If you are on Atkins, South Beach or any distinction of low carb diet, avoid processed foods, not natural foods. Stop using instant breakfast, and cook whole rolled oats for instance. Sure you might have to get up 10 minutes earlier, oh well. Youre worth it!

You can still stay on a higher protein food plan, but this one minor adjustment will allow you to continue with your eating plan for a lifetime, rather than a short-time.

Addiction to Fruit

The person who refuses to eat fruit because they believe it is too high in sugar, probably does eat cookies, crackers and sugary cereals. They might even drink artificially flavored and sweetened drinks, but they refuse to eat a natural food, grown from our earth? That makes no sense, if you think about it. Did our planet develop and thrive based on processed foods? No, of course not. They are very recent in the evolution of our world. Very recent. In fact, weve had processed foods less than 200 years while our planet is millions of years old.

With the high incidence of obesity, and our high consumption of processed foods, its hard not to draw the conclusion that one causes the other. You wont hear big industry stating that case because our economy depends on us buying the products being produced by the companies that employ us. Youll never see it reported that scientists discovered refined flour kills, even if it were proven true because it doesnt support our way of life. We need industry.

Witnessing the epidemic of food illnesses such as Mad Cow, and now Bird Flu, I can envision a society without the mass produced meat industry. It will come to pass – nothing but your local farm will be allowed to sell meat because the big farm industry cannot guarantee safety of the food supply. Meat will become much more expensive because when they can no longer mass produce it, there is nowhere for prices to go but up. So do we whine and cry and moan about our misfortune or do we start to think of meat as something to savor and enjoy like the Sunday roasts we had years ago? We never ate meat every day then – and we werent so fat either. We simply didnt eat as much processed foods. Most of us had moms at home cooking us dinner, making our lunches and even fixing our breakfasts.

Yes, progress marches on, but when it comes to your body, common sense rules the day. The Common Sense Diet! Try it on for size today.

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The bird flu virus is the current virus that has been scaring people away from eating at KFC. People might think that the bird flu virus might cause them to die.

What the media is doing, is only trying to scare a lot of people from the bird flu virus. This is maybe because of the pandemic that we have experienced before from other flu that have killed millions.

The most famous of all the flu is the pandemic that happened during 1918-19. The Spanish flu killed more people than World War 1. 500 million became ill of this virus and around 40 million died.

Thats why for every new flu virus thats been arising, people get worried right away. Scientist will try to prevent viruses from getting a lot worse like the 1918-19 pandemic. The media on the other hand serves to inform the people of the potential threat.

Another thing to worry about is that 36,000 people die everyday of ordinary influenza virus in the United States alone. Can you imagine how much worse a pandemic can cause?

Also every 3 to 4 times in a century there will always be a chance that a flu pandemic may hit. What if the bird flu virus is already among them? Thats why people form the media and scientist grow deeply worried.

The flu can basically achieve these things because it has the ability to mutate. It can change quickly and outwit the vaccines that have been created for previous flu strains. Then they take the immune system by storm.

The flu can also grab the genetic material of other viruses and also jump from one species to another. There are times where the transfer needs to be done via an intermediary. Such as the West Nile Fever, this needs a mosquito to be transferred.

The viruses that have transferred from animals to people are not something new. This has been happening since the 1980s. The new virus that ahs been scaring people of that comes from animals is the bird flu.

Bird flus symptoms usually start out quite simple and the infected person might think that its just an ordinary flu. The infected person will experience muscle aches, sore throats, colds and cough. However, it may lead to the immediate death of the infected person.

Currently, people who have died form bird flu are still not abundant to call it a pandemic or worry about an outbreak. What worries the health officials is the possibility it becomes an outbreak when it mutates and can transfer from one person to the other.
Thats why its better the media and the health officials worry about this thing a whole lot before we get another pandemic like that of the Spanish Flu.

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There are several common-sense precautionary measures that can be taken to protect yourself and your family against being infected by this potentially deadly virus.

The first is to avoid places where the bird flu virus already runs rampant. As of now, the bird flu outbreak is primarily in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Although it is expected to spread worldwide, you should not save it the trouble by traveling where you can become infected more easily. If you must travel to these areas, avoid poultry farms or other high risk areas. On the same note, try to avoid contact with sick people. Simply distancing yourself and your family from the disease can be one of the most effective preventive measures taken.

If you come in contact with sick people, or even as a general rule of thumb, wash your hands often, with antibacterial soap, and practice good hygiene in general. The regular flu virus is spread by saliva and mucus being transmitted to others. If someone coughs in your face, this may not be able to be avoided; however, if you touch something that is contaminated, you will just as likely become ill unless you wash the virus away before it makes its way into your body.

Another precaution you should take in preventing the infection of bird flu is to properly handle and cook all poultry. While the jury seems to be out on whether or not there are cases of the flu due to undercooked poultry, reliable sources are reporting there have been. Even a suspicion should be enough to encourage certain precautions, not to mention proper handling is just a good practice. Likewise, properly clean all surfaces that have come in contact with raw meat and wash hands after handling.

Should you or a family member become ill, you should seek medical advice. There are medications that can be administered that lessen the impact of many flu strains, but they are only effective if given early in the disease. For this reason, treatment must be sought immediately.

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Medication has been the primary treatment method for Attention Deficit Disorder for decades. Although it has been the center of much controversy the last several years, many argue that the effectiveness of medication can not be matched by any other treatment method. On the other hand, it is also argued that the side effects common of such medication make it a poor choice of therapy. ADD is most often treated by a form of stimulant medication. While this medicine would cause increased activity in most people, it has a calming effect on people with ADD. There are also other forms of medication used as well.

Side effects of the medication used to treat ADD are typically decreased appetite, and weight loss as a result, increased anxiety, insomnia, andor irritability.

Behavior therapy, on the other hand, does not have the side effects common with medication. On the other hand, it will not have the overnight reaction typical of medication treatment either. Behavior therapy focuses on teaching the child effective management skills to deal with the disorder, as opposed to masking its existence. This may include the use of organizers to keep up with schoolwork, as well as introducing a reward system for good behavior. Such steps teach the child the positive results of good behavior, instead of concentrating on negative behavior and harsh discipline. This treatment route is a long and arduous process and will not display immediate results, although the results that come about may be more long term in nature.

Treating ADD with alternative medicine has also proven to be an area of controversy. Technically, alternative medicine is anything that falls outside the realm of standard medication and behavioural treatments. The list of alternative treatments include dietary intervention, nutritional supplements, interactive metronome training, motion sickness medication, treatment for candida yeast, optometric visual training, thyroid treatment, and lead treatment. While these treatments seem to be plentiful, it is important to understand many of these are unproven, or in fact, proven to be ineffective by the scientific community. No treatment should be instituted without the supervision of a doctor.

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The rise in the number of diseases may be attributed to the increasing globalization of the world. The increase in people traffic from on e country to another has made containment of diseases harder and more complex. Thanks to technology again, man has invented ways and means to keep modern diseases from spreading.

The use of respirator face masks both for ordinary citizens and for health workers has somehow minimized the spread of diseases. Such diseases would have grown to an epidemic if not for these health masks.

Respirator face masks are widely used by healthcare providers as well as individuals who already have diseases of are in danger of getting the disease.

The panic brought about by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS several years ago has increased the demand for respiratory masks. Some healthcare institutions used to reserve respiratory masks in the event of a smallpox outbreak. However, there are more complicated and special respiratory face masks for use in case of chemical or radiological emergencies.

During the SARS scare, healthcare workers were prioritized in the provision of respiratory face masks since they were in direct contact with patients who have SARS or who may have been infected with the disease.

Respiratory face masks come in all sizes and shapes and in different specifications. Some respiratory masks have exhalation devices that are intended to lessen the build up of moisture. Most respiratory masks can fit any face size and are designed to protect the wearers from the spread of the virus. Generally, respiratory masks protect the wearer from microorganisms that are easily spread in the air.

However, experts admitted that the use of respiratory face masks does not provide total protection to the wearer. Thus, aside form wearing respiratory face masks, doctors also recommend the use of other precautionary methods like gloves or medical gown as well as the intake of vitamins and other medicines.

Hospitals or clinics that are at the forefront of healthcare provision are required to provide respiratory face masks for both their medical and non-medical staff. They must also conduct trainings for the their staff who may possibly encounter highly critical and contagious diseases later on so they will know what to do when that happens. The respiratory face masks are special health equipment and the staff must be taught its proper use.

Ordinary people tend to confuse the ordinary surgical mask from the respiratory mask but these are two different masks. The doctors surgical masks does not provide the same protection offered by the respiratory face mask although it can be a substitute when a person is faced with an emergency situation and it is impossible for him to find a respiratory mask Surgical masks tend to be loosely fitted and are generally not suited as a protection against airborne diseases. Surgical masks are used to protect healthcare workers from blood splashes and the release of other body fluids during surgical and related procedures.

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Dr. Rajan George Chimigen therapeutic vaccine is used to produce immune responses in a host against infections which are difficult to produce immune responses, by targeting the vaccine to dendritic cells. The Chimigen platform can be extended to develop therapies for difficult-to-treat chronic infectious diseases.

Interviewer Does that mean the Chimigen platform can be used to treat any infectious disease?

Dr. Rajan George Yes, except in cases where the immune system is non-functional, as in the case of HIV.The Chimigen platform can be used to produce either a therapeutic vaccine or a prophylactic vaccine. This depends on the disease target and the antigen plugged into the platform. Some antigens have a use in treating infection, while others have a use in preventing an infection. Either one would be targeted to the dendritic cells. The therapeutic vaccine generates a cytotoxic T cell response. A prophylactic vaccine would generate a B cell response and antibody production.
Interviewer From the way youve described the Chimigen vaccine, it appears potentially useful for many applications beyond Hepatitis B and C. How broad are the applications?

Dr. Rajan George We should be able to use this platform for cancer therapy, depending upon the cancer antigen we use. We can plug in a specific cancer antigen into this platform, and the vaccine targeted to dendritic cells. The dendritic cells would process and present the right antigen, then generating immune responses T &B cell against the cancer. We are also evaluating some bioterrorist viruses, the biological weapons terrorists would use. We just started a project to look at one of those viruses to see if we can come up with the prophylactic vaccines to prevent diseases that would be caused by organism that could be used in bioterrorism.

Interviewer Would the Chimigen vaccine be effective as a prophylactic against avian flu, H5N1?

Dr. Rajan George It could work for bird flu if we just plugged in the bird flu antigen into the platform. Then we can use it as a prophylactic. It generates antibody to generate B-Cell response. You can produce a prophylactic vaccine using this platform. The Chimigen platform is quite adaptable.

Interviewer How high is your confidence level in producing a prophylactic vaccine for the avian flu virus?

Dr. Rajan George My thinking is that it is quite high. I think very highly of having a vaccine like that. But, the ultimate proof has to come from humans. Our HepaVaxx B clinical trial will give us a lot of information on how the technology really works. Until then, our optimism is based on laboratory results.

Interviewer Can you describe what comprises the Chimigen platform?

Dr. Rajan George The platform has two components. The first one is from the infectious agent. The second component is from a murine monoclonal antibody. Part one is fused with a fragment of part two by recombinant technology to produce a new entity, the Chimigen vaccine. We are recombining one thing with another. We have a virus which has certain antigens. We take one of those, and we produce a recombinant molecule with the fragment we have taken from a murine monoclonal antibody. Chimigen is the term we came up with to include the meaning of the full phrase, chimeric antigen. Chimeric means it comes from two different sources. We put them together and create a new molecule. One is from the virus. The other one is from the mouse, the monoclonal antibody. Now we have by recombinant methods produced a protein which is a chimeric protein. Thats the Chimigen vaccine.

Interviewer How do you produce such a flexible vaccine, one that appears capable of treating nearly any infection?

Dr. Rajan George To produce a Chimigen vaccine to treat nearly any infection, we start with an antigen protein from the infectious agent. We fuse it with a fragment called Fc of a mouse monoclonal antibody. This is done using recombinant methods. We end up with a new protein. This protein is made in a cell culture of commercially available insect cells. The protein is produced by the insect cells. From the culture, we purify this particular protein that we made. The insect cell system is just a tool. By virtue of its production in insect cells, the protein attains special properties which are useful in generating better immune responses. Producing this protein in insect cells gives it some very peculiar properties, which are different from our own mammalian proteins. Once we have it coming out of the cell, we purify it and make it really pure. Now we have a protein with the virus antigen murine monoclonal antibody with modified properties. This is a totally new entity.

Interviewer What do you mean when you say, useful in generating better immune responses?

Dr. Rajan George When a person has a chronic virus infection, his or her body ignores the virus and associated proteins. The body treats the virus as part of itself. The body does not recognize this virus as something foreign to it. Therefore the immune system does not attack the virus. But, by combining the virus antigen with a foreign protein such as the murine antibody fragment, the whole chimeric protein now is recognized by the bodys immune system as foreign, different from something of its own. In essence, this is a re-education of the immune system to switch its recognition of the virus from self to foreign.

Interviewer From where did the scientific model come, and does it have similarities to another ViRexx Medical product, OvaRex MAb?

Dr. Rajan George This scientific model arose from discussions among the three lead scientists of the company, Dr. Tony Noujaim, Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, both founders of the company and myself. I am a biochemist by training and the collective thoughts of all of us went into the design of the Chimigen platform. One major similarity between Chimigen and OvaRex is that both involve a murine monoclonal antibody. Another similarity is that both target dendritic cells. The Chimigen model came from thoughts about targeting dendritic cells, but without the use of antibodies. OvaRex is a murine monoclonal antibody against the cancer antigen CA-125. The Chimigen vaccine has a fragment of a murine monoclonal antibody. OvaRex needs the CA-125 antigen in a cancer patient to bind to. The bound complex goes to the dendritic cells. The Chimigen vaccine does not need to look for the antigen in a patient because it already has the relevant antigen built in it.

Interviewer It sounds as though the Chimigen vaccine acts in a similar way to OvaRex in dealing with a hostile threat to the bodys health. How do they differ?

Dr. Rajan George There are similarities and there are differences. OvaRex binds to the antigen CA-125. Then, the CA-125Ovarex complex binds to the dendritic cells. The complex is internalized and processed. The peptides generated from the antigen are presented to the T cells, and the chain of events in the immune system gets stimulated. The activated cytotoxic T cells eliminate the cancer cells which contain the CA125 antigen. In the case of the Chimigen vaccine, the vaccine itself contains the antigen. It goes through the dendritic cell pathway and triggers the CTL response to clear the virus-infected cells. The system also produces antibodies to viral antigens, which bind virus and viral antigens and accelerate their removal. Because of the presence of the murine monoclonal antibody fragment, which is foreign to humans, along with the antigen from the virus, the bodys immune system treats this as a new threat and takes action. That is the immune response.

Interviewer How would this work in treating Hepatitis B?

Dr. Rajan George Developing a treatment for Hepatitis B chronic infection, for someone who already has the infection, would involve re-educating the immune system to react differently than it previously has. The infected person already has this virus and the derived antigens. If you put some more of the same antigens into the person, the persons immune system is not going to know the difference His body is going to say, Well, whats the difference? I already have it. I am not going to do anything with it. The body will ignore it. Thats what is called tolerance. With the Chimigen therapeutic vaccine, we have changed the bodys immune response to the virus.

Interviewer How then have you changed the bodys response to the infection?

Dr. Rajan George In a Hepatitis B chronic infection, lets say I have the infection. My system is tolerating the virus. Its ignoring the presence of the virus. While that is happening, the virus may be causing disease in with my liver. With time, its going to get my liver into trouble and my immune system has not responded adequately to remove the threat. We inject the protein the one we just produced, which we call the Chimigen Therapeutic Vaccine into the HBV chronic carrier, a person who has a chronic hepatitis B virus infection. What happens is when our protein is administered, the dendritic cells are going to look for anything new which enters the body. Those cells are the immune systems first-line surveillance. The dendritic cells are going to see this new foreign protein, and they are going to think that this is different from what was previously inside. Their recognition of the molecule has changed from what it was before. Before the virus protein was recognized as a self protein. Now it is being recognized as a foreign protein. In chronic hepatitis B virus infection, the dendritic cells saw the virus as part of the self of the host, the vaccine changes the recognition of the virus protein as foreign to the host. Because the viral antigen is linked to the fragment of the mouse monoclonal antibody the direct the chimigen to dendritic cells it will enter the dendritic cell and be processed and stimulate an immune response.

Interviewer And after the vaccine injection, what does the body see?

Dr. Rajan George The bodys immune system see a new foreign antigen composed of a portion of the mouse monoclonal antibody linked to the viral antigen. Its a foreign antigen. The new chimigen stimulates an immune response to the antigen as well as the viral antigen. This is very important because the virus antigen was previously being ignored. Now, its being recognized as foreign through linked recognition of the mouse antigen as being foreign.

Interviewer How do the dendritic cells react after they recognize this foreign threat?

Dr. Rajan George The dendritic cells are the sentries of the immune system. They guard what comes in. When they recognize a foreign situation, what does the immune system do? It treats the whole molecule, the whole protein including the virus antigen, as foreign. The dendritic cells chop up this protein into small pieces called peptides. These peptides also are called epitopes. There are T cell epitopes which are smaller, and B cell epitopes which are longer. These small peptides bind to MHC I and activate Cytotoxic T lymphocytes CTLs. The dendritic cells have a system where they put the T-cell epitope on another protein, MHC Class I, and bring it to the surface of the dendritic cell. They are presented as a complex on the surface of the dendritic cell to attract the T-cells. The T-cells come and see this, then get activated. Now, the activation is also specific to the virus protein. There are different varieties of T-cells, but the cytotoxic T-Cells are the most important in eliminating infections that already exist. The activated cytotoxic T-cells are the ones who do the attacking. They are the ones who start killing the virus infected cells.

Interviewer And what about the B Cells?

Dr. Rajan George That is the other side to this story. The dendritic cells can present another kind of peptide epitope. There is a second class of peptides, which are also produced when the protein is chopped up. The dendritic cells stimulate the B-Cells, B-Lymphocytes. And B-lymphocytes produce antibodies. The longer peptides bind to MHC II and activate B lymphocytes B cells. B cells produce antibodies against the peptides. The antibodies are specific to the antigens we put in the Chimigen Therapeutic Vaccine. Antibodies bind to viral proteins that are on the surface of and block the ability of the virus to bind to a target cell to cause an infection and prevent the infection. This is the basis of a prophylactic vaccine. The antigen can bind to the invading virus and form a complex that the body eliminates. The B-Cells produce antibodies against the virus antigen, which we have put in the Chimigen vaccine. What do these antibodies do? The antibodies are specific to the antigen and bind to the viruses because they have the antigen. The system removes the virus by binding with the antibody. Also, the system removes infected cells using cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Both of these actions are achieved by the Chimigen vaccine.

Interviewer Arent there a lot of antibodies being investigated as therapeutics?

Dr. Rajan George There are a lot of antibodies being investigated as therapeutics. OvaRex is the prime example. Avastin and Herceptin are two others, both of which are doing very well in the market. Another is Remicade, which is used to treat diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. There are antibodies that are in various stages of clinical development, many are humanized antibodies where you want to avoid an immune response to the antibody. Our chimigen technology is new as we are trying to increase the immune response on a virus or a cancer through linked recognition. It is not found anywhere outside of our laboratories. This approach has not been tried before for chronic HBV or HCV infections.

Interviewer Why would your vaccine work where others have tried and failed?

Dr. Rajan George The reason is because of the novelty of the technology. We are re-educating the bodys own immune system to do the work by using the Chimigen technology. When you inject a xenotypic antibody , that is a non-human antibody that is linked to a specific antigen. The body recognizes the whole molecule as foreign and produces immune responses with both T- and B-Cell immunity. We believe that this enhanced immune response will be helpful in controlling the viral infection in the case of viral chimigens.

Interviewer Much of the research has been within the laboratory. How much of this is hypothetical?

Dr. Rajan George Our experiences so far have been mostly with isolated systems, meaning experimental systems outside of the body. For example, ViRexxs Chimigen vaccine for treating chronic hepatitis B infection is what we call HepaVaxx B. This is waiting to go into Phase I clinical trials. We have done a lot of ex vivo experiments in the lab to evaluate the immune responses it can produce. We showed what we had predicted in theory has been true. We have also done some animal experiments, where the vaccine showed similar effects, again, as predicted. For HepaVaxx B, the animal results are also showing great progress and promise. We believe the Phase I studies will show safety and maybe some immunological data. The advanced clinical trials, Phase II and III, will tell us exactly what happens in humans efficacy with a chronic infection of Hepatitis B. I believe the Chimigen vaccine platform can make a difference in the area of immunotherapy of infectious diseases and cancer. For HCV, there is neither a therapeutic vaccine nor a prophylactic vaccine available in the market right now. Current available therapies are not very efficient, are expensive and have severe side effects. We do need more effective vaccines, both prophylactic and therapeutic, to prevent new hepatitis C virus infections and to eliminate existing infections. It is not an easy challenge but hepatitis C is an important target.

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Since 1997, and especially since the beginning of 2004, approximately 150 million birds have either died from the disease or been killed to prevent further spread. Nevertheless, this very infectious and deadly virus has spread relentlessly to China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Laos, Russia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, Romania, England, Croatia, Macedonia, and other countries. This ongoing geographic extension of the virus is of great concern around the world. It is feared that it will continue to spread to all continents, including the Western Hemisphereand it no doubt will.

Normally, different types of viruses infect just one, or a limited number, of species specific to the particular virus type. The bird-flu virus, however, has infected a large number of birds and animals, including ducks, chickens, turkeys, tree sparrows, peregrine falcons, great black-headed gulls, brown-headed gulls, gray herons, Canada geese, bar-headed geese, little egrets, pigs, clouded leopards, white tigers, mice, domestic cats, crows, magpies, peacocks, blue pheasants, rare eagles, turtledoves, swans, terns, and others. This is another sign of the virulence or destructiveness of the virus.

Researchers, historians, and infectious-disease experts have determined that influenza pandemics global epidemics occur approximately once every 30 years. The most deadly pandemic ever recorded occurred in 1918-19, killing more than 100 million people across the globe in less than two years. Two other much less severe pandemics occurred, one in 1957, when approximately two million people died, and one in 1968, when about one million people died. Because we have already had three pandemics in less than 100 years, we are overdue for another one.

And so this disease-causing virus continues to infect more and more species in more and more countries. In laboratory experiments, it has been shown to be one of the most lethal influenza viruses ever known. In addition, just recently and after 10 years of work, researchers determined that the H5N1 bird-flu virus is genetically more similar to the deadly 1918-19 influenza pandemic virus than to the viruses which caused the much less severe pandemics of 1957-58 and 1968-69.

To summarize the important points so far The bird-flu virus is a very deadly strain of avian influenza called H5N1 that has killed millions of birds; 2 the virus is spreading relentlessly around the world; 3 the virus has infected many species, which is uncharacteristic of most viruses; 4 the virus has been shown to be similar to the most deadly virus ever known, which caused the 1918-19 pandemic; 5 the virus has been shown to be much more deadly in laboratory experiments than regular influenza viruses; and 6 the virus is known to have infected at least 125 humans and killed 64 of them so far, yielding a fatality rate of approximately 50 percent.

The virus continues to kill humans, but at a slow rateit has not yet acquired the capacity to be easily transmissible between humans; humans become infected primarily from sick birds. Because humans alive today have no natural immunity to the H5N1 virus, once it becomes easily transmissible between humans a pandemic or global epidemic will occur. The central question is, when will it exchange enough genetic material with the usual seasonal human influenza-viruses to become more like a human-influenza virusand thus become easily transmissible between people?

Many people believe that the virus will continue to spread around the world until it is present in most or all countriesbefore it will go human become easily transmissible between people. And that may be the case. The pandemic of 1918-19 is thought to have started in Kansas of all places. So it is certainly possible that the coming pandemic could start somewhere else than in Asiaalthough most experts believe it will, in fact, start there. It could start in a country which has not yet been host to the virus.

However, it is most certainly not necessary for the virus to march all the way around the world before a pandemic can begin. The fact that the virus already has spread to more than 15 countries, and to many different bird and animal species, provides the opportunity for it to commingle with a human-influenza virus and create the dreaded human contagion. There is no known reason why this could not happen tomorrow. While it is true that the probability of the switch increases with time, the probability of its happening tomorrow is far from zero.

The flip side to the possibility that the crossover could happen at any time is the fact that the virus has been around at least since 1997 and, as a matter of record, has not yet switched to a deadly human-to-human form. At least a few scientists believe that the virus cant and wont make the switch to a deadly form, possibly ever.

And so we are left with these two very different possibilitiesat any time, and as soon as tomorrow, the virus could mutate into a deadly form, readily transmissible between peopleor it might never transform itself into such a form. There appears to be much more evidence for the former and, presumably, that is why the vast majority of scientists and governments are scrambling to prepare for the worst.

This situation is analogous to living on the Gulf Coast during the beginning of hurricane season. Residents there have been through it before, but most of the time the storms are not too severe and the people can get by without too much hassle. However, there have been rare severe storms that have been devastating. Some day another hurricane is coming, and it appears that it might well be a Category IV or even V by the time it strikes land. However, thats not certainno one can say for sure, and no one knows exactly when it will strike land. So what should the residents do? What should the residents have done before hurricane Katrina?

The coming bird-flu pandemic might be mild and it might not come for years. On the other hand, it might be severe and it might start tomorrow. The U.S. Government Accountability Office GAO has said, While the severity of the next pandemic cannot be predicted, modeling studies suggest that its effect in the United States could be severe. We should also be mindful that the pandemic could come at any time, even before the virus methodically marches around the globe. No matter how advanced science has become, we still can not predict when the switch will occur; it is currently unknowableand that does not mean it will come later, in a predictable fashion. As Miguel de Cervantes admonished, Forewarned, forearmed.

Bradford Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
The Frank Group
P.O. Box 138
Lakewood, NY 14750

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1. Getting Your Personal Affairs in Order in The Event of a Bird Flu Pandemic
2. Bird Flu Explained
3. Is There Going To Be An Asian Flu Pandemic?

We will not have immunity to this form of influenza and it can be deadly. It may be similar to the 1918 flu that killed 40-50 million people around the world. If it starts to spread, life as we know it will change. This flu could last for months at a time and up to three years. More than likely schools and businesses would be closed, public events canceled, transportation shut down and travel severely limited. You may be out of work and housebound for months at a time.

In the event of a pandemic crisis of this magnitude, it is important to have your affairs in order before the onset of the pandemic. You need to make sure you have copies of all relevant important papers gathered together, including but not limited to health and life insurance papers, home and auto insurance policies, investments and employee retirement plans, social security cards for you and your family, birth certificates, marriage and divorce papers, court documents, car titles, loan papers, credit card statements, pay stubs, mortgage papers, medical history, driver licenses, id cards, title deeds, employment agreements, employee handbooks and benefits paperwork, banking information, wills, and passports.

Inventory all of your assets. Have photos or video of all your household goods. Place a value on all items.

You should have the originals in a secure place and copies stored separate. You can also scan in all your documents and then burn them to a cd. Family members should know where these documents are.

You should consider updating your will, upgrading your life insurance and increasing your health insurance benefits. Check with your employer on their policies regarding a pandemic and what will happen if you are out sick for an extended period of time.

The economic consequences of a global pandemic could be catastrophic. Millions around the world will become ill and millions will die. You best defense it to stay informed about bird flu, get your personal affairs in order and prepare for a possible influenza pandemic.

Related posts:

1. A Bird-Flu Pandemic Could Start Tomorrow
2. Bird Flu Explained
3. Why We Should Be Worried About The Bird Flu

Hyperactivity is a general term referring to excessive andor pathological activeness. This term is often used erroneously for an active person that does not meet the excessive criteria. It is important to understand that all children are active to a certain extent, and that some are even extremely active. However, this does not necessarily constitute hyperactivity. A hyperactive person will seem to be driven to movement, making it almost impossible to sit still. If sitting, they will often fidget or talk excessively as a countermeasure. Hyperactivity is often difficult to assess in adults; however, children are much easier to diagnose.

Attention Deficit Disorder, on the other hand, is exhibited by inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and distractibility, but not necessarily hyperactivity. A child that suffers from ADD may have difficulty completing assignments, paying attention, andor waiting their turn. In order for any of these behaviors to constitute a disorder, they must be extreme, create difficulty in completing daily activities, and not be appropriate behavior for the age group of the child. They must also occur for an extended period of time, at least six months and be identifiable prior to the age of 7 and continue thereafter.

However, some children with ADD also have hyperactivity, demonstrated as excessive fidgeting, running, and jumping at inappropriate times. They often seem to have an inability to be still. If a child exhibits hyperactivity in addition to Attention Deficit Disorder, they are often termed ADHD Attention DeficitHyperactivity Disorder. While many people assume the term ADD is an antiquated version of ADHD, they actually refer to two different types of disorders.

In all, there are typically three variations of ADD or ADHD. These are 1 inattentive type, 2 hyperactive-impulsive type, and 3 combination. Obviously the inattentive type exhibits a difficulty in paying attention and completing activities, but is not hyperactive. These children tend to be more difficult to diagnose. On the other hand, the hyperactive-impulsive type is extremely active and has a difficulty controlling their behavior. Of course, the third type is a combination of the two previous types and displays inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

Related posts:

1. What Are The Symptoms Of ADD?
2. Types Of Add Manifestation In Children
3. How ADD Affects Child Education And Schooling