Who do you work for, CDC?

A great picture about our obsession with Swine Flu- Here.   

 I love a good company to company agreement. I love great P.R. In fact? If I wake up in the morning and if don’t hear a brilliantly-twisted news story or advertisement? I just can’t function. (It’s like crack/coffee to me.) Trouble in corporate america? Large pyramid scam? ….cute puppies? Thank you god for the news.

 The fears of swine flu have somewhat subsided, (just as I promised you, it was not rationalized and necessary to worry like we all did. See? I did. Promise.) But I’ll admit it- I heard that 36,000 people died everywhere so I started getting more worried, (even after penning that extremely sarcastic look at the flu earlier last month.) I called a few doctor friends, and I did use antibacterial hand lotion. Because, as much as I didn’t buy into the “we’s all gonna die” mentality, I did buy into Bath and Body Works PocketBac in Cucumber Melon. It’s like re-living my days in Sheehan Hall with my roommate the Abercrombie queen, who always smelled like slutty cucumbers, but shared her snacks with me. And she had the BEST snacks.

As I heard more and more, all the propaganda about how everyone was shocked, (SHOCKED, I tell you!) That 36,000 people die annually from the flu each year and I wanted to look deeper.  I thought that number was ridiculously high, but who the heck will argue with the Center for Disease Control, (CDC.gov) It turns out? A lot of people. (Note: CDC articles claiming their ’36,000 deaths each year’ with their site links at bottom. Bonus: In equally annoying font! FTW!)

So, how could we possibly decipher actual right from blatant wrong? The CDC is claiming that the entire population of Yonkers, (and them some,) or for the more obscure, the amount of restaurants Mexico had to close because of the flu, (I’m a google expert, people.) It seems a … little high. Because all that’s usually been thrown at me is drunk driving victims (160,00 yearly) or 2nd hand smoke, (53,800 yearly). I’ve never once heard a PSA for, <cue parental gasps and crying babies,> ‘THE FLU!” I have heard that flu can lead to pneumonia, (which has NASTY, high numbers for deaths,) but the flu in itself could not possibly kill 36,000 yearly… could it?

Here’s the prognosis:  really erroneous numbers or the push for Big Pharmacy to get whipped cream on an already overinflated sundae? Did the CDC succeed in scaring us enough to sell more of the vaccine? I figured the best thing I could do? Was stay informed with different information, conflicting information- even. I need both sides to really take on an accurate view of what is going on. Do people die of the flu? Yes. It’s a great thing that we have a government agency to track it. But- it’s not a great thing when you look on the headers of the webpage and for every header that talks about the flu, there’s one that talks about vaccines. Seems like they’re robbing the public for special interest, (in other words: being the government. Remember chaps- hell is bad.)  Am I against the flu vaccine or companies making money while saving lives, absolutely not. I haven’t gotten one myself because I get sick regardless- being the -1% of the population who managed to have tonsillitis develop into mono in mere days. My body intimidates, terrifies and makes me proud daily.  (Note: What’s really in flu vaccines? 1   2  3 (read #3 first if you’re running out of time.)

I figured, knowing the CDC they must have some sort of measures into place to make sure they were not misleading the public like other government agencies…right? I mean- if there’s one thing I trust, it’s my best friends at FEMA and my local chapter of MAANWAKLTD, (mothers-against-anything-normal-well-adjusted-kids-like-to-do) and George Bush Jr. comes in a close third, but he never returns my letters. I even sign them extra pretty. But in all seriousness, that’s not a number you can just throw around. Yet… I couldn’t find ANY mention that that number actually happening.

I did find out this:

“This statistic is being paraded around by almost everybody, as if to say that swine flu isn’t so bad because regular flu kills so many people each year anyway. The truth is that the only standard by which the CDC and WHO are quoting deaths from swine flu is if they are confirmed deaths from a particular viral strain. To them, if a death has not been confirmed in their labs, it does not count as a death from that flu.
Got that? Only “confirmed” deaths count. And they must be confirmed in a laboratory using a rigorous method of comparing samples taken from the deceased with a known database of viral patterns. As it turns out, virtually none of the 36,000 people said to die from regular flu each year have been confirmed in any lab whatsoever.” (NaturalNews- Source) To me? That’s like the CDC saying- Kate died of the flu, but she was super old. So- when I croak at 98 they can say it was complications from the flu, but really- I’m already dying of old age. According to what the CDC is saying , it is impossible to ever get an accurate “confirmed” count of swine flu patients because the influenza virus isn’t detectable after a “short period of time.” Thus, by limiting swine flu death reports to only those patients who have been confirmed in a laboratory, the CDC is essentially eliminating the very possibility that many swine flu patients will ever be tested and identified as carrying the strain.
 

Lung USA Editorial where I found out about the ALA Article on the Number of Deaths

Great Article about the 1976 Flu Vaccine Tragedy, including today’s numbers

How many people the CDC claims died from the flu in 2006   VS.   American Lung Cancer’s Look at Influenza Deaths Using CDC Data  *If the link does not work, download here from the American Lung Association web site.

 My favorite, is below. It’s the list from the CDC’s own website with shows the their true recorded numbers of flu deaths by year. There’s no mention for the skip in years or why that data is missing, but the numbers are alarming. They break them out next to each number by sex, race and age. (I just included year and deaths.) I think it’s extremely important to note they took a lot of time putting that information togther- so I find it hard to believe they’d want to disqualify it because it was say… 34,800 off (avg. respectfully)  to the number they are now claiming.

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza

viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can

lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a

flu vaccination each year.

Every year in the United States, on average:

     complications

Flu-related deaths are deaths that occur in people for whom

influenza infection was likely a contributor to the cause of

death, but not necessarily the primary cause of death

Each flu season is unique, but it is estimated that, on average,

approximately 5% to 20% of U.S. residents get the flu,

and more than 200,000 persons are hospitalized for flu-related

complications each year. About 36,000 Americans die on

average per year from the complications of flu.

CDC Web Page Sources:

(http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm)

(http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm)

(http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/disease.htm)