there are those out there (including at least one regular commenter to this blog) who would tell you that mkf gets all his news from fringe sources and conspiracy theorists. i am here to tell you this is not true--i only get about 95% of my news from those places; for the remaining 5% i turn to the mainstream media, because they can be counted upon at least 5% of the time to belatedly confirm what my fringe sources and conspiracy theorists have been telling me for months.
take this H1N1 hysteria, for instance:
seems that a major news organization--namely, CBS news--has, for once, done what all news-gatherers should be doing routinely but in actuality do rarely; namely, ignore what the powers-that-be are telling 'em and dig for the real truth.
bottom line: what CBS news found out is, probably less than 20% of the "swine flu" cases you hear reported in the mainstream media these days are any kind of flu, much less the goddam swine flu.
now that we've got the big reveal outta the way, let's backtrack to find how they arrived at the above conclusion, shall we?
first, CBS found out that back in july, the centers for disease control (CDC) advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, since, it being an established epidemic and all (?), continued testing seemed like a waste of resources.
which resulted in--what?--yes, that's right: anybody who showed up at their doctor's office or an emergency room with flu-like symptoms since july has pretty much automatically been branded a swine flu victim, whether they actually were or not.
so, their curiosity piqued, CBS news asked the CDC for state-by-state test results prior to halting all testing in july. when the CDC balked, CBS went to each and every state and asked for their statistics on lab-confirmed H1N1 cases prior to the july cut-off.
what did they find? this is where it gets interesting. CBS reported:
"The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico."
wow--in other words, most of the people showing up at emergency rooms with "flu-like symptoms" didn't even have the goddam flu. here's a nice graphic that breaks it down for you:
[courtesy CBS news]so how could the CDC's findings be so wildly at odds with those of CBS news?
well, you tell me. could it possibly be because there's a conflict of interest there--that the CDC's advisory committee is infested with all kinds of drug-industry folks who would profit greatly if swine-flu vaccines--at an average of $50 a pop--were hysterically demanded by a panicked populace?
oh, and even better--because this rushed-to-market vaccine was granted blanket immunity from lawsuits by congress in case anything goes wrong?
in other words, our government has just granted to the drug companies the same deal they gave wall street back in 1999: roll the dice as wildly as you want, baby--we'll cover ya.
and you people wonder why i don't trust the goddam government.
_________________
[oh, and since this story broke, have you seen it in the mainstream media, or did you have to hear about it from some drunken blogger with an audience of approximately eleven?
wake up and smell the coffee, children.]
2 comments:
Pandemic, not epidemic.
Anywho, we've already had 'pandemic outbreak' training at work. I'm fully prepared to stay home and work in my jammies should H1N1 (or even influenza A) run rampant through my office.
I know I've talked about my experience in the medical/medical insurance field, but in my current position I process admissions.
Once the second wave of H1N1 hit, the first wave of influenza A hit. Admissions went through the roof all across the state.
I think I might have come across one actual H1N1 diagnosis out of the 100 or so admissions we process on a daily basis. Influenza A, on the other hand, has been far more prevalent.
To further support CBS, Dell Children's Hospital had triage tents set up outside for the overflow of patients waiting to be seen. During this outbreak, 10 nurses fell ill with the flu.
Not one of them were reported to have H1N1.
judi: thank you for this field report from our austin correspondent on the front lines.
the thing that kills me is, of the relatively few people who have died "from the swine flu," most of 'em have actually died from pneumonia resulting from the swine flu, not the flu itself.
but is the cdc pushing pneumonia vaccinations for that relatively small group that is most at risk, instead of blanket vaccinations for everybody? hell, no--there's no profit in that.
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