Here's something I expect will probably get the powers that be -- namely federal health officials and the mega-drugmakers -- more concerned about the avian flu epidemic/hoax: The H5N1 virus may now be resistant to Tamiflu, something I warned you about last year.
Recently, two Vietnamese patients treated early on with Tamiflu died from the flu anyway. What's more, these cases demonstrated a high resistance to that worthless drug.
In those patients who died, researchers found the virus had mutated so it could better overcome the natural functioning of neuraminidase, a genetic chemical that creates and releases copies of infected cells.
Another interesting factoid: A reminder that as many as 18 percent of the children who are treated with Tamiflu develop a drug-resistant strain of the disease. Even the British Medical Journal warned us recently that the avian flu virus isn't capable of causing a human pandemic.
To be prepared for the flu and bolster your immune system without the need for a drug that may not work anyway, here's some helpful hints to get you started:
New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 353, No. 25, December 22, 2005: 2667-2772 Free Full Text Article
New Scientist December 22, 2005