Swine Flu Risk Overblown, Say Doctors

Swine flu is thought to come from mistreated pigs that live in metal crates on factory farms. Their immune systems are therefore compromised. The present flu is a new type combining human flu virus, avian flu, and two types of swine virus. (See Swine Flu Outbreak)

The symptoms for humans are mainly respiratory, but there can be vomiting and diarrhea.

People are contagious one day before they know they have it and for about one week after getting it. Jay Gordon, M.D., FAAP, wrote in Swine Flu and Tamiflu: “Influenza viruses, especially new ones, trigger more news stories and can be made to seem much more frightening and dangerous than they really are. Government agencies and media make it sound like you’ve got a ‘fifty-fifty’ chance of contracting this new virus. They then make it sound like a lot of people who get this influenza end up in the hospital and may die.

"Statistically, nothing could be further from the truth: The chance that the new virus is really dangerous is small. The chance that you’ll get it is much smaller, and the possibility that you or a family member will be harmed by the virus is so slim that the news should be on page twenty, not page one.”

Dr. Jospeh Mercola also questions the risks in his article Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic—Fact or Fiction?

Currently there is no vaccine for it. The best advice is to go easy on alcohol and sugary foods, get plenty of rest, plenty of vitamin C and bioflavonoids, and wash your hands.

Tamiflu supplies are running low. Drug companies must hurry to find a vaccine before the epidemic is over.


By Louise McCoy and William Franklin McCoy, M.D.


Last Updated
Apr 30, 2009

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