Thirty-Six Thousand People Do Not Die Each Year from Regular Flu (Confirmed)

[Guest guest]

http://www.naturalnews.com/026169.html

 

When it comes to influenza, the disinformation campaigns are in full swing. One

of the most often quoted pieces of disinformation being circulated today is that

" regular flu " kills 36,000 people a year.

 

I tracked down the source of this number and it turns out that it's basically

just a wild guess that's been circulating since 2003 and was based on " stastical

modeling " rather than any actual laboratory confirmation of flu deaths. Based on

the CDC's own standards, the actual number of confirmed deaths from " regular

flu " each year is essentially ZERO.

 

 

 

Read just about any news report on swine flu deaths, and you'll come across a

line that claims " 36,000 people die each year from flu-related causes. " It

sounds authoritative. It's even a nice, round number. But where is this number

coming from? And is it based on any actual science?

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.

Thus, according to the guidelines of the CDC and WHO, they don't count. Based on

their own rules, it is technically accurate to say that regular flu kills

virtually no one. It's not true, of course, because people do die from the

" regular flu " each year, but it is technically accurate according to the CDC and

WHO rules for scientific evidence.

Again, that's because nearly all of these " regular flu " deaths aren't confirmed

by a CDC or WHO-recognized lab. Thus, they have no scientific standing..

Infectious disease double standard

I find it interesting that when talking about swine flu, the criteria for

inclusion in statistics is positive identification in a rigorous laboratory. But

when talking about regular flu, the criteria for inclusion is -- technically

speaking -- anybody's wild guess.

The 36,000 number, it turns out, was pulled out of thin air. It has no

scientific validity whatsoever, even according to the CDC's own standards.

I tracked down the origins of this number on CDC.gov, by the way. Turns out it

was an estimate derived by the CDC in 2003

(http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pres...).

It's an estimate, mind you, not a " confirmed " number of deaths. And that

estimate has stayed exactly the same through 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

and 2009. Not a budge. Before the number was 36,000, it was 20,000 for many

years. That tells you right off the bat this isn't some confirmed laboratory

number -- it's a guesstimate!

I'm not disagreeing with the number. It's probably a fairly accurate guess (the

CDC folks are a smart bunch). But it doesn't meet the criteria by which these

infectious disease organizations report influenza deaths.

As the CDC even says on their own website, " This estimate came from a 2003 study

published in the Journal of the American Medication Association (JAMA), which

looked at the 1990-91 through the 1998-99 flu seasons [10]. Statistical modeling

was used to estimate how many flu-related deaths occurred among people whose

underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory

or circulatory disease. During these years, the number of estimated deaths

ranged from 17,000 to 52,000. "

In other words, they took a look at how many people died from respiratory or

circulatory disease, and from that they extrapolated " flu-related deaths. "

This is all accomplished through " statistical modeling, " which is the equivalent

of statisticians waving magic wands to create new numbers where none exist.

Based on the sample size, it can be quite accurate (plus or minus a few

percentage points), or it can be way off base depending on the accuracy of the

statistical sample.

Notably, if the same methodology were used to calculate swine flu deaths, it

might currently show 300 or more deaths (and such methodologies would be widely

criticized, of course, for being " just wild guesses, " which they are).

As the CDC admits itself, " CDC does not know exactly how many people die from

flu each year. "

And... " It has been recognized for many years that influenza is infrequently

listed on death certificates [12] and testing for influenza infections usually

not done, particularly among the elderly who are at greatest risk of influenza

complications and death. Some deaths – particularly in the elderly – are

associated with secondary complications of influenza (including bacterial

pneumonias). " (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/diseas....)

In other words: Influenza isn't listed on death certificates and influenza

testing isn't even done on most patients! Thus, it is not possible for these

36,000 influenza deaths to be confirmed at all.

Swine flu may escape detection, too

What else is interesting in all this is when the CDC explains that viral strains

aren't even detectable in patients after the first few days of infection:

" Influenza virus infection may not be identified in many instances because

influenza virus is only detectable for a short period of time and many people

don't seek medical care until after the first few days of acute illness. " - The

CDC

If this is true, then isn't it also true that most swine flu patients can NEVER

be confirmed in a lab?

I find this quite curious, because according to what the CDC is saying here, 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.

Put another way, the criteria for identifying and reporting swine flu deaths is,

itself, limiting the number of swine flu deaths that will ever be counted.

Essentially, the system is rigged to under-report swine flu deaths by

eliminating anyone who wasn't tested in time to identify the strain.

This, I believe, is why the swine flu death count remains magically low even as

doctors on the ground in Mexico City are reporting much larger numbers of

real-world swine flu deaths.

Different strains

The other important thing to realize here is that the 36,000 figure is not

talking about just one strain of influenza: It's a cumulative figure from ALL

the other strains of influenza combined!

" Regular flu, " you see, isn't just one flu. It's a collection of potentially

hundreds of different flu strains. So assigning the 36,000 deaths a year figure

to " regular flu " is misleading because it makes it sound like a single strain of

influenza.

The truth is that nobody really knows how many deaths each year occur from the

different strains of flu circulating in the wild. Some top-notch CDC officials

can probably take a pretty good guess at it, but it's still just that: A guess.

The real numbers are, frankly, unknown.

It's also unknown how many people die from the viral load vs. how many die from

secondary infections (such as bacterial pneumonia) that often follow viral

infections. Technically, a lot of those 36,000 people (or so) might have been

killed by various strains of common bacteria, not by the viruses.

Yesterday morning, Mexico was reporting 159 deaths from swine flu. According to

the WHO, that number is not only 7. How does 159 magically become 7? By

including the word " confirmed " in front of it.

Fine. Let's all go with the " confirmed " modifier. All infectious disease deaths

must now be confirmed in a CDC or WHO laboratory in order to count. So that

means the 36,000 number needs to be revised down to however many have been

" confirmed " in that group.

And how many is that? Only the CDC knows. I'm guessing it's a two-digit number.

So much for the myth of " 36,000 flu-related deaths a year. " If you believe that

number, I'm sure there's a job waiting for you at the U.S. Treasury Dept., too,

where numbers are materialized out of thin air on a daily basis in order to

finance the national debt.

 

Did you know that there are ways to boost your natural flu immunity? Read

solutions here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/026168.html

 

About the author: Mike is a natural health author and technology pioneer

with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored

more than 1,500 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural

health topics, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who

are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. is

a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees

whatsoever to write about other companies' products.. In 2007, launched

EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy

efficient than incandescent lights. He also launched an online retailer of

environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of

its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors.. He's also the founder and CEO of

a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email

Marketing Director,' currently runs

the NaturalNews email subscriptions. also serves as the executive

director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection

group, and pursues hobbies such as Pilates, Capoeira, nature macrophotography

and organic gardening.

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

 

" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

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