What is this contagious Illness?

I would have to say that this mystery illness is some sort of flu, but it is obviously not the one they were expecting and it is causing much more serious repercussions.

My complaint is no one is doing anything to identify it. Why should this matter? Because it needs to be handled differently, it is much more contagious, causing more complications than any flu I've ever seen and it is persistent in it's recurring nature and ability to be contagious long term.

My feeling is that someone needs to identify it and a have a way for the Drs. to know what they are dealing with. If it's not the regular flu the patient walks in with, additional precautions need to be taken, and additional complaints as they occur need to be addressed immediately. This is not happening. Instead some people are sufferring bizarre complications lasting for months because it is going unchecked.

Edit: I have serious doubts that the person mentioned in jrod's post died from the plain old flu.


[edit on 3/8/2006 by Relentless]

[edit on 3/8/2006 by Relentless]

I will have to read the entire thread but just from the first page it caught my attention. Its in Ohio as well, or something very similar. I also work in an office environment as a network admin/computer tech so I am in other offices and touching other people's keyboards all day long. About 2 weeks ago it hit me like a truck. General malaise, aching, night sweats (soaking sheets), fever, congestion, you name it. I called the doctors office on a wendsday and they were booked thru friday. One day I went in and one of the guys I work with stated that my eyes looked terrible, swollen and wattery and I do NOT have allergies LOL.

I finally started feeling better last week, but am still tired alot with no energy.
WTH is going around??

Hmmmm..... people around here are getting the watery eyes too.

Also noticing anyone who got it seems like they still have it but insist it's their allergies and sinuses. Either it's making them more allergic or it's having an after affect that makes them think they are in allergy attacks. I suspect the latter.

Oh, and Typhoid Doe was in my building today still as bad as he was in September. He was trying to hand me paperwork and I just told him to leave it across the room. He won't go down and he's still passing it around. He doesn't seem to get the fact that he is responsible for half the spread of this and two hospitalizations. More people getting sick this week and more people relapsing, some have been fine for a week or two.

A little update. I had an appoitment with my lawyer on wendsday and he told me that he was down with a stomach bug that kicked his tail back in january.
I still cannot seem to generate much energy for long. I feel decent other than the nagging cough and congestion and just tired.
I wonder what is going around?
Is it just the flu bug or something else.
Side note, I did NOT take the flu shot and normally I dont get sick maybe bronchitis once in a while but nothing more than that.

My hypothesis involves a lot of variables. It has to do with the gradual weakening of the immune system. The sickness seems to be a bacterial infection or influenza that won't go away, which may in turn be spurred on by viruses present in the body.

some basic clarity about our immune systems

www.hauns.com...

Part 1. The gradual weakening of the immune system.
This all stems from my observation of the rise in the amount of ear infections and sinus infections this school year. We do not realize it but along with convenience our technology provides we seem to easily compromise the immunity of our bodies. Take the new I-pod craze for instance. Not to mention damaging the hearing, the "headphones" restrict the airflow through the ear. In a cold climate it keeps the ear canal warmer than the ambient temperature. Including myself, I know many people who wear them while snowboarding or skiing. I've noticed that the earphones seem to make the ears sweat, when taken out of the ears on a cold day it exposes, wet sweaty tissue to cold moist air. Could this be the cause of the rise in the amount of infections to the ears and sinuses? This is merely one example of our habitual mistreatment of our bodies. Long term chemical exposure (cleaning products) can weaken immune system capabilities. Lindane, is commonly used to de-louse schools and workplaces. Lindane is a known cancer causing carcinogen, like most other pesticides, yet it is sold over-the-counter for the removal of lice. Exposure to these pesticides weakens the immune system and promotes the formation of cancerous cells. Smoking and second hand smoke expose us to radium 214 which beta decays in the lungs into lead 210, and polonium 210 (a known carcinogen). Indoor pollution also contributes to asthma cases. Even poor diet and obesity contribute to weakened immune systems. The list could go on for hours.

www.health24.com...

Other causes of inflammation or infection of the ear canal include:
scratching the ear canal with a cotton swab, bobby pin, fingernail, or other sharp object. Cleaning the ear canal harshly or with a sharp object. Use of earplugs. Bubble baths, soaps, and shampoos. Chronic skin conditions, such as eczema, psoriasis, or seborrhea. Allergies. Use of stereo headphones inserted into the ear. Excessive sweating from physical activity.
health.yahoo.com...

www.ghchealth.com...

Part 2. Where did west Nile go?
We know that west Nile is a blood borne virus that is carried by mosquitoes. It mostly kills people with weakened immune systems, like the elderly and young children. I see many parallels between AIDS/HIV and West Nile. The first being, that nobody really dies from AIDS/HIV they die from the inability of their immune system to fight infection and disease. AIDS/HIV simply weakens the immune system, and as long as the virus develops the ability to live in recession within the body, it can compromise the body’s ability to fight an infection, creating further damage from the infection. More damage means more vulnerable scar tissue, and more places for the bacterium to hide. In the winter months and in flu season our immune systems are bombarded by tons of infectious diseases. And our diet habits are usually lax around the holidays. In the summer one would not necessarily ever know if they have west Nile virus because their immune systems are functioning well. This raises the question, what if this flu is caused by recessive West Nile infection? Could west Nile mutate and become the new AIDS? Could this be why so many seem to demonstrate the inability to get better for weeks or months?

came from." The West Nile virus can cause encephalitis, or inflammation
of the brain, in humans, but most people who become infected either show
no reaction or become mildly ill with flu-like symptoms. environmentalrisk.cornell.edu...

www.lesco.com...

www.brightsurf.com...


part 3 The influenza virus mutates.

First big influenza genome study reveals flu evolution

In the study, TIGR scientists and their colleagues sequenced 209 complete genomes of the human influenza A virus. The genomes represent virus samples, or isolates, taken from patients who visited county clinics across New York over the past five flu seasons, from 1999-2004. Almost all the influenza genomes represent the H3N2 strain, which predominated during these flu seasons. Comparing these genomes, the researchers tracked the changing virus as it moved across the region.

www.brightsurf.com...

The “hit and hide” cold…

An international team of researchers has discovered that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common cold virus causing bronchiolitis in children, can act as a 'hit and hide' virus. It was thought that the virus could only survive in the body for a few days, but these new results show that the virus can survive for many months or years, perhaps causing long-term effects on health, such as damage to the lungs.

www.sciencedaily.com...

vaccines weaking the immune system

www.healthychild.com...

stress, emotions and the immune system, Is it the environment we live in cobined with our attitude that makes us sick?

www.attitudefactor.com...

www.infinityinst.com...


[edit on 10-3-2006 by Eyeofhorus]

[edit on 10-3-2006 by Eyeofhorus]

[edit on 10-3-2006 by Eyeofhorus]

Okay then, between postings, especially Sofi's and now Eyeofhorus, and the fact that I actually had some time to attempt some research, all I can say is ohmyfreakinggosh!

There are so many viruses out there mutating away and jumping species I don't think there is any way to stay on top of them. I do not think the one I started this thread about has a chance in hell of being nailed down. I couldn't even begin to compile the links I found to all sorts of things I never heard of before that are causing problems all over the world at this point.

It's starting to make me wonder if the next pandemic is even going to come from the avian flu at all, there are so many avenues and possibilities. I'm going to count myself lucky that I have not caught this one after 6 months of possible exposure and try to hope that it doesn't spread all over the country as the 500,000 bikers leave Daytona after this weekend. It may not be killing people but it certainly is leaving lasting damage in way too many people. (Truth be known, there is one person I know with complications so severe I still wouldn't say for certain the person is out of the woods).

Sorry I even started this thread, I really need to go forget about this now (and not proud of the fact that I am actually at that point).

Originally posted by Relentless

There are so many viruses out there mutating away and jumping species I don't think there is any way to stay on top of them. I do not think the one I started this thread about has a chance in hell of being nailed down.

FYI - it probably could be nailed down - but as you say, there are so many, few doctors bother testing any more... They just throw drugs at things until something works.

It's starting to make me wonder if the next pandemic is even going to come from the avian flu at all, there are so many avenues and possibilities.

Too true.

I'm going to count myself lucky that I have not caught this one ... It may not be killing people but it certainly is leaving lasting damage in way too many people. ...

Sorry I even started this thread, I really need to go forget about this now (and not proud of the fact that I am actually at that point).

There is hope.

Microbes may mutate - but so do people and other lifeforms.

Not that it won't be a rocky road - but we've already had a while to adapt, and while things don't look great, we're not talking Armageddon either.

Well, I'm still not fully over whatever this is....

I'll see a doc next week...

Guess we can thank the wonderful population control tower of the Globalist Elite for some of this. Seems Florida always has weird things going on...and in and around other military installations (Ft Dietrick) comes to mind.

Died 2005

#78: Leonid Strachunsky. Died: June 8, 2005 after being hit on the head with a champagne bottle. Strachunsky specialized in creating microbes resistant to biological weapons. Strachunsky was found dead in his hotel room in Moscow, where hed come from Smolensk en route to the United States. Investigators are looking for a connection between the murder of this leading bio weapons researcher and the hepatitis outbreak in Tver, Russia.

#77: Robert J. Lull, age 66. Died: May 19, 2005 of multiple stab wounds. Despite his missing car and apparent credit card theft, homicide Inspector Holly Pera said investigators aren't convinced that robbery was the sole motive for Lull's killing. She said a robber would typically have taken more valuables from Lull's home than what the killer left with. Lull had been chief of nuclear medicine at San Francisco General Hospital since 1990 and served as a radiology professor at UCSF. He was past president of the American College of Nuclear Physicians and the San Francisco Medical Society and served as editor of the medical society's journal, San Francisco Medicine, from 1997 to 1999. Lee Lull said her former husband was a proponent of nuclear power and loved to debate his political positions with others.

#76: Todd Kauppila, age 41. Died: May 8, 2005 of hemorrhagic pancreatitis at the Los Alamos hospital, according to the state medical examiner's office. Picture of him was not available to due secret nature of his work. This is his funeral picture. His death came two days after Kauppila publicly rejoiced over news that the lab's director was leaving. Kauppila was fired by director Pete Nanos on Sept. 23, 2004 following a security scandal. Kauppila said he was fired because he did not immediately return from a family vacation during a lab investigation into two classified computer disks that were thought to be missing. The apparent security breach forced Nanos to shut down the lab for several weeks. Kauppila claimed he was made a scapegoat over the disks, which investigators concluded never existed. The mistake was blamed on a clerical error. After he was fired, Kauppila accepted a job as a contractor at Bechtel Nevada Corp., a research company that works with Los Alamos and other national laboratories. He was also working on a new Scatter Reduction Grids in Megavolt Radiography focused on metal plates or crossed grids to act to stop the scattered radiation while allowing the unscattered or direct rays to pass through with other scientists: Scott Watson (LANL, DX-3), Chuck Lebeda (LANL, XTA), Alan Tubb (LANL, DX-8), and Mike Appleby (Tecomet Thermo Electron Corp.)

#74: Dr. Douglas James Passaro, age 43. Died April 18, 2005 from unknown cause in Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. Passaro was a brilliant epidemiologist who wanted to unlock the secrets of a spiral-shaped bacteria that causes stomach disease. He was a professor who challenged his students with real-life exercises in bioterrorism. He was married to Dr. Sherry Nordstrom..

73: Geetha Angara, age 43. Died: February 8, 2005. This formerly missing chemist was found in a Totowa, New Jersey water treatment plant's tank. Angara, 43, of Holmdel, was last seen on the night of Feb. 8 doing water quality tests at the Passaic Valley Water Commission plant in Totowa, where she worked for 12 years. Divers found her body in a 35-foot-deep sump opening at the bottom of one of the emptied tanks. Investigators are treating Angara's death as a possible homicide. Angara, a senior chemist with a doctorate from New York University, was married and mother of three.

www.stevequayle.com...

Any chance this could be related to this?

From loam's thread about Al- Queda's Last Warning:

"there will be no one to analyze and investigate, because the mind and the heart will be unable to comprehend it. ... This will not be a single operation, but two; one bigger than the other, but we will begin with the big one and postpone the bigger one, in order to see [how] diligent the American people is [in preserving] its life."

and:

"Let me now inform you why we opted to inform you about the two operations and your inability to stop them before they are carried out. The reason is simple: You cannot uncover or stop them except by letting them be carried out. Furthermore, the best you could do would be to accelerate the day of carrying out the operations. In other words, if we schedule the operation to take place tomorrow, the best you could do is to make it happen today."

Oh dear, so I am postulating that:
plan 1: implant widespread, bio-engineered virus?
plan 2: inform that once implanted, that a second, deadly element could be administered or activated causing certain death....hence, the choice to vow to Muslim wishes or die?

Synopsis: if this were true, and they actually could put us in this position, and have done so already, then what do you think the response of this administration will be?

Would immediate annihilation of the muslim race on this planet be a solution? Not likely, as I'm sure they'd have plenty of safety switches in place.

Would we have to bow down to all their wishes or die?

I hope I am much more wrong than Soficrow.

[/utter nonsense, crazy idea, TA your nutz, go away]

Well I was going away, I swear But then I noticed this:
Patriot Act Takes Aim At Those With Allergies



[edit on 12-3-2006 by TrueAmerican]

If the current epidemics are related to bioweapons research, testing and/or attack - the US is just as likely to be responsible as Russia.

Look at the history of H5N1 bird flu - we know the first isolated strain has been used in experiments in the West since 1959.

The protein molecule underlying almost all the new Super Bugs and Super Flus is a-smooth muscle actin (aSMA). That's another story, but the main point is that this (misfolded) protein is a key that can open any door to any cell in any lifeform on this planet - including viruses, bacteria, spirochetes, mycoplasma and all the microbes. Which also means it becomes a key 'infected' microbes then carry to get into any animal cell, ...

...The evidence shows that aSMA is created by the body in a variety of allergic and other responses - ie., to penicillin, ergot, toxic oil/aniline. The evidence also shows that once created, aSMA is infectious - and can 'hitchhike' on microbes co-infecting the body ...

The main aSMA related disease first was identified and acknowledged in the USA in 1938. It has had plenty of time to get around naturally since then - although I have no doubt it has been a focus of bioweapons research.


.

Sofi, so it appears from your statement there that my crazy idea may not be as crazy as it sounds?

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Sofi, so it appears from your statement there that my crazy idea may not be as crazy as it sounds?

You seem to be promoting the idea that "Muslim terrorists" are behind upcoming plagues.

I am saying these plagues already are loose in the world, and all the evidence suggests they are a) related at the molecular level, and b) started in the USA nearly 100 years ago.

I said long ago that these plagues are now out of control, and also predicted that when their existence became undeniable that 'authorities' would try to blame 'the terrorists.'


.

I haven't been on ATS lately mainly because I have been sick since the end of December - and like the other posters here I get a bit better then knocked right back down again. I did get a flu shot this year the first in many years and this is the sickest I have been for the longest time. Congestion, coughing till you feel like you will pass out, coughing up dark green cottage cheese (TMI I know) achy, at one point the worst sore throat I have ever had in my life ( was almost at the point I couldn't swallow at all) and in my case I can't get my blasted temp above 95.5. I have been to the doctors numerous times - have had nebulizer treatments, gotten inhalers, shots, am on my second round of different antibiotics, narcotic cough meds.

The last time I was at the doctor I would love to know what the doctor wrote in my file - after giving me my shots and scripts the nurse ran out into the waiting room where I was paying my bill and asked if she could listen to my lungs she "Just wanted to hear something" ??

I am starting probiotics today (they came yesterday) I am at the point I feel why not - nothing else has helped.

I would start to feel better and go shopping to fill up the pantry again and within 2 days of shopping I was down and out again.

I am so sick of being sick with this - I am used to my normal not feeling great but this sucks big time.

Oh and it seems that DH gets better and then gets sick again also. With him it is achy, sinus, congestion, cough.

We are in NY btw.

I RARELY post on ATS, but i know for a fact that the illness that a LOT of you are referencing is mononucleosis. There has been an explosion of this viral infection in my area, at least. I have missed 3 weeks of schoool because of this nasty virus, and its not uncommon for people to be sick for months or years.

My symptoms include:
Coughing up blood
Coughing up phlegm (green)
Extreme fatigue
Extreme loss of appetite
Blurred vision
Paranoia
Extreme weight loss
Motion Sickness
Sore throat, similar to strep

I was Misdiagnosed with the flu, after getting a negative on a strep test. I was prescribed a drug which was essentially an advil+codeine mix.

After a week, it was back to the doctors, and then i got diagnosed with mononucleosis. At that point, I was given a stronger pain medication called hydrocodone.

After one more doctor visit, i was prescribed some medication that started with a "D" (sorry for the vagueness) that lowers the immune systems response to the virus, which helped with my throat pain.

Nearly everyone will get this virus at some point in their life, some people have it easy, others die.
en.wikipedia.org...

EDIT: location: chicago

[edit on 19-3-2006 by firstplacerifles]

Ive been sick for over a week now, Ive had a fever, killer headaches, no energy, my lymph nodes are extremely swollen and painful, and my tonsils are sore and swollen. I can tell you ive been tested for mono and strep, and both negative, and I got a flu shot this year Unfortunatley antibiotics have not helped much, which makes me think this is some kind of virus.

I've just been sick, and I'm pretty sensitive to my dreams about current events and/or symbols with refrence to current events. When I stay in bed long enough (like when I'm sick or really rested, like a weekend) I usually dream with more details. This bug kept me sleeping for four days.

I live in South Carolina and I believe the number of people coughing and sick has dropped dramatically in the last couple or few weeks. Of course I am just basing that on the number of people I hear coughing in the church I go to. I had something back a month or two ago but antibiotics got rid of it for me. Then I had a terrible reaction to penicillin which I shouldn't have been given since I was already allergic. That allergic reaction took about two weeks to completely clear up. Based on the cost and suffering I underwent, I now refuse to shake the hands of people who are coughing or appear sick in church. I'll just give them a peace sign. In my opinion, if you don't need to shake the hands of a sick person then don't. That strategy has worked for me so far.

I believe I may have the answer. My lab tests came back as being positive for Strep C, a rare strain of strep throat that is mainly relagated to horses and cows and the such. I cant find much info about human infection on the net though. I had the symptoms described above and still do for over a week and a half, and it sounds like many others are describing the same thing.

Oh my word! I do hope Step C is not what everyone else has been getting or there is a serious problem here, being that it is suppossed to be so rare in humans.

What made them test for it anyway? I'm really shocked they would even look for it.

Edit: Wait a minute - this responds to antibiotics. Can't be what is going around here, antibiotics aren't working for anyone.



[edit on 3/21/2006 by Relentless]