we are SO much more immune than 1918

Everyone is all in a panic about this being the 1918 all over again...

Our immune systems have to be HUNDREDS of times stronger than back then. We mix and mingle on a daily basis GLOBALLY, as a NORM these days for een the middle class and a lot of lower income these days....

Even if the same virus came out, we are the generations of offspring form the SURIVORS of this, so......my theory is, we will be fine, as a magority.

Yes, there may be some illnesses, but I really think that people are listening to the fear mongers, and need to stop and use some logics.

you missed the part about being better nourished. people today are more nourished than in 1918. being undernourished ravages your immune system and your body's strength in general.

reply to post by ELECTRICkoolaidZOMBIEtest


Yes! Exactly, not to mention the vitamins and drug stores and knowlege of natural remedies, HEATING even if your too sick to chop wood and start a fire......SOOOOOOO much contrast!

Forgot to mention "sanitation" as well......

[edit on 6-11-2009 by mellisamouse]

Sorry, but that is largely wishful thinking. First of all, our immune systems are actually weaker than they'd have been in 1918. We are not exposed to as many pathogens. The chemicals in our environment weaken the immune system. And we're not necessarily better nourished than people were in 1918. They may have been *under*-nourished, but the majority of people - at least in the US - are malnourished. Too many calories, too much harmful junk, too many chemicals, salt, sugar, fats... we are seriously malnourished.

At any rate, having a robust immune system is no protection against H1N1, since one of the most devastating effects of this disease is that it can turn the immune system against the body. That is why so many young, healthy people are dying of this disease - their immune systems turn against the lungs, destroying them.

In the meantime, transportation allows us to travel throughout the world in hours rather than weeks. This practically guarantees that any infectious illness will spread throughout the world in a very short time.

Do not be misled by comforting fictions.

reply to post by chiron613


Speak for yourself. I worked in childcare for the last 20 years, travelled most of the world...had everything there is to have. Grow a ton of my own veggies, and don't buy junk, so all of those out there like MOI, will be fine.....hate to rain on the doom parade.

I don't know about 100's of times better than 1918. Maybe 5-10x better?

Having a stronger immune system is exactly what will kill you when the 1918 bug is released. It's killing mechanism is a cytokine storm which causes your own immune system to go wild and kill you. Read the info at the link below and see if it makes sense.

www.ken-welch.com...

Wow....I never panicked for y-2k, won't for 2012, never did for bird flu, or anything else either....

It is like some people WANT to believe the worst.

Like some people will believe anything, as long as it is doom based.

I understand some people want change, but hoping half the world gets wiped out in scenario A, B, C, or D, is not going to make you feel better.

You have to change yourself, and your thinking.

Get rid of the TV, and out in the real world, because things are not really as bad as "they" want you to think...in fact, in the REAL world, things are getting better all the time...

I hear what your saying, what with international travel, etc but I disagree. I would think the opposite is the case. We in the west live in a massively sanitised society and we aren't exposed to as many diseases or germs as we used to be. There's that phrase that somes it up for me:-

"Let them eat dirt!"

Apparently british societal health was at it's peak during WW2 rationing when using your rationale our immune systems would have been compromised.

I'd also hazard a guess that our immune systems were best primed against conditions like flu and colds when we were cavemen and they have been weakening ever since then.

reply to post by mellisamouse


It sounds to me like your feelings override your reasoning, and you have chosen to live in la-la land.

What's the saying? The ones who think they are free are the most enslaved...

Well, something I must point out, like with so many other reved up hoaxes.....

This huge "scare" has been going on sice April....

Do you know 4-5 close people already whom have DIED of this so-called "pandemic"????

Do you even know 4-5 people close to you whom have had labrotory CONFIRMED cases????

I highly doubt it.

I don't even know a friend, of a friend, of a friend.....

We have had 2 rounds of it up here already, "confimed", and yes the first time around it felt like you were run over by a steam roller, and the second round, there was something weird in the muscles that let you know you better darn well STAY hydrated.....but they only people "dying" in the whole country, were people alreay on their death beds, and a few people acting like they were in the olympics insteadof resting or mellowing out for a few days, one had asthma, and they don't even have proof it was H1N1...

I really do think people take every worst case scenario rumour, and "run with it" all in a panic, which is what allows the governments to play of thier fears and impose the tyranical crap they are getting away with in the first place.

If everyone would stop running into panic mode, every time some one announced, that Bobs uncles, cousins, great great grandmother "died" of some strange new "bug' at the age of 99, and some guy who had asthma MIGHT hae died of it too... "but it must be for SURE until proven otherwise", mabey so many people wouldn't have their rights being taken away.

reply to post by mellisamouse


Yes you are right, we have develop more antibodies through the decades thanks to our mothers.

We also have a better health care system and better sanitation practices.

Anyway the swine flu that we got today is not different than the breakout of 76.

Only the media and those involved in profiting from pandemic has been doing a great job scaring the latest generation that was not around back in the 70s.

University of California, Davis, researchers studying the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, formerly referred to as “swine flu,” have identified a group of immunologically important sites on the virus that are also present in seasonal flu viruses that have been circulating for years.
These molecular sites appear to result in some level of immunity to the new virus in people who were exposed to the earlier influenza viruses. More than a dozen structural sites, or epitopes, in the virus may explain why many people over the age of 60, who were likely exposed to similar viruses earlier in life, carry antibodies or other type of immunity against the new virus, immune responses that could be attributed to earlier flu exposure and vaccinations. [..] “These findings indicate that human populations may have some level of existing immunity to the pandemic H1N1 influenza and may explain why the 2009 H1N1-related symptoms have been generally mild,” Cardona said. “Our hypothesis, based on the application of data collected by other researchers, suggests that cell-mediated immunity, as opposed to antibody-mediated immunity, may play a key role in lowering the disease-causing ability, or pathogenicity, of the 2009 H1N1 influenza,” Xing added. He noted that immune responses based on production of specific cells, known as cytotoxic T-cells, have been largely neglected in evaluating the efficacy of flu vaccinations. In this type of immune response, the T-cells and the antiviral chemicals that they secrete attack the invading viruses. [..] Further study, however, revealed that the virus actually included genes from viruses found in birds and humans, as well as pigs. At first, this H1N1 influenza virus apparently caused a high number of deaths among patients in Mexico and among people with certain pre-existing medical conditions. But as it has progressed to become a pandemic or geographically widespread virus, H1N1 has caused relatively mild symptoms and few deaths. [..] The UC Davis research To probe this phenomenon, the UC Davis researchers surveyed data from earlier studies of epitopes known to exist on different strains of seasonal influenza A. They found that these epitopes, present in other seasonal H1N1 influenza strains around the world and capable of triggering an immune response, were also present in the strains of H1N1 2009 that were found in California, Texas and New York. Interestingly, although previous H1N1 viruses seem to have produced a protective antibody response in exposed people, these antibodies largely did not provide cross-protection for individuals infected with the H1N1 2009 strain of influenza. The researchers theorize that, rather than stimulating protective antibodies, the epitopes of the new H1N1 2009 virus produced an immune response by triggering production of cytotoxic T-cells, which boost a person’s immune defenses by killing infected cells and attacking the invading viruses. [..]

www.news.ucdavis.edu...