Swine Flu logic
From this article. “We are vulnerable to new bugs such as swine flu precisely because the body needs to have encountered a bug at least once in order to be able to mount a good defence against it. Getting flu is evidence that your immune system is working, not that it isn’t.” First sentence good. Second sentence – total logic failure. Getting flu isn’t evidence of anything except that you don’t have immunity to it. The fact that you don’t have immunity to flu doesn’t – in and of itself - tell you anything general about your immune system. The only thing is that is true is that sometimes a violent immune response can exacerbate the symptoms of flu. Scarily imprecise stuff for a science writer.
Category: Asides One comment »
April 6th, 2010 at 7:50 am
Could this H1 N1 virus convert Cold sores;Herpes simplex; in to something new an infection that can spread to lungs ?… ..
Westerners need to pay more attention to hygiene, i am horrified to see .. on Food Program mes.. they do not wash their hands after touching raw meat, cutting green veggies; …. using the same cutting board…..
There was an epidemic in 50′s which is supposed to have given immunity to H1N1… we called them ” Singapore Flu”…. some consolation to those aged 70 +!!!
Lokkur Vasanthi Rao