First it was H1N1 flu, then chickungunya. Now there is Ebola. The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has raised its level of emergency alertness to Level 1 following outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa. On August 8th of this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) also declared Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency. Affected areas include Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. At this time 1, 711 people have been infected and 932 have died. Nine people have also been diagnosed with the disease in Nigeria.
The current outbreak involves Zaire ebolavirus which produces symptoms within 6-16 days of infection including flu-like symptoms, sudden onset of fever, diarrhea, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and abdominal pains. Less common symptoms include sore throat, rashes and bleeding.
Ebola spreads via contact with bodily fluids from an infected person during the late stages of infection or after death, much like AIDS is spread. It is NOT airborne. If an infected person were to hop on a plane and fly to the U.S., Europe or elsewhere, tight health care measures would ensure that Ebola will never get far according to Fabian Leendertz, an epidemiologist and disease ecologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.
Now here is an important fact, Ebola is INACTIVATED by UV light, i.e. sunlight!! Additionally regular sun exposure helps to optimize Vitamin D which is crucial to a robust immune system. Hence a debate is growing over the use of experimental treatment, a drug named ZMAPP, to combat the Ebola outbreak. Formulated in January 2014, ZMAPP is based on genetically engineered tobacco leaves. Currently it has only been tested on monkeys, no initial findings of the research have been published and the drug has NOT gone through the FDA drug approval process. Yet the two American workers who contracted Ebola received it.
Dr. Thomas Geisbert, MD, professor of infectious disease as the University of Texas Galveston Medical Branch, who has studied Ebola for over 25 years, urges everyone to be CAUTIOUS about interpreting the effect of the drug. There are many unanswered questions about the safety and efficacy of this genetically engineered plant vaccine since we have no idea what the side effects might be.
Dr. Thomas E Levy, MD recently published an article addressing potential Ebola remedies noting that Vitamin C may be very important in large doses. Dr. Ronald Humminghake, an internationally recognized expert on Vitamin C states “The real focus should be setting up medical infrastructure in the affected countries to provide sick people with basic medical support such as replacement fluid and blood. That will have a bigger affect on health than a few batches of experimental medications.”
But scaring people, called “fear mongering,” is a lucrative business. The Ebola panic is very reminiscent of the 2005 bird flu hoax and the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) scare—another Level 1 “emergency” that turned out to be grossly hyped to promote the sales of unnecessary vaccines that turned out to be riddled with horrible side-effects, including the devastating sleep disorder, narcolepsy.
There are tremendous hazards inherent in fast tracking vaccines. For the most part, most of the conventional media portrays the entire vaccine process as something heroic and vital to the health of our culture. Actually, what needs to be discussed is the financial motives behind the promotions of pandemics and the vaccines that go along with them. It is VITAL that you carefully research ALL sides of the vaccine issue and not merely trust public health authorities, doctors, and media as they are largely influenced by massive conflict of interest and collusion. Seek other independent and objective views like those of the non-profit charity the National Vaccine Information Center (www.nvic.org) and other well researched alternative view points. Protect your right to informed consent. At least 15% of young doctors recently polled admit they’re starting to adopt a more individual approach to vaccines for children in direct response to safety concerns of parents. Do your homework. Empower yourself and your family by taking responsibility for your life and health.
