By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER |The Hartford Courant
It started in New London, then crept across Connecticut, killing men and women in Hartford, Middletown, Norwich, Waterbury and more than two dozen other towns as September wore on. Then, in October, it took off, killing 5,228 people throughout the state in one month alone.

The Spanish flu of 1918 moved across the world slowly compared with the current spread of swine flu known as H1N1. But the 1918 flu proved to be deadly, killing nearly 9,000 people in Connecticut, 650,000 in the United States and between 20 million and 40 million worldwide.

It's too soon to know the course of the current outbreak of swine flu, whether it will mirror any of the three pandemics of the 20th century or die off far short of any kind of comparable destruction.

So far, the swine flu has been linked to only one U.S. death and 725 confirmed illnesses worldwide. Most cases are in Mexico, where 19 deaths have been reported. (Tomcat notes: The Mexican death toll stands at over 100 unconfirmed cases)

From Recombinomics.com

Tomcat notes: It *is* fascinating to see pressure brought to bear to call a disease something it is not. In truth, Swine flu is a disease of pigs and the disease will most certainly continue to ignore the U.S. Government's misguided efforts to paint it as something it is not in order to benefit the pig farmers whose businesses may be seeing a downturn. The only thing that can be said with reason is that the pig meat is still good to eat, since the virus cannot survive cooking. Read with interest the section about the coming fall season. This thing is most certainly not over, despite media claims to the contrary.

Swine H1N1 Transmission From Human to Swine
Recombinomics Commentary 07:10
May 3, 2009

The pigs in Alberta were thought to be infected by a farm worker who returned from Mexico on April 12 and began working on the farm two days later. Officials noticed the pigs had flu-like symptoms April 24, Evans said.

Approximately 10 percent of the 2,200 pigs on the farm have been infected, Evans said.

The above comments describe the transmission of the H1N1 swine flu from an infected farm worker to swine in Alberta, Canada.  This efficient transmission from human to swine suggests that much of the speculation in the past week is overly optimistic.

The virus is swine, WHO newspeak notwithstanding, and contains six swine gene segments as well as a human PB1 and an avian PB2 that have been in swine for more than a decade. Therefore, although swine to swine transmission is not unexpected, the trans mission from human to swine is striking.  The H1N1 is called swine H1N1 for scientific reason.  It is not a “nickname” as some media accounts mis-report, but a descriptive name that defines its normal host.  The species differences in sequence are easily determined, and species jumps are rare, but can be deadly. Usually the virus replicates most effectively in is host species.

The jump to humans is cause for concern. The last time as swine flu jumped to human and was efficiently spread in the new host was in 1918.

On the site, demonshand.com - a very good site for we shingles sufferers who don't get nearly enough information, this article was pointed out by the author. It is no longer available and I decided to resurrect it as a reference and favor.

I cannot begin to explain the sheer pain and suffering that shingles causes. Those who have experienced it know what I speak of. Hence, I tend to print whatever I can that will enlighten or help anyone understand the disease.

I inadvertently was exposed to human blood earlier this year and noted a difference in my own shingles symptoms which have improved since. I'm uncertain as to this being a potential reason for my own improvement, since I've taken other steps to manage my own disease, but it is awfully odd that my improvement took place almost immediately after this incident in the summer of 2008. The article came to mind as I looked for possible explanations for the changes.

I had contracted shingles in late 2006 and have steadily improved after a course of famcyclovir and discovering that 500mg fish oil tabs twice to three times a day had a beneficial effect on my neuralgia. I was over most symptoms, save the burning and stabbing pains that continued off and on ever since then. In 2008, I had a recurrence of these and small lesions that would appear on my hand and chest now and again. I had just  gotten past a bout of this at the time of this incident.

My exposure came about as a result of contact with a woman who had a massive hand cut and I administered the first aid and got blood on both my hands and arms. I was examined afterwards by medical personnel and cleared for possible blood transfer directly into any cuts or lesions, but within weeks, I noticed my symptoms had eased. I note that the blood had dried on my body for about 30 minutes before I was able to wash it off. I had been working on fences and my there was concern about abrasions on my hands and old cuts that were beginning to heal at the time of the exposure. Hence, I had skin that was a bit thinner than normal in the exposed areas when this occurred.

The original url was http://www.fastpages.com/shingles/shingles.htm - I'm not sure why it went away, but I hope this hosting of the content on my site helps some of you to become aware of this unusual treatment, if only out of sheer interest and historical reference.

Note that I do not reprint this or advocate this treatment as a potential replacement for good medical advice from certified professionals. This is a reference only and nothing more.