More Flu Scare Madness

nomorefakenews pointed to an article from USA Today, dated January of 2003, in which the threat from influenza was again hyped. I did a little digging of my own, which I'll chronicle here, because the real stats versus the made up stats for the article again demonstrate the CDC's agenda of pushing unnecessary vaccines.

About 47,000 Americans, thousands more than previously thought, die each year from flu and another common respiratory virus called RSV, a study shows. As the elderly population increases, the death toll from these two illnesses could soar, experts fear. Statistical analyses by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that during the 1990s, flu killed an average of 36,000 people each year, up from previous estimates of 20,000.

Note that I have no way to confirm this, as I do not have the full figures from the 1990's. Once I acquire them, I'll report back. I do, however, have the figures from 1999-2001, and a summary of 2002, and the truth is nowhere near the hype.

That's just an average, CDC flu expert Keiji Fukuda says. Deaths vary dramatically from year to year, from very few to as many as 50,000 to 70,000, he says.

See previous comments. For evaluation: 70,000 is about 1 in 4000 US residents, so even a "major" outbreak -- if the CDC is telling the truth here -- could go unnoticed by a large portion of society.

In addition, researchers say, 11,000 people, about 78% of them 65 and older, die each year from respiratory syncytial virus, RSV. It's a disease once thought to affect children primarily.

Here's where things get interesting. I have a little table I made up, which shows the number of deaths due to RSV for 1999-2001, plus the number of people 65 and over who were affected.

(E-mail me for details on where to find these numbers yourself.)

As you can see, the numbers cited by USA Today are way off. This is especially interesting because there is no vaccine against RSV, so there is no way to claim that RSV is so low because of vaccination measures.

By contrast, heart disease kills about 700,000 annually and cancer more than half a million. Last year's West Nile virus epidemic killed 246, and there were 15,000 U.S. AIDS deaths in 2001.

And here's where things get even more interesting. I looked up the statistics for 2001, did the math, and here's what I found. AIDS (HIV): 14,175 deaths in 2001. Heart Disease: 700,142 deaths in 2001. Cancer: 553,768 deaths in 2001. Note that the statistics USA Today reports are pretty close to the truth.

Why, then, does USA Today get it so obviously wrong when it comes to both influenza and also RSV? My theory is that USA Today just reported what the CDC told it, rather than going to the actual statistics, and the CDC is in the PR business for the flu vaccine manufacturers.

The rest of the article is just more scare mongering, trying to convince people to get vaccinations.

The only true datum about influenza and RSV comes from this short paragraph:

About 90% of those who die of flu and its complications are 65 or older.

The statistics for 1999-2001 agree with this.

=-John-=