New Study Suggests...People have broader immunity to A/H1N1 flu

With all the threads surrounding the mystery in the Ukraine and their battle with the situation there, I was a little surprised to find this new study which explains how the A/H1N1 virus couold actually be less severe than the ordinary seasonal flu..

link
People's immunity to A/H1N1 flu virus is greater than previously thought, a new study suggests.

This may explain why the disease hasn't posed more problems, according to the study conducted by researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in La Jolla, California.

By using a major flu database funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the researchers analyzed the reaction of immune system cells to the H1N1 virus. They found that 17 percent of the B cells that attack viruses in the bloodstream recognized H1N1 because of exposure to other flu viruses.

"They (B cells) produce antibodies in the bloodstream and try to find the virus before it ends up in cells, so they are what prevents the disease," said study lead author Bjoern Peters, an assistant member of the division of vaccine discovery at the institute.

The study also found that 69 percent of T cells, which attack the virus in infected cells, were alerted by those previous infections.

"They recognize the virus inside cells, so they are responsible for clearing the infection once you have it," Peters said. "Nobody knows what level of immunity is sufficient for protection. But if infected, our data suggest that T cells in those who have previously been exposed to influenza may make the infection less severe."

Then final sentence seems to be a bit waffling on the issue of getting the vaccine at least from my point of view:

"From our findings, we see that it is necessary to get a shot," he said. "Yet it provides an explanation why you do not have to be absolutely concerned if you have not been able to get a shot yet."

Will this study prove to be correct, was the method used by the researchers the best way to come to this conclusion?

Don't ask me I am just providing this information for the ATS members to ponder..





[edit on 11/19/09 by SaveTheDrama]

Interesting that you bring that, is a CDC study on the Spanish flu of 1918 and subsequent studies after that that shows how people have responded since then to the different out brakes through the years and decades since the big pandemic.

We indeed have developed better respond through the generations but occurs what will big pharma will do if we were all immune to pandemics, the money gravy train will stop.

So a littler propaganda and scaremongering is introduced to the masses.

www.cdc.gov...

reply to post by marg6043


The timing of this new study makes me wonder if it could possibly be due to the serious discrepancy of the vaccine doses that were projected to be available and the actual numbers that are available..

Could it be to calm the masses as we head towards winter and the cold & flu season?

Taking into consideration the way the CDC is trying to boost death numbers in the US for the swine flu, that alone should be a flag about the lethal effects of the swine flu.

I guess swine flu this time around is no worst than the 1976.

Now remember that already as by CDC statistics 22 million Americans already has gotten the swine flu without vaccinations and from 22 million since April the CDC is combining deaths from pneumonia and related pneumonia after swine flu infections to come out with the numbers they now are posting.

That means that millions of Americas has survived without vaccinations and now are immune to the swine flu.

This means that 22 million vaccinations are not needed, a lost to big pharma.

Still many people are questioning the flu and the vaccine and will not get vaccinated.