Human Cases Of Avian Flu Confirmed

[Illuminatus Primus]

And Flu vaccinations are a brain bug made to comfort the general public. You quite simply do not stop Influenza, it stops when it's damn well ready to.

The vaccinations don't work?

[Admiral Valdemar]

And this is why you keep getting annoying things like cold sores, because it hides in your nerve cells until some sort of stress (hell, it could just be that you've been outside for a long time) and then those damned viruses go on a rampage for awhile.

A perfectly evolved parasite.

Yep. My bio textbook (which I need to sell) has some nice descriptions of how HSV and HIV work. (It's Biology, by Campbell, which seems to be one of the standard introductory texts in the US).

Biology, Campbell & Reece 6th edition. Our recommended first year textbook, jack of all trades, though I use the ebook version mostly now.

Not much we can do, really.

Never was, Pasteur’s innovation near two centuries ago is pretty much still the only major thing we have for now.

The vaccinations don't work?

I had to remind myself the other day of what practically every microbiologist tutor had told last winter when I noticed an NHS flu jab poster on a bus home. They basically said don’t waste your time. The thing is, the CDC in the US that does the jabs for people over there even says itself that they monitor the Flu virus outbreaks all year round and estimate, or rather “guess”, which 3 strains will most likely be rife during the winter season. If those three strains don’t happen to crop up, then the millions that had the vaccination are simply impotent against the true threat. The fact that Flu evolves to counter our best vaccines in an instant makes just pulling through any infection with your own immune system the best bet as the vaccine is likely useless in the long run. I know I certainly don’t have it, but then I’m young. My Mum has to since she’s a nurse and works with elderly residents at a nursing home.

I think a little speech from Alien shows what most scientists see Influenza as:

Ripley: Ash, can you hear me? ASH!
Ash: Yes, I can hear you.
Ripley: What was your special order?
Ash: You read it, I thought it was clear.
Ripley: What was it?
Ash: Bring back alien life form, all other priorities rescinded.
Parker: It's that damn company's fault! What about our lives, you son of a bitch?
Ash: I repeat, all other priorities rescinded.
Ripley: How do we kill it? There must be some way of killing it how? How do we do it?
Ash: You can't.
Parker: Bullshit!
Ash: You still don't know what you're dealing with do you? The perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Lambert: You admire it.
Ash: I admire its purity, its sense of survival; unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Parker: I've heard enough and I'm asking you to pull the plug.
Ash: Last word.
Ripley: What?
Ash: I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.