Patients at emergency rooms nationwide have lined the halls on gurneys, waiting for rooms. Others huddle around rows of chairs waiting to be seen by a doctor. Other hospitals across the country are scrambling to add extra staff, while others are even turning people away due to overcrowding. The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that more than 99 percent of the cases reported so far are influenza type A. Most of the cases, officials say, appear to be the Sydney strain of the virus, which also struck last year.
I found out this week that the hospital I am on staff at, St. Alexius Medical Center, was actually full and could not admit any more patients. This is the first time in the fifteen years I have been on staff there that I have noticed a full hospital. Dr. Robert McNamara, chief of emergency medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia commented that the flu shot apparently is not doing its job. What a shock.
Yes, Dr. McNamara, the flu shot weakens, NOT increases, the immune system. I am convinced that the reason so many people developed the flu was their increase of holiday treats. The lack of sunshine and increase in stress were also complicating factors. However, if one is rigidly adherent to the dietary principles advocated, it is very rare for one to come down with the flu or other viral illnesses.