Letter Re: The Spanish Flu of 1918, by Tim P.

Regarding the very enjoyable letter about the Spanish Flu in1918, I can't resist one comment. It is with incredible relentlessness that Big Pharma in their zest to sell vaccines keeps stating that we have 30,000 or 36,000 deaths per year from the flu. If you take the time to examine the actual CDC published data it is a bit different. I did a while back, and I seem to recall the 2003 and 2004 numbers being closer to 600 to 900 deaths per year from the flu. The deaths from pneumonia are close to 35,000 per year, so it appears they are adding them together to get to commonly trumpeted 36,000 deaths. Unfortunately they are not actually the same thing and you cannot combine them and call it one or the other. So, the relative difference between the percentage of the population that died from the Spanish Flu and current flu death rates is actually even more impressive than Tim described. I also am hesitant to accept the current death rates of this newest avian flu simply because it is rare enough that I suspect many of the cases that folk have had and recovered from are not being correctly documented or reported. However, perhaps doctors are universally more observant than I presume. Who knows? - B.F.