Woman Disabled by Flu Shot Reaction

Updated: Thursday, 15 Oct 2009, 6:54 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 13 Oct 2009, 11:27 PM EDT

By CLAUDIA COFFEY/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON, D.C. - An Ashburn, Virginia woman is in the fight of her life after suffering a very rare side effect to the seasonal flu shot.

The vast majority of doctors say flu shots are safe. In this case, the FDA says they found nothing wrong with this particular batch, but sometimes there are complications.

That's apparently what happened to Desiree Jennings, and now her life will never be the same.

• FOR AN UPDATE ON DESIREE AND HER CONDITION, CLICK HERE FOR OUR NEWEST STORY.

At 26 years old, Desiree Jennings was the picture of health. She's a Washington Redskins cheerleader and an avid runner. Her life changed forever on August 23 when she says she got a seasonal flu shot at a local grocery store.

"I was training for a half marathon then," said Jennings, crying. "It just all went so fast."

Ten days after receiving the shot, she came down with the flu. After that, her health spiraled downwards. She started passing out and had to be hospitalized twice.

"We went to an urgent care place and they wouldn't even let her get out of my truck because she was seizing in the back so bad, so they called an ambulance immediately," says her husband, Brendan Jennings.

Doctors at Fairfax Inova>>>

Two die after H1N1 vaccination

By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-14 09:17

Two persons are reported to have died after taking the A/H1N1 vaccination as the Chinese mainland prepares to vaccinate 65 million people, or 5 percent of its population, by the end of the year, health officials said on Friday.

A secondary school teacher in Hunan province died while playing basketball 8 hours after taking the jab, the provincial health department said on Friday afternoon.

A Shenyang resident grimaces while being inoculated against the H1N1 virus at a medical camp in the capital of Liaoning province on Thursday. Wang Huan

But his death, according to preliminary findings, was not linked to the vaccine and it would not affect the ongoing H1N1 vaccination program, said Deng Haihua, spokesman for the Ministry of Health.

Deng did not give the details of the other victim. According to regulations, the local health authority where such deaths occur should be the one to announce it, he said.

So far, 15 people have suffered severe side effects including anaphylactic shocks (sudden drop in blood pressure or difficulty in breathing) after taking the jab, said Liu Dawei, a vaccination expert with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"These people will get free treatment>>>

Chicken Litter: The Aerial Hunt for Poultry Manure

• NOVEMBER 3, 2009

By LAUREN ETTER

Ocean City, Md.

Retired Marine officer Rick Dove boarded the four-seat Cessna armed with cameras, binoculars and global positioning devices for his latest mission: chicken farmers. Or, more precisely, aerial reconnaissance of poultry droppings.

"Oh, man, that looks like a hot site," Mr. Dove said as the plane soared 1,000 feet over farms near the Chesapeake Bay. Peering through binoculars, he said, "That pile is at least two stories high." He whipped out his camera and started snapping pictures.

Mr. Dove, 70 years old, suspected the brown mound was chicken manure -- a potential pollutant of the Chesapeake Bay, the huge estuary nestled between the shores of Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Dove, a former military judge whose subsequent fishing business he believes was ruined by pollution, is among the activists who, along with federal regulators, are ratcheting up pressure on poultry farmers to clean up their litter.

Livestock and poultry operations generate about 500 million tons of manure each year, or about three times the amount of human waste in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Much of that waste goes untreated and sometimes can make its way into public waterways. Among other contaminants, manure contains nitrogen and phosphorus that in large quantities can cause algae blooms -- green, gooey splotches on the water surface that can deplete the water's oxygen, killing fish and other organisms. And in some cases, the runoff, which can contain E. coli and other bacteria, can threaten human health.

But the pressure on the poultry and livestock>>>

Home Flu Cures: Bad Medicine?

• NOVEMBER 3, 2009

By MELINDA BECK

Heard the one about the raw onion?

With concerns over the H1N1 flu rising and supplies of vaccine running scarce, it's no surprise that alternative remedies are circulating on the Web.

During the flu epidemic of 1918 that killed 40 million people, one widely circulated email relates, a doctor visiting a farmhouse where everyone stayed healthy observed that the family kept an unpeeled onion in each room. He examined one under a microscope and saw that the onion had indeed absorbed flu virus.

Alan Witschonke

Folk remedies for the flu abound on the Web. They range from placing a raw onion in the room or garlic in the pocket to washing the ear out with hydrogen peroxide to drinking hot liquids with all kinds of additives, including honey and vinegar.

The same email mentions a modern-day hairdresser whose employees stopped getting the flu after she placed onions around the shop, and a pneumonia sufferer who put a raw onion in a jar by the bed and woke up feeling much better, though the onion was a rotting mess.

This and other folk remedies are sparking a volley of discussion on blogs and bulletin boards. Some posters are adding their own twists, such as chopping or boiling the onion and inhaling it with a towel over the head. "You sir are a saviour," wrote one on the Web site abovetopsecret.com. "Me and my 13 month old daughter have been sick for a week. Boiled some onions and left them on the coffee table for an hour, she is now walking around and I feel so much better. Thanks."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the officially sanctioned vaccine is the only proven way to prevent the H1N1 virus, and the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are among the few proven ways to shorten its duration. "There is no scientific evidence that any herbal, homeopathic or other folk remedies have any benefit against influenza," the CDC says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has adopted a "no tolerance" policy on bogus H1N1 claims, has sent 75 warning letters to marketers of products that claim to fight the virus, from air filters purporting to neutralize sneezes to counterfeit Tamiflu. "We feel these products pose a serious threat to the public health, not only because people can get a false sense of protection and not seek appropriate care, but because some may do actual harm," says Gary Coody, the FDA's national health fraud coordinator.

and much more here>>>

Can Cold Water Clean Dishes ?

Can Cold Water Clean Dishes? This is for all the germ conscious folks that worry about using cold water to clean. John went to visit his 90 year old grandfather in a very secluded, rural area of Saskatchewan . After spending a great evening chatting the night

away, The next morning John's grandfather prepared breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.

However, John noticed a film like substance on his plate, and questioned his grandfather asking,

'Are these plates clean?'

His grandfather replied,

'They're as clean as cold water can get em. Just you go ahead and finish your meal, Sonny!'

For lunch the old man made hamburgers. Again, John was concerned about the plates as his appeared to have tiny specks around the edge that looked like dried egg and asked,

'Are you sure these plates are clean?'

Without looking up the old man said,

'I told you before, Sonny, those dishes are as clean as cold water can get them. Now don't you fret, I don't want to hear another word about it!'

Later that afternoon, John was on his way to a nearby town and as he was leaving, his grandfather's dog started to growl, and wouldn't let him pass.

John yelled and said,

'Grandfather, your dog won't let me get to my car'.

Without diverting his attention from the football game he was watching on TV, the old man shouted.

'Coldwater, go lay down now, yah hear me!'

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