They want to keep you scared, that's all...

In one of the first posts I wrote on this blog, I shared my attitude when it comes to irresponsible overuse of antibiotics. I have the same healthy scepticism when it comes to all the vaccines that are developed against every other virus that engages itself in human pathology.

The hype right now is of course the swine flu, which is exactly just that - an influenza - and even though it is a relatively aggressive one, most hospitalizations and deaths have been of persons that also had underlying conditions such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or a weakened immune system. In other than that healthy persons, the signs of infection with swine flu have been similar to other forms of influenza, including fever, coughing, headaches, pain in the muscles or joints, sore throat, chills, fatigue and a runny nose. For all these people to vaccinate themselves, is to do their immune systems, as well as the human immune system on a meta level, a huge bear's favour.

In an article in SvD (in Swedish), the cell-biologist Ann-Cathrin Engwall criticises the intention to mass-vaccinate the Swedish population against the swine flu, by thoroughly explaining the virus/host biological system, as well as all the complications that might follow upon such an action as this vaccination. Even though a vaccine is a mimic of a real virus infection, and is meant to boost the immune system, a vaccine is never as effective as the real deal, and in the case of the swine flu the vaccine only gives a "protection" for six to nine months. Here we can draw a clear parallel to antibiotics abuse, where the humans as a result will become less tolerant to infections, while the virus evolves into a more aggressive form.

The human life style has during the last century become more and more "clean". The scientific discoveries of bacteria and viruses as pathological factors, as well as the discovery of penicillin to cure bacterial infections and vaccines to keep diseases away, have dramatically improved our ability to stay healthy, no doubt. I would neither deny the fact that some vaccines have succeeded to extinguish serious diseases, as well as that there are real indications for using antibiotics. However, it is now time for humanity to climb up one step on the evolutionary ladder and try to look upon ourselves as the natural organisms we actually are, and to have some faith in that. Instead we create a more and more clean environment and protect ourselves from the "dangerous" micro-organisms by using anti-bacterial products, hermetically closing up our homes and frantically clean ourselves and our children. In the meantime kids grow up with more and more severe allergies, while new and more aggressive diseases appear. There must be something wrong with this approach, because logically we should become healthier and stronger, since we remove the antagonists - or maybe not..?

When I was a kid I ate gravel and was dirty most of the time, just as a kid should be. I was never sick either. My generation did not get the MMR vaccine, against measles, mumps and rubella and therefore I had the measles as a kid, but not the other two diseases. I was only one year old when I had the measles and my mother has later told me about how dotted I was and how much it itched, but it was soon over. In a developed country like Sweden, measles almost never ended up causing any fatal complications, however, these days all Swedish kids get this vaccine even though there have been reports of complications following the vaccination.

What I am requesting is a more sensible approach to disease and their preventions. We are after all created with a natural immune system that when exercised properly keeps us tolerant against more than the media and medical companies want to admit. Don't forget that this is also an economical, as well as political issue...