Preventing the Flu, The Best Defense is a Good Offense!
It’s that time again. Flu season. You are thinking about getting a flu shot and wondering whether it is a good idea. These days there are good reasons to wonder.
- The flu drug contains mercury, a substance that is extremely toxic to human beings and tends to accumulate in the system, most especially the systems of those who are deficient in the proteins necessary to flush it out of the system, proteins like glutathione.1
- Flu vaccine may not be safe and effective. 2
- Scientists in China are reporting that current flu vaccines in use in America are proving mostly ineffective against the hardy strains of influenza A that are promising to go global sometime soon, maybe even this year. 3
Maybe now is a good time to take a look at exactly how the flu virus gets into our cells and the mechanism by which our body takes care of it. Then we can look at what a vaccine is, how it is supposed to work, and decide what is the best way to go about protecting ourselves from influenza.
There are three different types of influenza virus, A, B, and C. The most common in humans and the most dangerous is the influenza A virus. This is the type that can become a pandemic. It infects birds and humans and can mutate to jump between the two.
The influenza virus enters the body through the mucous membranes of the mouth or eyes. Someone with the flu sneezes and you breathe in the virus. When you breathe it in, it is in an inactive form, tucked inside a little capsule called a viron. This capsule needs to be cracked open in order for the virus to be activated. These capsules float around until they find host cells with the special proteins that will unlock them, allowing the little activated viruses to pour into the cell where they will use the cell mechanisms to replicate themselves. Then they will migrate to the edge of the cell and use the cell wall to form another capsule, thereby destroying the cell. The new capsule will repeat this entire process. As more and more cells in your body are destroyed, you feel sicker and sicker.
Each form of the virus has a different protein key that will open the capsule. Most of the flu viruses that have been around in this country in the past decades have required a protein key that exists only in the throat and airways of the human system. This means that the virus is contained within this area causing sore throats and coughing, fever and headaches. Even when the virus is contained in this small area it causes the entire body to ache with the toxic effects of the virus. The new strains of virus that are in Asia and getting ready to become worldwide have protein keys that are found all over the body. This means that the virus can destroy cells all over the body, including cells that make up our vital organs. These kinds of flu are often fatal.
One of these ubiquitous protein keys is plasmin a serine–protease. This protease is formed by the activation of the plasminogen–plasmin system by which the inactive plasminogen in cells is activated to form plasmin. In order for the plasminogen to be activated it needs a glycoprotein known as tPA or uPA. These are the genes that activate the plasminogen, allowing it to convert to plasmin, which will unlock the flu capsule. Laboratory experiments show that certain strains of flu virons express tPA. 4 It is also significant that the protein our body makes to down-regulate plasmin is ineffective when the plasmin is bound to a pathogen such as a viron. 4a
Our most important line of defense in fighting off the flu is our immune system, both the acquired immune system and the innate immune system. When the flu virus enters the body it activates the body's complement system, part of the body's innate immune system. 5 There are over thirty complement proteins that are manufactured in the liver and circulate in the plasma. The complement system can do three different things:
- it coats the virus with proteins that attract white cells to come and capture it.
- It binds complement proteins to the viron, thus keeping it from releasing the virus into the cell for replication.
- It forms a membrane attack complex (MAC) out of proteins that embed themselves into the viron allowing fluids to rush in and burst the microbe.
It would be a good thing to have a fully functional complement system during flu season. Deficiency of complement proteins is caused by liver disease or general protein deficiency in the body. 6
When the viron has been captured and destroyed, parts of its viral identity, known as antigen, are taken by macrophage white cells to the lymph nodes to be presented to B cells that will make an antibody for that particular virus. The antibody then attaches itself to the virus signaling it for destruction by T-cells. The protein known as IgA also helps protect the body by binding onto the pathogen receptors, thereby making it difficult for the invader to bind onto a host cell. Macrophages, B cells, T-cells and IgA are all important proteins of the acquired immune system.
How about getting a flu vaccination? What will this do for you? There are several different brands of flu vaccine. They contain preservatives such as formaldehyde and mercury along with a mild form of the virus. Putting this mixture of chemical preservatives and viral pathogens into your body is supposed to activate your immune system so that your immune system will create anti bodies to the virus thereby protecting you from it. Not all doctors agree with this theory. Dr. James Bowen MD said that after a few years in practice he quit giving flu shots because, “they made people sick, and were usually ineffective.”7 In October of this year the People’s Pharmacy reported, “only 38 percent of those at high risk because of chronic illness were protected by the (flu) immunization.”. 8 Hugh Fudenberg an MD, immunogeneticist and biologist with hundreds of published peer reviewed papers, reported that if an individual had five consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied), his/her chances of getting Alzheimer’s Disease is ten times higher than if they had between zero and two shots. 9
Your immune system is made out of macrophages, complement enzymes, T-cells, antibodies, IgAs, and many other proteins that protect the host against incoming pathogens. These proteins are made up of long strings of amino acids. A large percentage of these amino acids are essential amino acids, meaning they can only be extracted from dietary proteins. Without these essential amino acids the body will not properly make immune proteins. 10 Without a properly functioning immune system, defense of the body against massive cell destruction from viral replication is impossible. If a person is eating a diet containing complete proteins, fully digesting the proteins and fully absorbing them, he will be making a fully functioning immune system. Herein lies the problem.
In the 1980⁏s Dr. Brice Vickery discovered that 90% of all his many patients were protein deficient, even though most of them ate plenty of dietary protein. After much research he came to the conclusion that the diet and lifestyle of modern man led to weaknesses in the digestive system causing poor digestion and absorption of protein and amino acids. This inability of the digestive system to process food leads to a condition that Vickery found in 9 out of 10 people, a condition he calls the alpha (primary) X (unidentified by doctors) P (protein) factor. This alpha–XP factor, or protein deficiency, leaves the system deficient in the numbers of amino acids necessary for proper immune function. Although other doctors have not identified the alpha–XP factor, they have identified the fact that a deficiency in essential amino acids will cause protein malfunction in the body, in other words the proteins making up your immune system will not work properly if your system is protein deficient. 10a 90% of all people are protein deficient. Dr. Vickery’s Platinum Plus Essential Amino Acids cures this protein deficiency, thus repairing and enhancing immune function.
Most vaccines place a mild form of the virus in you with the expectation that your immune system can build the antibodies to the virus thereby denying it entrance into your cells. However, if your system is hampered by the alpha-XP factor, how can it do the job it is supposed to do? Studies show that the alpha XP factor results in fewer T-cells, decreased thymulin activity, reduced complement cells, and impaired activity of white cells and IgA cells.10b
If you do decide to get the flu shot, make sure your immune system can handle it, as well as being able to flush the mercury preservative out of your system. In order to do this latter job, the system has to be making enough of the protein glutathione, also known as the master antioxidant, which is ⅓ essential amino acids. (In fact, 99% of all the proteins Dr. Vickery has studied to date show that around 50% of each protein is made up of essential amino acids) If your body is not breaking down its proteins, if your body is not getting its essential amino acids from food, it is not making glutathione to flush mercury out of your system. 11 It is storing the mercury instead. It is storing it right along with the mercury that leaches slowly out of your dental fillings and the mercury that you unknowingly put in your body by using deodorants, eating fish, using skin bleachers and certain laxatives. 12 Platinum Plus has the clinical charts to prove it flushes many heavy metals out of your system in a short period of time, including mercury. If you are taking Platinum Plus every day you are keeping your system metal free. There are also studies that suggest glutathione’s anti-oxidant activity is important to the system when battling a case of the flu. 13
The high immune capability given by Platinum Plus makes the system resistant to all viruses and bacteria, as well as xenobiotics such as arsenic. Each person will have to decide for themselves whether the flu shot is a good investment in their health. The best thing we can do for ourselves whether we have a flu shot or not, is to boost our immune system, giving it all the amino acids it needs to build properly functioning immune proteins and a good supply of support proteins like glutathione. Dr. Vickery’s invention of Platinum Plus Essential Amino Acids helps your system do just that. In ensures optimal digestion of protein so that your system is getting everything it needs to build immune proteins. Taking two Platinum Plus before each of your three meals ensures that all the protein you eat will be broken down into amino acids and absorbed into the system.
This winter do your immune system a favor; make sure the alpha–XP factor is not stripping it of its ability to protect you from the flu and any other bacterial or viral bug that comes along. Get Platinum Plus. Be prepared.
Note: For those of us with Candida infection and Fibromyalgia it is important to follow the entire Fibromyalgia Program in order to heal and protect our system.
Footnotes
- 1.
- New Flu Vaccine is Loaded with Mercury. USA Today, Aug. 31, 2005.
- 2.
- Flu shots and the Flu, by James Bowen, M.D., 2003
- 3.
- “Experts Warn of Growing Resistance to Tamiflu,” Tan Ee Lyn, Medscape Oct, 2005
- 4.
- “High Permissivity of Human HepG2 Hepatoma Cells for Influenza Viruses” Laurence Ollier, Anne Caramella, Valérie Giordanengo, and Jean-Claude Lefebvre. J Clin Microbiol. 2004 December; 42(12): 5861–5865. doi: 10.1128/JCM.42.12.5861-5865.2004.
- 4a.
- Streptokinase–producing streptococci grown in human plasma acquire unregulated cell-associated plasmin activity; Lottenberg R et al. J Infect Dis, 1992 Aug, 166(2), 436—40
- 5.
- “The complement system in regulation of adaptive immunity.” Michael C Carroll. Nature Immunology #5, 981—986, 2004.
- 6.
- “Malnutrition Alters the Innate Immune Response and Increases Early Visceralization following Leishmania donovani Infection” Gregory M. Anstead, et al. University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas. “Complement Deficiency States.” Immune Deficiency and Allied Disorders Newsletter 2 ((June 1996): 1–6.)
- 7.
- Flu shots and the Flu, by James Bowen, M.D., 2003
- 8.
- “How effective are flu shots?,” Joe and Teresa Graedon, The People’s Pharmacy, King Features Syndicate, Oct. 23, 2005
- 9.
- Johns Hopkins Newsletter, 1998
- 10.
- “Protein–energy malnutrition and immunological responses.” Chandra RK.J Nutr. 1992 Mar;122(3 Suppl): 597–600.
- 10a.
- “Protein Deficiency Induces Alterations in the Distribution of T–Cell Subsets in Experimental Pulmonary Tuberculosis.” Elsie S. Mainali and David N. McMurray. Infect Immun, March 1998, p. 927–931, Vol. 66, No. 3 “Malnutrition” Donna G Grigsby, MD, E–medicine, 2003.
- 10b.
- “Protein-energy malnutrition and immunological responses.” Chandra RKJ Nutr. 1992 Mar;122(3 Suppl):597–600. “Protein undernutrition as the major cause of decreased immune function in the elderly: clinical and functional implications.” Nutr Rev. 1995 Apr;53(4 Pt 2):S86–91; discussion S92–4.
- 11.
- “Mercury toxicity and antioxidants: part I: role of glutathione and alpha–lipoic acid in the treatment of mercury toxicity” Lyn Patrick. Alternative Medicine Review, Dec, 2002.
- 12.
- Priority List of Hazardous Substances. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 2001 CERCLA www.atsdr.cdc.gov/cercla/05list.html
- 13.
- “Inhibition of influenza infection by glutathione.” Cai J, Chen Y, Seth S, Furukawa S, Compans RW, Jones DP.Free Radic Biol Med. 2003 Apr 1;34(7):928–36.