PREPARING FOR THE AVIAN FLU PANDEMIC
Gary B. Klepper, D.C., N.D., and Rain E. Klepper, D.C., N.D.

Recent media attention has focused on the potential for a new avian flu pandemic matching or surpassing the 1918 Spanish flu.  Every day, we get calls from patients and doctors concerned about how to prepare for and protect from this probable coming pandemic.

The avian flu we're talking about here is expected to develop from the H5N1 strain of influenza A that has already killed millions of birds in Asia, and there are signs of it spreading to other parts of the globe, such as Romania.  This flu can be transmitted from birds to people, but at this point has not yet developed the ability to transfer from person to person.  If it does, this will be a huge problem
because:

1- It represents a strain of flu that human immune systems have not been exposed to, and thus little or no natural immunity exists.  Estimates are that the coming avian flu pandemic would kill somewhere between3 and 60% of those infected.
2- Its virulence resembles that of the Spanish influenza, which killed mainly relatively young and healthy people with supposedly properly functioning immune systems.  The flu kills by inducing an extreme immune system response, which destroys the lungs.  Thus, measures taken to "stimulate the immune system" as a protective measure may be contraindicated.
3- There is no vaccine to this flu.  Currently produced flu vaccines will most likely not protect against this particular flu.  There currently do not exist on the planet the facilities needed to produce enough vaccine to protect people worldwide, nor even enough for 1st world countries, even if an effective vaccine had already been developed.  When and if this strain of flu pandemic occurs, not a single dose of a viable vaccine will be expected to be available for at least 9 months.

Measures to prepare for this pandemic currently consist of efforts to detect cases in birds raised commercially for food, and to destroy infected animals.  It is not possible to prepare a vaccine yet, because the potential mutant variety that could cause the pandemic does not yet exist.  In mainstream medicine, the best preparatory method available is to stockpile doses of oseltamivir phosphate, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, which probably will give at least partial protection should this flu strain develop and begin to spread.

IMMUNE STIMULATION VERSUS METABOLIC FLUIDITY

Perhaps no greater opportunity has ever existed to get our patients interested in improving their overall health so as to better their chances of survival.  This is not a flu that can be successfully treated by giving some natural substance once the patient has the flu to stimulate the immune system to better fight the virus.  No amount of Notatum and Quentans will solve the problem of runaway immune-system-induced
inflammation destroying the lung tissue.  The immune system must become well regulated and inflammatory upregulation must be resolved before the flu hits. 

Thus, the therapeutic intervention must be shifted towards a restoration of proper regulation and fluidity of metabolic responses.  This requires a comprehensive program that will take some time and be done in several stages.  Once the flu hits, it will be too late.

The things that have to be accomplished before the flu hits are:

1- Restore proper regulation of inflammation so that immune system functions that depend on inducing inflammatory responses (cytokine mediated) can occur without overshooting the mark and creating unnecessary tissue destruction.
2- Remove residual toxins and microbes from the body that are interfering with healthy function of the extracellular matrix and reducing fluidity of immune system response.  Most of us have unresolved foci of infection and toxicity that are held in check by specific aspects of immune system upregulation at the cost of increased systemic inflammation.  It is like a Mexican stand-off.  If the immune upregulation drops off, the microbial infection becomes dominant and causes an acute infection.  To the extent that the immune system is fixated on maintaining an activation against the present body burden of pathogens, it cannot be free to express an appropriate response to new threats.
3- Restore functional reserves to the adrenal cortex so that it is neither exhausted nor fixated in the resistance phase.  An adrenal cortex in the exhaustion phase cannot produce a surge of cortisol needed to initiate various immune system responses, and thus a meaningful early immune response to a new infection is delayed.  An adrenal cortex in the resistance phase is chronically overproducing cortisol, which has many adverse metabolic consequences and blunts the dynamic responsiveness of the immune system.
4- Restore proper digestive function and gut ecology.  Gut dysbiosis will tend to reduce the fluidity of the TH1/TH2 shift, which is needed to maintain a rapid and appropriate immune system response to a new pathogen exposure.
5- Rebuild the internal vital heat and release the cold stagnation that entraps the qi.  Most people have significantly diminished energy due to an accumulation of injuries that have damaged the vitality.  These injuries can be physical, psychological or microbial in origin.  This causes the qi to be gathered into and stored in areas where it causes pain and stiffness.  If released and kept fluid, an amazing amount of vitality can be restored at any age.