epidemics

[Jhanananda]

The 10 Deadliest Outbreaks in U.S. History — Revisited By Dan Flynn | April 4, 2012

In order of Magnitude
1. Typhoid fever, 1924-25
Oysters from Long Island, NY, held in polluted waters, sickened more than 1,500 in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.; 150 died.

2. Typhoid fever, 1903
A public water source in Ithaca, NY, was polluted from a dam construction site, resulting in typhoid outbreak involving 1,350 people; 82 were killed, including 29 Cornell University students.

3. Streptococcus, 1911
Raw milk delivered door-to-door in the Boston area was responsible for a strep outbreak; 48 people died.

4. Listeria, 2011
“Rocky Ford” cantaloupes from Colorado became contaminated, probably in the packing facility, sickening at least 146 in 28 states; 36 died.

5. Listeria, 1985
Mexican cheese made by a Los Angeles company sickened mostly Hispanic women, many who were pregnant; 28 died.

6. Streptococcus, 1922
Raw milk delivered door-to-door in Portland, OR was contaminated; 22 killed.

7. Listeria, 1998
Ball Park hot dogs and Sara Lee deli meats were recalled after Listeria was found in the Michigan processing plant; 21 killed.

8. Botulism, 1919
Canned ripe olives from California sold to inland states were contaminated and caused outbreaks in three states; 19 died.

9. Salmonella Typhimurium, 2008-09
Peanut butter and paste contaminated with S. Typhimurium caused at least 714 illiness in 46 states; 9 killed.

10. Listeria, 2002
Sliced turkey meats from Pilgrim’s Pride were responsible for a multiple state outbreak; 8 killed.

[Jhanananda]

There might be a new pandemic brewing. Where Is Avian Flu Hiding?.

It was still winter in Minnesota when state officials first heard about turkeys on a large farm that seemed to be a bit off. Some of the birds were unusually quiet, drank and ate little and seemed to have trouble moving. Within two weeks of exhibiting this odd behavior they were dying. The cause, laboratory tests soon confirmed, was H5N2, a mixed-origin avian flu that had never been seen in the U.S. before this year.

For the nation’s number-one turkey-producing state, this was horrible news. In states including California and Washington the virus and its close cousins had led to more than 250,000 poultry deaths (by disease or depopulation) in the prior three months. Officials in Minnesota steeled themselves for an onslaught of H5N2 cases. All 26,000 birds on the farm where the virus was found were killed as a precautionary measure, and for a few weeks all seemed quiet. Then reports from a dozen more farms started to pour in from far-flung parts of the state. The farms were not owned by the same companies, were not close to one another and did not have the same employees. It was evident state officials had a formidable outbreak on their hands. But where the flu was coming from remained unclear. Now almost 90 farms in Minnesota have been hit and 7.7 million birds have either been killed by the flu or culled as a precautionary measure.

As wacky as this may sound, every pandemic on record since and including the 1918 Spanish flue all occurred just after the peak of the solar max. We are now at that precise time of the current solar max.

Influenza Pandemics of the 20th Century by Edwin D. Kilbourne

Three worldwide (pandemic) outbreaks of influenza occurred in the 20th century: in 1918, 1957, and 1968...Not classified as true pandemics are 3 notable epidemics: a pseudopandemic in 1947 with low death rates, an epidemic in 1977 that was a pandemic in children, and an abortive epidemic of swine influenza in 1976 that was feared to have pandemic potential...Major influenza epidemics show no predictable periodicity or pattern, and all differ from one another.

Even though the author states "Major influenza epidemics show no predictable periodicity or pattern, and all differ from one another," it does not take a genius to see that all of these dates are separated by decades.  This cannot be a coincidence.

In fact if we examine solar cycles we will see these influenza outbreaks appear to be decadal; and fall right on solar maximums.