I dove into reading Dr. Mercola's The Great Bird Flu Hoax expecting a thorough treatment of the science behind the bird flu laid out in such a way that it would show why we don't have to worry about bird flu. This was not the case. In fact, there was little sicence in the book and even less dealt with why Dr. Mercola felt bird flu was a hoax. What became apparent was how little Mercola knew about this highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 strain. The only two reasons he seems to have for believing the flu won't surface as a threat in the US are that it hasn't shown up in chickens in the US and that the human infection rates of bird flu are on the decline. Unfortunatley, neither of these reasons are correct. H5N1 doesn't need to appear in US flocks, nor does it need to enter via any non-human animal. Once the H5N1 mutates into a form that is highly contagious for humans, it will go global from human to human - airline flights will deliver it everywhere. Similarly, Mercola is oblivious to the fact that the bird flue is constantly mutating, again incorrectly trying to support his hypothesis with the current H5N1's inability to transmit easily to humans. Once it gets the right mutation - and it's only a matter of time - it will spread like a wildfire.



As for the rate of human bird flu infections, not only are they not on the decline, but 2006 was the deadliest year so far for humans (granted, the book came out prior to the year's end)(World Health Organization. 2007. Avian Influenza Update Number 76. January 2.

(.......). Mercola again seems to be lacking in his understanding of disease rates when he tries to reason away the lethality of this flu strain. Just like the 1918 bird flu that passed to humans and killed more people than any single war, death rates are based on reported incidents. So, not only is the lethality rate valid based on this, but his hypothesis of lots of unreported cases has been disproven. In the Cambodian province of Kampot, an outbreak of H5N1 killed dozens of chicken flocks and only one young farmer. Researchers swept in and tried to take blood from every family in the area to determine the actual human infection rate. They analyzed blood work from 351 area villagers. Not one person showed evidence of present or past infection. (Vong S, Coghlan B, Mardy S, et al. 2006. Low frequency of poultry-to-human H5N1 virus transmission, southern Cambodia, 2005. Emerging Infectious Disease 12(10). (...........).



The focus of the book deals with his nutrition and health recommendations, and even here, he can't keep his facts straight. For example, he claims that only .003% of eggs are infected with salmonella (p. 171), so that people shouldn't be afraid of eating raw eggs even if they can't get the "healthier" eggs. Yet, he goes to great lengths to show how dirty and contaminated chickens and eggs are from the intensive farming practices of factory farms earlier in the book.



The Great Bird Flu Hoax is not without its good points. Mercola questions the benefits of Tamiflu based on its risks, although I'm hesitant to believe what he states because of his shoddy research on the flu itself. He points out the problems with vaccines and dangers of legislation that could take away our rights not to vaccinate in an emergency. And, he rightly accuses factory farms for being the source of the HPAI H5N1. Oh, I did appreciate being reminded about the benefits of naturally-fermented sauerkraut in fighting bird flu.

I dove into reading Dr. Mercola's The Great Bird Flu Hoax expecting a thorough treatment of the science behind the bird flu laid out in such a way that it would show why we don't have to worry about bird flu. This was not the case. In fact, there was little sicence in the book and even less dealt with why Dr. Mercola felt bird flu was a hoax. What became apparent was how little Mercola knew about this highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 strain. The only two reasons he seems to have for believing the flu won't surface as a threat in the US are that it hasn't shown up in chickens in the US and that the human infection rates of bird flu are on the decline. Unfortunatley, neither of these reasons are correct. H5N1 doesn't need to appear in US flocks, nor does it need to enter via any non-human animal. Once the H5N1 mutates into a form that is highly contagious for humans, it will go global from human to human - airline flights will deliver it everywhere. Similarly, Mercola is oblivious to the fact that the bird flue is constantly mutating, again incorrectly trying to support his hypothesis with the current H5N1's inability to transmit easily to humans. Once it gets the right mutation - and it's only a matter of time - it will spread like a wildfire.

As for the rate of human bird flu infections, not only are they not on the decline, but 2006 was the deadliest year so far for humans (granted, the book came out prior to the year's end)(World Health Organization. 2007. Avian Influenza Update Number 76. January 2.
(.......). Mercola again seems to be lacking in his understanding of disease rates when he tries to reason away the lethality of this flu strain. Just like the 1918 bird flu that passed to humans and killed more people than any single war, death rates are based on reported incidents. So, not only is the lethality rate valid based on this, but his hypothesis of lots of unreported cases has been disproven. In the Cambodian province of Kampot, an outbreak of H5N1 killed dozens of chicken flocks and only one young farmer. Researchers swept in and tried to take blood from every family in the area to determine the actual human infection rate. They analyzed blood work from 351 area villagers. Not one person showed evidence of present or past infection. (Vong S, Coghlan B, Mardy S, et al. 2006. Low frequency of poultry-to-human H5N1 virus transmission, southern Cambodia, 2005. Emerging Infectious Disease 12(10). (...........).

The focus of the book deals with his nutrition and health recommendations, and even here, he can't keep his facts straight. For example, he claims that only .003% of eggs are infected with salmonella (p. 171), so that people shouldn't be afraid of eating raw eggs even if they can't get the "healthier" eggs. Yet, he goes to great lengths to show how dirty and contaminated chickens and eggs are from the intensive farming practices of factory farms earlier in the book.

The Great Bird Flu Hoax is not without its good points. Mercola questions the benefits of Tamiflu based on its risks, although I'm hesitant to believe what he states because of his shoddy research on the flu itself. He points out the problems with vaccines and dangers of legislation that could take away our rights not to vaccinate in an emergency. And, he rightly accuses factory farms for being the source of the HPAI H5N1. Oh, I did appreciate being reminded about the benefits of naturally-fermented sauerkraut in fighting bird flu.

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I found this text to be of real value and very informative if a little verbose and repetitive at times.

The story line reads - there is a potential for a world wide crises but despite the various governments telling us that there is a cure (although it cannot really be afforded) there is in reality no adequate cure or medicine available.

He states that the global (mainly American based) giant pharmacutical industry has blinded us with - well science and rather than look to simple and cheap alternatives and sensible precautions these industry giants have persuaded our governments that they alone have the remedies needed and effectively their lobbying has now given them the right to write for themselves large value cheques.

The example of the bird flue exacts his comment that colloidal silver a very inexpensive product containing a small percentage of the heavy metal silver has the potential to entirely wipe out the patheogenetic effects of the bird flu virus whereas "Tamiflu" has not even been tested and in his opinion will not work at all agains bird flu. I can testify to the effective working of colloidal silver.

Mercola goes on to conclude that the would be pandemic has directly arisen out of greed by large scale and totally unaccontable agricultural businesses who have basically neglected natural breeding and sensible housbandary giving a world choked with waste containing bugs that go on to contaminate swathes of land and effect lives of people across the world.

He adviszes that there is simply no need to trade globally in agricultural produce when we are all in a position to take locally produced supplies - a point to which I say - Amen!(although remember to be prepared to pay a little bit more for the better product)

Although primarily an american text for the American People this book has reinforced my own thoughts on the best way to negate the effects of any forecast pandemic.

A well recommended read for those who are not just conspiracy theorists but who are pledged to taking back responsibility for their own health.

I am a former patient at Dr. Mercola's clinic, and I truly support everything he is trying to do with our current health crisis. His clinic helped me to overcome a serious illness when all other "regular" doctors, including the prestigious Mayo Clinic, had written me off. He truly helps many people every day, I have seen it first hand. However, I admit I was worried when I looked at the book and saw "SHOCKING LIES" on the cover. I was afraid this was a sign that he would follow the trend he uses all too often, dispensing extremely important health information in a format similar to the National Enquirer. I wish he could use a little more humility and respect for the intelligence of his readers both in his books and on his website. For example, the video he has on his website, "The Town of Allopath", is very, very good, and the message critically important, but it turns my stomach to see "Highly Acclaimed Video Causes Flood of Hate Mail" in big letters at the top of the page. Calling such an important video "highly acclaimed" himself just cheapens it, cheapens his reputation, and insults his readers.
In his book the Great Bird Flu Hoax, however, for the most part, he writes in a professional, but sometimes dry, manner. I appreciated the effort he took to document everything, especially in comparison to his book "Total Health Program", where nothing is documented, and his recipes all have cutesy names so you can't find them later because you can't remember the stupid name he gave them! (Again, he calls this book "BLOCKBUSTER!" on his website. Again, it turns my stomach, mostly because a little more professionalism and humility would go a REALLY LONG WAY and it's just kind of sad.)
But I did find myself cheering for Dr. Mercola as I read this book. I think that he did "get it right" this time. He goes after the industries who need someone to go after them! I do hope that this book does get some press, and that folks will pay attention to it. Personally, I wish that he would have devoted more time to talking about the health benefits of saturated fats versus trans fats in his section on improving your health, and also I think folks with no natural health exposure will be confused by his section on fermented foods and will go out and buy regular canned sauerkraut, but these are not large deals in the whole scheme of the book. I laughed out loud (in a good way!) in the section on vaccinations when he asked the folks who are not used to this kind of thinking to take a deep breath, step back, and calm down. You go, Dr. Mercola!!!
In the end, my wish is that he would write a book that I could give to a highly intelligent but VERY sceptical family member and have it not embarass me with overly cute, and sometimes arrogant talk and undocumented claims. With The Great Bird Flu Hoax, he comes the closest that he has yet. Thank you Dr. Mercola.

I am Chiropractor in Manhattan and I utulize many holistic methods in my practice.Dr.Mercola points out some ideas that are very unpopular within "modern medicine" but pretty common among alternative medicine.
I highly recommend it to all the hypochondriacs.
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