Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Beware of H1N1 Hoax


There is a hoax email making the rounds about the H1N1 vaccination. At first glance, it appears legitimate, but after a bit of research it turns out to be a hoax.

I am in no way telling everybody that they should (or should not) go right out and get an H1N1 vaccination when it is available. That is between each individual and their physician. But nothing riles me more than hoaxes and urban legends that spread whatever propaganda the original author intends to promote.

The email starts like this:

"My sister just called, for those of you that don’t know she is a RN in the ER at Baptist. They had a meeting this morning on the H1N1 vaccination, and the doctors at Baptist are advising that their staff and patients NOT get this vaccination."

It goes on to make a claim that a child of the hospital employee received the H1N1 vaccination, and now has Guillian Barre Syndrome. As evidence, it gives a website that at further review, is a neuro medical site with information about the symptoms of Guillian Barre. There is nothing on this site about the current H1N1 vaccine.

If this were the truth the physicians at whichever "Baptist" medical facility (there are a zillion of them in the U.S.) would be alerting more than just their staff in some secret meeting.

Here is what I found on Google. It looks like a lot of people have already received this email. But, notice: Sometimes the sister has no name, sometimes her name is Kim, sometimes her name is Kay:

Search Results Swine Flu Email

When in doubt about anything regarding your health, please talk with your physician. Get a second opinion if you are still in doubt. But don't get your "second opinion" from a chain email... or even from a blog like mine! :-) See a health professional.

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P.S. If you are interested, here is my post about the swine flu from back in April, before they developed the soon-to-be released vaccine.


P.P.S. As of 10-5-09, but symptoms beginning 10-3-09, I myself have been diagnosed as having the h1n1 flu. Let me describe my symptoms:

1. Haven't felt like eating anything for 3 days.
2. My body feels like it has been pounded with three large bricks.
3. My head feels like it is being shot out of a cannon.
4. My fever has hovered between 102 and 103.5.
5. My throat is on fire.
6. I need help to walk to the rest room.
7. I have alternated between freezing in Antarctica and roasting in Hades.

I went to the doctor yesterday and tested positive, so I am now taking Tamiflu. I noticed a big difference within hours of starting it, but have a long way to go. This flu is real, folks, and it is awful.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats! Your blog piece is now the fourth link up on the search link you posted.

Anything that comes to me via chain e-mail pretty much goes into the trash.

Snopes.com is always a good place to check the veracity of any story.

Stella said...

Wow! I'm moving up in the world! lol.

I knew you would know better. I posted this for those who don't use Snopes. :)

Anonymous said...

After receiving this email this morning, I placed a call to the PR department at the Beaumont campus of the Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital (409-212-5000) and asked for their comments on the allegations contained within.

I was told in no uncertain terms that it was a flasehood. Physicians are most assuredly NOT recommending against the H1N1 vaccine for their staff nor for anyone else.

Stella said...

Exactly my point. :)

Anonymous said...

This email probably was false, but it appears to be true that the h1n1 vaccine creates a very small, but very real risk of contracting this disease. See this study published in the journal of the american medical association in June of 2012: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22782419.