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Swine Flu - a system breakdown with ethical proportions

The current and latest outbreak of a virulent strain of influenza through the process of zoonosis, which my Word program doesn't recognize for some reason, is an interesting case study of systems at the micro level, rather than the analysis and reviews of macro systems, by which I understand auditing of corporate systems of internal controls. I use the word "interesting" because although it may appear there is no linkage between the two issues I have developed a certain point of view over time that a self audit through knowing your body and the risks to your health are not dissimilar to a corporate risk assessment which requires a comprehensive response system. Zoonosis basically is defined as the transfer of viruses between animals and humans and vice versa, not dissimilar to bad deficient values transferring themselves from human to human, or animal type behaviour finding a fertile ground amongst members of homo sapiens through the neutralizing of the conscience by repeated bad behaviour.

While your immune system may be very efficient at keeping out the bad guys, it should also be recognized as an extremely complex system and not always foolproof, similar to ethical and internal control frameworks. For example, you may not be aware that your body consists of approximately 100 trillion cells, but that the majority of these are actually foreign organisms, to the tune of 90 trillion. That's a lot of foreign bodies for your immune system to deal with. It appears that our immune systems have perfected the entry pass card system very well, otherwise one could imagine regular rioting internally, which may happen from time to time when you grab the Alkaselzer for some quick relief.

The reason why I am writing on this topic is that I once read an interesting article, about a paediatrician in the USA who used to teach his wards, young children, about the cancer cells that were affecting their bodies, in order for them to visualize the aberrant cells and then provided them a daily dose of computer games in which they played a type of space invaders game zapping the cancer cells on screen. Apparently, the remission rates of these children were significantly improved. I have researched this topic on line and have found the following linkage to a scientific study called "Effect of Virtual Reality on Breast Cancer Patients" by W.S. Al-Halabi, S.A.Aseeri, R.A. Almeleak, and H.T. Al-Hashmie (Saudi Arabia) as I couldn't find the original article I read some 12 years ago.

I conclude that actually being able to visualize your body and its components will have a similar effect on your health and well being, without the aid necessarily of a Virtual Reality application. So how do we visualize the swine flu and its impact, to assist our immune system with an effective response? The first approach would be to learn as much as possible about the swine flu and the process of zoonosis which caused it to evolve into the threat it now is. A second step would be to thoroughly understand how virus attacks work. For example, it surprises me that most humans are only aware of an attack on their systems by the time symptoms such as coughing, sore throats and increased body temperature shows. A flu attack can generally be identified very soon after infestation of the body through smell, sore ligaments and joints, general fatigue and lethargy and other indicators. These are very useful self checks which will allow you to nip the virus in the bud before it makes any amount of real progress. Taking doses of extra vitamin and garlic at this point to bolster the immune system and supercharge it for the additional workload, as well as extra rest, can often avoid a full blown case of the flu.

In 2003 I followed the SARS outbreak with a lot of interest, in order to get to know the "enemy". And it appears this virus is somewhat similar as it affects mainly healthy young adults between 25 and 45 years old. I recall reading the same applied to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, which resulted in between 50 - 100 million deaths worldwide. How does it paradoxically affect mainly healthy adults in the prime of their lives? On researching this further during the SARS outbreak, I noted that for some reason our immune systems over react to the virus, which causes the lungs to fill with fluid literally causing us to die drowning in our own fluids and causing a peculiar blue pallor on the faces of the terminal patients, which is indicative of a lack of oxygen supply to the brain and organs. See http://www.thebody.com/content/art28033.html Please note that I am not a medical professional, and this should not be construed as a confirmation that SARS and the Swine Flu are similar. It may be noted, for example, that unlike SARS, heat checking of arriving visitors as implemented by airports in Asia using the equipment used in 2003 is not effective for detecting Swine Flue carriers.

It is a real conundrum. If the Swine Flu potentially utilizes the over reaction of the immune system, and preys on healthy individuals, does that mean by reverse logic that weakening one's immune system is an effective strategy rather than strengthening or boosting the system? I have had these discussions with my son who is studying biology, as it is a counter intuitive strategy, and you don't get a second chance when the virus is upon you. Apparently laughter boosts the immune system by inhibiting cortisol production, so maybe we should stop laughing for a while as one strategy.

How did this particular strain of virus figure out that it would be most effective in causing the body's immune systems to overreact in this fashion? I was struck recently by a program which featured the stone fish. What makes a stone fish have 13 poisonous spikes and an exterior like a rock whereas a mackerel looks like a fish? In the same vein, why did some viruses develop to particularly weed out the aged and the very young, as for example the flu epidemic in Hong Kong in 1968, while the current and the Spanish Flu all focus on healthy individuals between the age of 25 and 45? I can't imagine the viruses actually congregating, or for that matter emailing each other to work out an effective strategy to take over the human race through this type of cunning plan. I believe there is something akin to collective consciousness at work here, which is not dissimilar to the way Newton and Leibniz both came to the same thoughts and developed calculus virtually simultaneously.

This brings me to the topic of collective consciousness and ethics. Ethics is like an immune system which recognizes the bad guys and takes effective action to isolate and neutralize the viral agents in order to protect the organization as a whole. Collective consciousness is a means by which virtually all of humanity is more or less able to perceive what is ethical and not ethical behaviour based on their (collective) conscience. I have prepared a course outline reviewable on http://www.balfoort.com.my/web/training.html which will delve into the principles and application of ethics in an interesting fashion. It aims to create awareness of our own capacity to influence and sustain the health of our ethical frameworks, not unlike my description above about the ability of our psyche to influence the immune system and thereby the health of our individual bodies. Please let me know your thoughts and comments via info@balfoort.com.my.