The problem with the Internet is, anybody can play. No license required. And no sense, either.
Over the past month the number of hysterical, cynical, and just plain nonsensical posters on the flu related forums have increased. And that's a real shame. There are people who are interested in learning about avian flu, in sharing what they know, and in helping others. Sadly, these voices are being drowned out by this rowdy minority.
One of my frequent haunts on the Internet has been a forum where like-minded individuals can gather and discuss the latest H5N1 news, discuss prepping, and explore scenarios. A nice group of folks. This place was never the scholarly endeavor that the FluWiki was, but then, it never was intended to be. It was more like a bunch of guys sitting around a living room, talking.
Over the past month, it has been invaded by a Naturopathic Doctor (an oxymoron to some) from Canada who has spewed every conspiracy theory about modern medicine known to man. He (or she ... hard to tell on the net) has but one agenda:
To convince everyone that colloidal silver will cure anything.
Have a secondary bacterial pneumonia? Throw away your antibiotics, he has a silver bullet.
In his own words: You can prevent or treat the Avian Flu (IF it develops the ability to infect humans) easily, simply, cheaply, safely and naturally.
What followed was then was an extensive and incoherent discourse on the curative powers of colloidal silver. It will cure 650 diseases. And it’s being suppressed by the big pharmaceutical companies.
Sadly, there are people who will believe this tripe. And a few will waste their money on his product, or worse, abandon modern medical treatment in favor of his snake oil.
Bring up the fact that no one has ever treated an Avian Flu patient with his silver tonic, and he spams the site with nonsensical reports written by dubious `experts' extolling the virtues of colloidal silver and slamming modern medicine.
Yesterday, he posted an extensive excerpt from the Merck Manual, purporting to prove Tamiflu was worthless for the Avian Flu.
There was just one problem. He copied information from the 1999 Merck Manual, and the only mention of Avian flu was of the initial outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997. The only reference to Tamiflu was in regards to the SARS outbreak, where it said it had little effect. Not only was this post irrelevant, it was disingenuous and misleading.
SARS is not influenza. You’d think a doctor would know the difference.
While you’d think that everyone would simply ignore a spamming troll like this, there are some people who desperately want a cheap, easy, and guaranteed cure for the avian flu, and so they believe this guy. He has followers who defend his posts.
Now, does colloidal silver have any value? I honestly don’t know. I have serious doubts, but then, it hasn’t been tested, so it’s possible.
I have no problem with alternative medical treatments. Complementary medicine may indeed have some value during a pandemic. We may learn a good deal about the efficacy of herbal remedies, colloidal silver, and supplements during a pandemic. Hopefully, something out there will work.
But for anyone, much less a `doctor’, suggest that any drug can safely, cheaply, and naturally prevent or treat a serious disease like avian flu, when there is absolutely no evidence of that fact, is abominable. This guy is playing with people’s lives. Maybe he believes it works, but that makes his medical advice no less dangerous.
Would I take colloidal silver? I might. But I wouldn’t depend on it alone. I certainly wouldn’t forego conventional antibiotics when facing a life threatening infection like bacterial pneumonia. If I had nothing else, I’d take it and pray. A lot.
I guess the only good news is, that the number of people who will believe in these snake oil claims will be sharply reduced after a pandemic.
Proving even Darwinism has a silver lining.
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