Flu infection rates surge to record-high in Japan

Because Japanese companies are insane. Please work even if you caught a cold. If people could actually take some time off to recover, you would definitely see numbers drop. But again that requires logical thinking.

Also, wearing masks is NOT an excuse to not put a hand in front of your mouth when coughing. People seem to forget that one as well.

It's not just companies overworking their staff to the point where exhaustion destroys their immune system, it's an issue of population density and poor hygiene. And yes, hygiene is poor. I say that because often a mask or gloves and a flu shot are considered a panacea for all virus or like infections. Just take a moment to watch a person wearing a mask who is sniffling. They often adjust the mask with their hands, they'll cough and sneeze without making even the slightest effort to shield it because of the mask, which I've seen puff out to near bursting in a sneezing fit, and they'll lift the mask up to smoke, drink, eat, touching their mouths and the bacteria traps their masks have become before holding the handles on a train, the hand rails on stairwells and escalators, etc. And many will put the mask on and off several times, transferring it to pockets, setting it on tables, etc. Same with the flu shot; a lot of people stop taking common sense precautions when they have gotten a shot because they think it's tantamount to 100% prevention.

Anyway, the worst place you can go is a clinic or hospital. Unless you're dead sure you've got it, don't go, because you'll get it. Schools are next.

Agree with all the above

Blame the Japanese people, not the companies. The companies will of course think of themselves first and not the workers. It's up to the workers to say "sorry, not coming in as I have the flu."

Guess those masks don't really help that much.

Neither washing hands then,

I mean, both have been proven to be very effective measures of reducing transmission, as long as done properly by everybody.

It may be surprising but epidemics still happen even if there are effective things that should stop them, for example when people don't use those effective things or when they do not use them properly.

Also, wearing masks is NOT an excuse to not put a hand in front of your mouth when coughing. 

The opposite, wearing a mask (properly) has the main purpose of avoiding infecting the hands with secretions that will be later smeared in every surface touched by the hand. If somebody is already wearing a mask this person has no excuse to bring his hand anywhere close to their face.

57,09 were diagnosed?  How does that work?

also shows that wearing face masks is of limited use at best.

The opposite, wearing a mask (properly) has the main purpose of avoiding infecting the hands with secretions that will be later smeared in every surface touched by the hand. If somebody is already wearing a mask this person has no excuse to bring his hand anywhere close to their face.

What I meant is, cover your mouth when you cough, be it with your hands (which you can wash later) or your elbow. But people automatically think that 'oh, I wear a mask so I can cough as loud and gross as I can in public, because the mask will stop the virus from spreading anyway'.

people don't get flu shots, then wonder why there's a flu outbreak.

no different than people deciding they don't need measles or any other shot. care about yourself more than the spread of infectious disesases.

people don't get flu shots, then wonder why there's a flu outbreak.

Two relatives of mine got the vaccine, along with their entire family, and caught 'flu anyway. The vaccine does not confer protection for every variety going around. That's practically impossible.

Many companies pay for the flu shot or do provide an help for it. Companies take responsibilities but nothing is mandatory per the law

But young kids can not get vaccinated and have a weaker immune system, many low paid workers like baito or self employed do not have it because of a weak income, and people like me who do not want get vaccinated. I believe a strong immune system, a good health style, sports no alcohol are the key. Got the flu 4 years ago, the first in 30 years since my teenage years. At that time, though not sure, I believe an underlying disease déveloping the following year weakened my immune system. Since that issue cured, no cold or anything.

Also in my opinion masks are not really efficient. It is more psychological. Virus can live on door handles, all thes trains handles so spreading easily

Anyway, cross fingers and will get the vaccine in my older age, as the body is weakening

it would be interesting to know how many people get the vaccines,

I wonder if the aging population has anything to do with increasing numbers of cases.

About a quarter of the nensho kids at my daughters school are out with it. I get my daughter the vaccine every year and she's never gotten it (knock on wood). I usually get it every year and I tried so hard to get it this year from October but every doctor I went to was out. From October. So either there's a REAL shortage of these things or theres actually a lot of people getting them.

poor hygiene 

> the bacteria traps their masks have become before holding the handles on a train, the hand rails on stairwells and escalators, etc.

Don't get me started on the number of times that I see Japanese people dig in their nose then grab the train handles with the same hand when they are done digging for gold!

They literally don't give a ''&%()! I actually saw a guy trying to wipe his finger on the handle. Since that day, I have improved my balance to avoid touching train handles.

Here we go again. Prevention is better than cure, and all these ineffective stats and handwringing that are reported every year does nothing to help.

Flu vaccination should be free for over 60s and those with chronic heart and lung problems. Pneumonia vacs too. Public health campaigns that show how pointless those masks are, the importance of hand washing and not going to work, school or any public place if you have flu should be an annual event.

Vaccinations do work, on average the flu risk is reduced by 60% if you have the jab. The vaccination does not give you the flu. It will not protect you from colds or any other upper respiratory tract infection.

Truth be told I had the opportunity to get the flu shot but did not. When I got it at my company a few years ago I immediately got sick as heck for 10 days. If I skip the flu shot I get about 2 bad colds per season but never got the flu as far as I recall.

The flu vaccine would not have made you ill for 10 days - you simply came down with something and you looked for a cause - a common fallacy.

The colds you get are unconnected with whether you catch flu or not. You would still get them if you have the vaccination.

Blame the Japanese people, not the companies. The companies will of course think of themselves first and not the workers. It's up to the workers to say "sorry, not coming in as I have the flu."

People do not go in if they catch influenza - they can often barely stand. People do go in with the common cold, even if they feel terrible, and probably end up spreading it.

But the cold and 'flu are very different things - I do wish people would stop confusing these concepts, as a good number of the posts above do.

In case of confusion:

Sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, clears up in a few days: cold

Flaming high temperature, feeling cold and near death for well over a week: flu.

My four year old brought it home from kindergarten last week, now we all have it (even though we got shots).

This one is a doozy, stay health you if you can!

Ah_so, quite right, the miss understanding is not confined to Japan, it is probably world wide. Having had full blown influenza once in my life when I was young and fit, I now realise why it can be a killer for the elderly or anyone with a compromised health or lmmune defence system.

Every year you need to have some flu jab pumped into you, and for what ?

I've been taking Jeunesse Reserve over the past 5 years, and haven't had even a sniffle...

Learn to cough/ sneeze into the elbow, not the hands

robotxpartyFeb. 1  05:44 pm JST

people don't get flu shots, then wonder why there's a flu outbreak.

The problem is having to guess at which strain(s) will be prominent. We all were vaccinated this year, but the vaccine did not include the A strain. My son, who otherwise never gets sick, was down for a week with it.

I have not nor ever will never get a flu shot. With ingredients in the vaccine like thimerosal (mercury), aluminium, MSG and formaldehyde putting stress on and weakening the immune system, it makes a person more susceptible to catching influenza or other maladies. These ingredients are apparently used as preservatives, stabilisers and the like. Check the label or look online if you have trouble believing that.

https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/flu-shot-ingredients#ingredients

http://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vaccine-ingredients

Furthermore, how do we know these 5,000 cases of influenza in Japan are really the flu?

A recent report in the British Medical Journal says 100s of 1000s of respiratory samples are taken from flu patients in the US every year and tested in labs but ... "only a small percentage of these samples show the presence of a flu virus. This means: most of the people in America who are diagnosed by doctors with the flu have no flu virus in their bodies. So they don’t have the flu.

From the same report:

“[According to CDC statistics], ‘influenza and pneumonia’ took 62,034 lives in 2001—61,777 of which were attributable to pneumonia and 257 to flu, and in only 18 cases was the flu virus positively identified.”

“Influenza: marketing vaccines by marketing disease” (BMJ 2013; 346:f3037)

I read that in an article entitled "Welcome to the Medical Matrix – the Flu isn’t the Flu" by Jon Rappoport.

Personally I take Vitamins D3 and C over the winter months, eat reasonably well and get enough sleep and never seem to come down with much.

The masks help ill people to not transmit the disease by keeping that person's saliva and mucus from flying about. Masks do not prevent contraction because the viruses are far to small to be filtered by the masks.

The most effective way to prevent transmission and contraction is to frequently wash your hands with warm water and soap. Given that warm water is as rare as Japanese guys washing their hands after using public restrooms, Japan will continue to suffer.

most of the people in America who are diagnosed by doctors with the flu have no flu virus in their bodies. So they don’t have the flu.

No, that is wrong. Isolating the virus can be very difficult and require special equipment, but if you can identify specific antibodies against that strain and the virus genetic material that still means the diagnostic is correct and the patient had the flu, EVEN without the virus isolated and growing in culture.

Masks do not prevent contraction because the viruses are far to small to be filtered by the masks.

That is also incorrect, the mask are not made to stop single viruses floating around because those virus don't exist, they are made to stop the droplets of saliva and mucus that do contain the virus, so you don't aspirate them. A secondary benefit is that when used properly you don't touch your nose and mouth with your contaminated hands since people constantly touch their face so even frequent hand washing is not perfect.

virus rex: "The opposite, wearing a mask (properly) has the main purpose of avoiding infecting the hands with secretions that will be later smeared in every surface touched by the hand."

No no no... it has none of those purposes met because the proper you include in brackets does not exist amongst most if not all wearers. Hell, this Morning I saw a guy lift his mask to pick his nose and eat it, then go back to holding the rail alongside the train doors after rearranging his mask. They use a mask as a be-all prevention measure, in effect making it WORSE than if you had no mask at all. The masks are likely a lot like a dish sponge that's been wet and sitting near the sink for a few months, in the summer.

No, that is wrong. Isolating the virus can be very difficult and require special equipment, but if you can identify specific antibodies against that strain and the virus genetic material that still means the diagnostic is correct and the patient had the flu, EVEN without the virus isolated and growing in culture.

These are not my words, this is what the researcher wrote in his paper in the BMJ. I'm simply reporting another side to the hysteria displayed in the MSM and elsewhere.

Another thing that is done is to combine deaths from pneumonia with those of influenza, making it one category. Not a very accurate way of determining flu deaths when the cause of the pneumonia could be for any number of reasons including complications from other illnesses.

Quote: Actually, most flu cases are “bacteria cases,” “fungal cases,” or “pollution cases,” or “tainted food” cases, or “eating GMO cases,” or “weak immune system” cases, or something else. But they aren’t the flu.

https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/01/07/welcome-to-the-medical-matrix-the-flu-isnt-the-flu/

The independent journalist who wrote this piece (and not the person who published in the BMJ), has been writing about the medical and pharmaceutical industries for decades. It doesn't come from some unknown blogger. There are plenty of other people including doctors and scientists who have similar views.

Anyone who knows about the young women damaged by the HPV in Japan and other countries would do well to look at both sides of the debate before choosing to go ahead with a vaccine, including the flu vaccine.

Just to repeat because this point is important:

“[According to CDC statistics], ‘influenza and pneumonia’ took 62,034 lives in 2001—61,777 of which were attributable to pneumonia and 257 to flu, and in only 18 cases was the flu virus positively identified.”

One more thing. According to the US Department of Justice, the flu shot remains the most dangerous vaccine based on injuries and deaths compensated by government. Here is a list of lawsuits for vaccine injuries for 2 quarters in 2013 and 2015.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2014/flu-vaccine-is-the-most-dangerous-vaccine-in-the-united-states-based-on-settled-cases-for-injuries/

https://www.mondialisation.ca/the-flu-shot-remains-the-most-dangerous-vaccine/5550163

Also in my opinion masks are not really efficient. It is more psychological. Virus can live on door handles, all thes trains handles so spreading easily

The opinion of all professionals in infectious diseases is that they ARE efficient, there is nothing psychological about it, the trick is that they have to be used properly, but that is also true for all other measures like washing hands. And if they comes in the way between your hand and your nose and mouth that do help in interrupting transmission.

but the vaccine did not include the A strain

The vaccine used in Japan for the 2018-19 season did include 2 strains of Influenza A, probably just not including the specific strain you got.

With ingredients in the vaccine like thimerosal (mercury), aluminium, MSG and formaldehyde putting stress on and weakening the immune system

Thimerosal is not included, aluminum and MSG you get more in the blood from what is absorbed in a normal diet, and formaldehyde is a normal product of your own metabolism, actually your body has a higher concentration of formaldehyde than the vaccine, vaccinating means you are diluting the formaldehyde in your body.

A lot of people simply don't understand how masks work, which is fine, but trying to say the opposite of what the CDC, WHO or whatever other medical association that works on infectious disease say about their usefulness just because you don't understand is not justified.

it has none of those purposes met because the proper you include in brackets does not exist amongst most if not all wearers

That is irrelevant, that is like saying that washing hands should be done with concentrated chlorine because nobody properly washes their hands with soap. It DOES have that purpose and it is it intended use and thousands of people in health care use them properly without problem any day. Do washing hands only as a pretext to see themselves in the mirror without ever wetting any portion of skin means its a medium to incubate pathogens precisely in the body part that is used to touch things?

most of the people in America who are diagnosed by doctors with the flu have no flu virus in their bodies. So they don’t have the flu.

As mentioned before, that is just a bad misinterpretation of the results, identification of the virus is a much more expensive procedure that have no extra benefit for the patient outside of research, so there is no need to find the virus, finding high levels of antibody or a surrogate signal that point to the virus is enough for all practical purposes to make a precise diagnostic, that is true for all diagnostic tests.

These are not my words, this is what the researcher wrote in his paper in the BMJ. I'm simply reporting another side to the hysteria displayed in the MSM and elsewhere.

Sorry but no, that is a terrible and misleading false representation of the conclusions of the study, Nobody expect the virus to be present after a patient dies from pneumonia a long time after the influenza that originates the complication has been solved. That still means that the influenza was the cause for the pneumonia and therefore the death.

Your "independent journalist" is just another antivaxxer that twists the truth and lies to get fake support for their conspiracy theories.

Once again because you will probably have trouble understanding this point. Identification of the virus is not the purpose of the diagnostic tests, will not benefit the patient and only inflates the money that will be spent so identification of the specific response of the body against the virus is enough.

Thimerosal is not included, aluminum and MSG you get more in the blood from what is absorbed in a normal diet, and formaldehyde is a normal product of your own metabolism, actually your body has a higher concentration of formaldehyde than the vaccine, vaccinating means you are diluting the formaldehyde in your body.

Having foreign material injected into your bloodstream with the possibility of contaminants passing the blood-brain barrier and ingesting something into your gut through "normal diet" are two different things. You at least have some protection when you when you ingest a poison or anything that's not good for you into your gut with your stomach lining, acid etc.

As for thimerosal neither of us is completely right or wrong. It is in multi-dose vials but not in most single vials. From the CDC's website:

Do flu vaccines contain thimerosal? Flu vaccines in multi-dose vials contain thimerosal to safeguard against contamination of the vial. Most single-dose vials and pre-filled syringes of flu shot and the nasal spray flu vaccine do not contain a preservative because they are intended to be used once.

Anyway, I'm not trying to dissuade you from getting a vaccine. If you feel it's right for you then go for it.

Having foreign material injected into your bloodstream with the possibility of contaminants passing the blood-brain barrier and ingesting something into your gut through "normal diet" are two different things.

Sorry, but you have some trouble understanding text, let me quote you again what I wrote.

you get more in the blood from what is absorbed in a normal diet,

Once in the blood it is completely irrelevant from where it comes from, even if the absortion in the gut is limited the huge differences in the total amount still means you get more in the blood from the diet than from the vaccines.

As for thimerosal neither of us is completely right or wrong. It is in multi-dose vials but not in most single vials.

That still means there is absolutely no need of it having any if you don't want to, even there is no hint of it producing any negative effect in humans.

My point is that your reasons for not getting a vaccine are either not true or irrational, nobody can force you to get a vaccine, my purpose is solely to make clear falsehoods in your arguments.

the flu shot remains the most dangerous vaccine based on injuries and deaths compensated by government. Here is a list of lawsuits for vaccine injuries for 2 quarters in 2013 and 2015.

Those two things are different. To be able to say it is dangerous you NEED to demonstrate that the negative effect is caused by the vaccines, to make a lawsuit you only need to say it is possible this is the case, the government position is that is much cheaper to pay money for families that SUSPECT the negative effect is related to the vaccine than to face the negative publicity (for the vaccines) of going to a trial against victims just to prove that other causes are simply much more likely than the vaccine based on clear epidemiological data.

So you can only say it remains the vaccine for which the government has to pay more to lawsuits even if they never have to demonstrate causality or even that they are the most likely cause.

Unfortunately this is a consequence of the government pushing for a well known health intervention for the good of public health instead of letting antivaxxers select themselves out of the gene pool since this would have uncountable innocent victims.

Thanks Virus Rex. You really pointed out some truths to those who are falling for this anti-vax nonsense.