The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
Vol: 50 Issue: 1 - Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Not A, Not B, But C!
The deadly avian flu virus designated H5N1 may have found its way from the Far East and across the pond to North America.
Canadian officials say thirty-three wild ducks have tested positive for the H5 virus, although officials are playing down the discovery by saying it is 'unlikely' the same strain that is ravaging Asia's poultry population.
The H5N1 virus has not yet made the jump to human-to-human transition, but it has affected 120 people so far, and continues to maintain its terrifying mortality rate of more than fifty percent.
Of the 120 confirmed cases of human H5N1, 63 have died. Following that model, in the event that it makes the jump to human-to-human transmission, it will kill every other victim.
In 1918, the Spanish Flu pandemic killed more than fifty million people worldwide in less than a year. H5N1 is being spoken of in the same terms by researchers, often in the same sentence.
While the world braces for the newest pandemic, it is trying to come to grips with what appears to be an emerging health threat, although it has been with us for a quarter century.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection of the liver that is affecting a growing number of sufferers with new victims being diagnosed every day.
Hepatitis C was introduced to the West, according to the Veteran's Administration, by servicemen returning from Vietnam. At the time, it was designated NANB, for 'Hepatitis, Not A, Not B'. It wasn't until 1989 that it was identified as a new strain, designated 'C'.
Most of the victims of Hepatitis C are veterans; particularly those who had surgery or received blood products from the VA during the 1980's before an effective blood screening program was developed.
Hepatitis C is a silent and often deadly disease. The Hep C virus invades the liver and systematically infects and kills off liver cells. Untreated, it can lead to sclerosis and death. Even with treatment, HCV sufferers have a high risk of developing fatal liver diseases, including liver cancer.
It is still unknown how hepatitis-C virus multiplies once inside infected cells. But researchers know once the virus enters the cell, it develops a platform for multiplication by combining itself with a certain lipid, an organic compound.
Hepatitis C is contagious, and can be transmitted from human-to-human. In addition to tainted blood from medical procedures, it can also be transmitted by intravenous drug abusers sharing dirty needles, sexual transmission through casual sex, or by accidental infection by coming in contact with blood from an infected person. However, it is not spread by casual contact, handshakes, drinking from the same glass, etc.
HCV can lie dormant for as long as thirty years after infection, with no symptoms until the damage to the liver begins to manifest itself.
The only medical treatment for HCV is called interferon therapy, during which time an HCV victim injects himself twice a week with the drug, whose side effects are almost worse than the disease, mirroring those of chemotherapy.
While lifestyle plays a role in the spread of Hepatitis C, the majority of those infected are veterans who have been carrying it around inside them for decades, or family members infected by close contact.
In other words, lifestyle, while providing some protection against infection, is no guarantee. It is a truly insidious and dangerous new killer.
Assessment:
Of all the signs that point to this generation as the generation that will witness the unfolding of Bible prophecy in this generation, it is 'pestilences' that seem the most ambiguous. After all, sickness has been part of the human condition since Adam.
But in 1948, with the introduction of super-antibiotics like sulpha, and subsequent medical advances made possible as a result, old, traditional killer diseases like scarlet fever, polio, tuberculosis, etc., appeared to be all but defeated.
Rather than an increase in pestilential disease, it appeared, for a time, that medical science had all but eliminated it. Until the 1980's, when old killers began to re-emerge, newly resistant to antibiotic therapy and more deadly than ever. At the same time, new killers, like HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, and so on, made their appearance on the scene.
Jesus said these new killers would emerge in 'divers places'. Jesus used an analogy to describe them that has been recognizable to every generation since Adam. He said they would be like 'birth pangs' -- growing in both frequency and intensity as the time of His return approached.
Hepatitis C, like other blood-borne diseases that emerged in the 80's, is one of those diseases that spread through the blood supply for years before an effective screening test was developed.
According to most researchers, this means that there may be many millions of infected HCV victims who are totally unaware of their condition until the damage is already done.
Now for a little personal revelation: I was a surgical inpatient in Veteran's Administration hospitals in 1975, 1982 and 1984. I received blood in each of those surgeries. I also received blood during gall bladder surgery in Canada in 1990.
When it was announced that those who had surgery and received blood prior to 1992 were at risk, I crossed my fingers and hoped this bullet missed me.
Last week, my doctor phoned to schedule me for an appointment to discuss a problem with my last blood test. Bullseye!
My test results indicate a positive for HCV, and I have probably, in the words of my doctor, 'had it for many years.' (It does explain a lot of previously inexplicable health problems)
I don't know what it all means just yet -- there are tests to undergo to determine the level of damage already, but I am back in the Great White North getting ready to meet with my doctor later today.
It is said that the best way to take a measure of a man's life is to see who his enemies are. Please add us to your prayer list as we face this new challenge, hurled at us by our most determined enemy.
But don't despair. Count it all joy. It is clear that the enemy hates this ministry and over the years, he has done all he could to sabotage it. This is just one more effort, one that will come to naught in the long run.
But please pray for Gayle and my family that the Lord has placed a hedge of protection around them and that they have not contracted this virus through contact with me. And with God's provision and protection, we will keep on tweaking the enemy's nose together.
Until He comes.
"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:6)
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