2024-01-11 16:14:42
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Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is a contagious respiratory disease. However, social media falsely claims that flu is not a disease, but rather a “cure” and a “detoxification process” of the body. However, experts told AFP that flu is a viral infection that has no benefits for the body and can be dangerous. Severe cases sometimes result in hospitalization or can even be fatal.
“A cure for the flu has never been found, because the flu is the cure,” is written in German in a picture that has been on display since October 2023 Facebook is shared. Flu is “one of nature’s most effective methods of restoring health,” it continues. Posts with same text will also be distributed in January 2024. It also claims that flu is a “detoxification process” of the body. The postings attribute the statements to “Dr. Herbert Shelton” and supposedly come from a 1944 article entitled “Influenza.”
Also on other platforms like Telegram the allegations are spread. The quotes are also in other languages such as Hungarian or Italian divided. Often they are not attributed to Herbert Shelton, but to “Herbert Sheldon”.
Facebook screenshot of claim: January 9, 2024
Flu is caused by viruses
Online Electron micrographs of influenza viruses are available. Also the genetic code certain flu viruses are available on the Internet.
Image of an influenza virus from the University of Texas website, screenshot from January 5, 2024
Die Description of the disease by the US health authority CDC (here archived) states that influenza is “a contagious respiratory disease caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and sometimes the lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness and sometimes death.”
Flu cases in Europe are increasing
One Message The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) dated December 15, 2023 shows that the majority of reported respiratory infections in the last week of November 2023 were due to Covid-19, but in some countries the number of flu cases is increasing (here archived).
After Estimates the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Security (AGES) (here archived), around 2,420 out of 100,000 residents suffered from flu or flu-like illnesses in the first calendar week of 2024. According to AGES, there were 4020 estimated deaths associated with influenza in Austria in the 2022/2023 flu season.
Flu is not a way to “detoxify” the body
According to false claims circulating online, flu is good for the body. However, according to experts, this is incorrect. Most of the symptoms that occur are due to the Immune reaction of the body attributed. Incidentally, it can disease dangerous be.
“Influenza viruses attack the lungs and other organs,” says Protzer. “In a bad flu year, just as many people die from the real flu in German-speaking countries as from traffic accidents,” she added. A look at German statistics shows that, for example Declarations The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) estimated the number of flu-related deaths in the particularly severe period Grippesaison 2017/2018 was over 25,000 (here and here archived), while the number of annual traffic fatalities in the country has remained at the same level for more than a decade under 5,000 lies (here archived).
As the American health authority CDC explains, immunity once morest a specific pathogen can be achieved through an infection or a vaccination. To generally strengthen the immune system, consider quitting smoking or being physically active (here archived).
A flu vaccine is administered in San Fernando, California, northeast of Los Angeles, on November 24, 2020 (AFP / ROBYN BECK)
Wer war Herbert Shelton?
Some Posts combine the false claim that flu detoxifies the body with the statement that it is “one of nature’s most effective methods for restoring health.” In some postings there is a mixture of German and Hungarian language used. The various claims alternately use quotations from “Herbert Sheldon” or “Herbert Shelton”, as in this one Italian fact check is detected.
In some posts a Image of the similarly named William Herbert Sheldonan American psychologist, used as an illustration, as a screenshot comparison shows.
Photo of the American psychologist Herbert Sheldon in a Facebook posting with the false claim in Hungarian (left) and on the website of Washington University in St. Louis in Missouri, screenshots from January 8, 2024 Facebook posting with the false claim (left) and a 1956 Evening Star article mentioning Herbert Shelton, screenshots from January 8, 2024
The article questions the existence of the flu and that it is caused by a virus. Doctors are also accused of killing patients by advising them to eat healthily to promote their recovery. Shelton instead promotes the idea of fasting as a means of recovering from illness. He writes that no treatment is necessary to fight diseases because the body does not need any outside help: “You don’t need any treatment. The fever, the inflammation, or the cough are the healing process. Just avoid them and let them do their work. Don’t try to help nature – she doesn’t need your measly help – she’s just asking that you stop interfering.”
Shelton ran a clinic called Shelton’s Health School in the US state of Texas, which closed in 1981. Shelton and his partner were ordered to pay $837,000 to the widow of a man who died at the clinic in 1978 of “severe dehydration and malnutrition,” court records show. An appeal once morest the decision was dismissed in 1984, and the Summary of the Court of Appeal’s findings (here archived) contains details from the original case in which Shelton and his partner were found guilty of negligence and gross negligence. The appeals court document also mentions that three other people died at the clinic under similar circumstances.
Ways to protect yourself from the flu
According to expert Kemenesi, influenza can be effectively prevented or mitigated through vaccination because, unlike the virus, the vaccine introduces the pathogen into the immune system in a controlled and safe manner. “Wearing a face mask, practicing good hand hygiene and isolating if symptoms occur can prevent the spread of the virus,” he added.
The first influenza vaccine was approved for widespread use in 1945, according to the Website der WHO. Researchers quickly realized that the old vaccines would become ineffective in subsequent flu seasons as virus strains changed, it says: “Efforts to track the evolution and emergence of flu viruses continue today, and scientists are monitoring both seasonal and also potentially pandemic flu strains.”
After CDC information Depending on the strain of the virus, flu vaccines can “reduce the risk of having to go to the doctor with flu by 40 to 60 percent” and also reduce the risk of hospitalization or death (here archived).
One systematic review of 231 randomized controlled trials of the effectiveness and safety of vaccines in preventing seasonal influenza in 2022 confirmed that influenza vaccinations “significantly reduce” the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in children, adults and the elderly (here archived).
Similar to Covid-19, the situation with the flu is also similar antiviral drugs available that can relieve symptoms and reduce the risk of complications (here archived). These medications are generally used by people prescribedwho are at “higher risk of serious flu complications,” such as people who suffer from asthma, diabetes or heart disease (here archived).
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