‘Blue Flu’ cases spreading around Gulf

While the name may not be very scientific, the symptoms are all too real and horrific. 'Blue flu' refers to a state of low oxygenation that first appeared in the Gulf waters as a result of the use of the dispersant Corexit. Now some how, maybe via toxic rains and winds, it is spreading inland and is reducing the oxygen levels inside the bodies of humans, causing them to appear blue, or more accurately, cyanotic. Very dangerous. Especially for those with heart disease or breathing problems. Heart attacks, strokes, seizures, limb loss and general disabilities of all sorts can be expected, all of which have an associated risk of death. On the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina we know what happened when the government refused to order an early evacuation. Is history repeating itself?

‘Blue Flu’ cases spreading around Gulf

By Lounge Daddy, 17 August, 2010

“Blue Flu” infecting people along the Gulf of Mexico, other southern states?

Some people are calling it the BP Flu. But it is commonly being called the Blue Flu, because the alleged symptoms include blue lips and skin; and it’s scaring the hell out of people all around the Gulf area –from Texas to Florida.

This Blue Flu is separate from people experiencing something called TILT, or “Toxic-Induced Loss of Tolerance.” TILT is something that hit some of the folks who had been working on the massive cleanup surrounding the oil spill. Symptoms from TILT include eyes and skin being irritated, headaches and dizziness.

People with TILT are typically those who were in the immediate area of the spill, mostly those directly involved with the cleanup. Those suffering from Blue Flu are an entirely different matter. These are people who were not in direct contact with the spill, or the cleanup chemicals. They simply live in the south, near the Gulf.

Symptoms include swollen glands, notably in the neck, fever, vomiting, headache, bluish lip color, numbness in fingers and toes. The most alarming symptom being reported is “severe symptomatic cyanosis.” This is the entire body turning blue, a discoloration of the skin.

Of course this could cause alarm that these are symptoms of oxygen depletion along the Gulf. But could this rather be from all that Corexit that was sprayed everywhere, including dropped through the air from airplanes? This was a lot of chemical deposited in a large area, in a short frame of time. One wonders how the people living in the area could not be sickened from it.

Here’s a littleabout Corexit:

Corexit is a product line of solvents primarily used as a dispersant for breaking up oil slicks. It is produced by Nalco Holding Company which is associated with BP and Exxon.

Corexit is the most-used dispersant in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with COREXIT 9527 having been replaced by COREXIT 9500 after the former was deemed too toxic.

Oil that would normally rise to the surface of the water is broken up by the dispersant into small globules that can then remain suspended in the water.

Whatever the cause the Blue Flu, it is important to note that the oil spill wasn’t cleaned up – it was covered up. As stated in the above quote, the Corexit that was sprayed and dumped all over the place is simply a (rather dangerous) chemical agent that prevented the oil from surfacing.

After all, the government isn’t interested in your safety. Rather, the government is interested in creating the illusion of safety. And the government often harms even more people in the end in their effort to keep up appearances.

Thus, expect the Blue Flu to be kept under wraps as much as possible. In an effort to deflect criticism, I would not be surprised if the government sounded an alarm over another flu bug – an effort at misdirection. The political class wants the oil spill story out of the way and forgotten.

There are two major articles about Blue Flu that I read, none in the msm.

One story is pretty alarmist in tone, and another that strives to be far more measured with this. However, the story appears to be well written and sourced — the writer quotes people about Blue Flu.

That article is at worldvisionportal.org. The writer wonders if these are symptoms of oxygen depletion in the air and water. Here’s a little from that one:

Along with the symptoms that mimic flu-like viruses, there are increasing cases of severe symptomatic cyanosis. These rapidly increasing symptoms range from bluish lip color to numbness in fingers and toes. There is also a fast growing increase of pneumonia cases which are being diagnosed as chemical induced pneumonia. Those working on boats and those living directly on the coast are the most effected.

Cyanosis is simply oxygen starvation in the blood. With a moderate case involving such a lack of oxygen, the skin appears to have a blueish colour. Hands and fingers especially show these signs as will other extremities such as toes and lips. A lack of oxygen in the blood can also have a purplish appearance where the skin surface is red from sun exposure but the blood beneath the skin is blue. Red and blue make purple.

If all these BLUE FLU symptoms were temporary, most everyone suffering from them would eventually recover as the blood becomes increasingly oxygenated once removed from the oxygen depletion source.

I wanted to double check the statement that “cyanosis is simply oxygen starvation in the blood,” so I went over to wikipedia :

During cyanosis, tissues are uncharacteristically low on oxygen, and therefore tissues that would normally be filled with bright oxygenated blood are instead filled with darker, deoxygenated blood. Darker blood is much more prone to the blue-shifting optical effects,[3] and thus oxygen deficiency – hypoxia – leads to blue discoloration of the lips and other mucous membranes.

The writer goes on to suggest that, “while the Blue Flu symptoms are increasing for more and more people, those who have had 30+ days of direct exposure to the toxic and oxygen depleted Gulf air and water are in immediate danger of permanent and irreversible biological damage… if not death.”

Damn. Now’s a great time to look at the more measured, less panicked article.

Over at Meta Oceanic Research, an article covers a few new Gulf-spill-related symptoms being reported online. The article looks at the symptoms of TILT and the Blue Flu.

The entire article is pretty interesting for the comparison, and it’s a fairly quick read. For the info on the Blue Flu, it references the World Vision Portal. The article ends with this:

We caution the reader that everything in the World Vision Portal post is hearsay so far, but it echoes and dovetails with verifiable similar cases. It’s also extremely well-written and motivates us to keep an eye on the story and research the matter further ourselves.

Interestingly, I believe there was a prediction made by Webbot of a ‘Blue Flu.’

And there have been concerns in science magazines that we could have a problem — a natural problem — with a lack of oxygen. And then, clearly, the oil spill and chemical agents could make a natural problem into an unnatural problem.

Of course panic solves nothing. We’ll keep an eye on this as best we can. It will be interesting to see if the Blue Flu is something that we never hear about again, or if it becomes something too big for the msm to avoid.

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