Today’s Healthy Living will be presented in Aulacese (Vietnamese), with subtitles in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

At first, I thought it could be cured and that it was just a common illness. But later, the doctors said that the possibility of death was 90%. Then I felt very discouraged. I did not know what to think.

Welcome knowledgeable viewers to this week’s edition of Healthy Living on Supreme Master Television where we present a recent case of recovery from avian flu through the application of hemofiltration or the blood filtration method, a life-saving technique developed in Japan.

The A(H5N1) or avian (bird) flu, a subtype of the Influenza A virus, was first recognized in humans in 1997 and thus far has caused 295 deaths, mostly in Asian countries. The root cause of the bird flu is intensive animal agriculture. In the utterly filthy, inhumane conditions that pervade livestock operations, dangerous viruses develop and mutate.

The bird flu virus not only thrives in the weakened immune systems of factory farmed poultry, it can also cross species and infect pigs and other animals. It only takes one factory farm worker to catch the virus from an infected bird and then spread the highly contagious disease to others.

Humans can also contract the bird flu by eating raw or undercooked animal products containing the virus. Public health officials continually worry about the possibility of an avian flu global pandemic.

Initial symptoms of avian flu A(H5N1) are not different from those of the common flu. This is exactly why many people who are infected with the A(H5N1) flu do not know it. We stay home and when it gets worse, we go to the hospital. This is very dangerous as existing medicine for the A(H5N1) virus only works best in the first 48 hours. When we get to the hospital after that time, the possibility to neutralize the virus is lessened, and our condition will get worse.

The standard treatment for avian flu is Tamiflu, a very time sensitive drug that must be taken within 48 hours of symptoms appearing to work and is not always effective. On March 10, 2010, Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy, age 25, the mother of a three-month-old baby, was admitted to Bạch Mai Hospital in Hà Nội, Âu Lạc (Vietnam) with a high fever and flu-like symptoms.

Can you tell us how Mrs. Thủy caught the flu?

When I just came home from work, my wife said that she was having a fever. I thought it was just a mild fever, no problem. I took her to the local medical center and she was just given an IV. After the IV, we went home and she said, “I feel dizzy.” So, at 10 pm that night, I took her to Thăng Long Hospital.

After two or two and a half days there, the doctors suspected that she had caught H5N1. Therefore, she was taken to Bạch Mai Hospital, a Japanese hospital. The test results showed that my wife was H5N1 positive and was in a serious state.

Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy’s condition worsened by the day, with her lungs starting to fail. Tamiflu did not improve her condition, as she was given the drug approximately five days after showing symptoms of the virus. A medical team headed by Dr. Nguyễn Gia Bình of the Hospital’s Recovery Department, then decided to use the blood filtration treatment method.

The technology had been previously brought to Âu Lạc (Vietnam) thanks to cooperation with physicians in Japan. Japan’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine, which has a partnership with Bạch Mai Hospital paid for Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy’s treatment.

Treating these patients is often very difficult, there are not a lot of reference materials in the world, because the A(H5N1) flu appears very randomly and is very serious. It is feared that the A virus, when it exchanges genes with other kinds of flu that have a faster speed of transmittance will create another kind of flu that has extremely fast transmitting speed and be highly toxic. Then it will be a disaster.

After a number of methods were applied but not successful, we studied and found that we could use one technique, that is the blood filtration method, to remove toxins from a patient’s body, to lessen the harm to the patient’s lungs and other organs. In 2005, we were successful in saving the life of a patient in Mê Linh, Vĩnh Phúc.

The avian flu virus can seriously damage a patient’s organs, so blood filtration must be initiated quickly in order to be effective.

The duration of this treatment is not long, usually between seven to 10 days, because the inflammatory syndrome will cause multiple organ failure only within seven to 10 days. For these cases of the A(H5N1) flu, imagine our lungs filled with water. How could the air penetrate through that much water to reach our body?

Our lungs are one of the first organs that are most seriously injured (by the flu). Our body is like a perfect machine in which numerous organs have close ties with one another. When those organs no longer work, that machine will break down.

When we return, we’ll hear more about the blood filtration method of curing bird flu from Dr. Nguyễn Gia Bình. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Yes, I’m Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy, I am 25 years old and currently live in Thanh Trì, Phú Linh, Sóc Sơn, Hà Nội. Actually, my family and the doctors didn’t tell me until after I was discharged from the hospital. Then they told me I had contracted this dangerous disease and was treated successfully by the doctors. Only then did I know about my disease.

Welcome back to Healthy Living on Supreme Master Television, where we are highlighting the happy story of Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy who survived bird flu through the blood filtration treatment method.

When bacteria or viruses enter our body, they will create numerous toxic substances. This blood filtration method will remove some of those substances from our body. Thus, organs and viscera inside our body will be less injured and our chance of survival will increase. However, this is a high-tech method and it is also very costly. A filter costs about US$ 3,500.

On the first three days, the change in her body could not be seen clearly, but on the fourth day, the changes were very obvious. Mrs. Thủy’s functions and organs such as heart, lungs, kidneys, blood coagulation and blood sugar clearly improved. And after seven days, we affirmed that she could survive and recover from her illness.

In Mrs. Thủy’s room, there were always two people beside her sickbed day and night. Therefore, treating a serious illness like the A(H5N1) flu is really hard work. We must constantly keep a close watch on the patient’s condition. We are very happy when we can bring the patients back to health. This method will continue to be applied. At present, this method is very popular in Japan. It has begun to become popular in Europe and in the USA.

We hope that this technology not only can cure patients of the A(H5N1) flu but can also be applied to treat other diseases.

Successful treatment for sister Thủy’s case not only brought happiness to her family but also marked the initial success of the program in searching for a special treatment for patients with the H5N1 flu. We greatly hope that this method will be applied all over the world to bring benefits to many people, and that a great number of people will be benefited from this program.

I really don’t know how to express my gratitude to the doctors. The doctors worked very hard to take care of me day and night when I was in the hospital, as well as the time when I was unconscious. Later, even after I regained consciousness, the doctors were always by my sickbed day and night.

Through this program, I would like to thank all the doctors of Bạch Mai Hospital and the Japanese doctors who tried wholeheartedly to treat my wife. I am very grateful to the doctors.

Much promise lies in the blood filtration method to heal those who have contracted avian flu; however the best way to protect people from succumbing to this highly contagious disease is to ensure that it does not spread in the first place.

Epidemic prevention is most important. It has been said, “Prevention is better than cure.” Therefore, disease prevention is most important, so that the A virus does not transmit from poultry to humans.

Each of us must raise our awareness about disease prevention for our own good as well as for our relatives'. That is the most important thing. If we refrain from eating meat, of course the risk of diseases being transmitted from animals to human beings will decrease.

By ending factory farming and the consumption of all animal products, we will no longer have to worry about bird flu, swine flu or any other deadly virus as there will be no place for the disease to multiply and then infect humans.

I also very much support the idea that everyone in the world as well as in Âu Lạc (Vietnam) should consume more plant-based foods, and we shouldn’t eat animal-based foods such as meat or fish. I learned that many avian diseases were related to those foods. Therefore, we should eat vegetarian to contribute our small part to our communities in protecting our environment.

I feel that the vegetarian diet that is being carried out by the Buddhist Institute nearby has reduced the bad effect for our environment. Since I came home from the hospital, I often eat plant-based foods which society calls vegetarian. We plan our weekly menu to have a certain number of vegetarian days.

On this occasion, I would like to thank the doctors, and the Japanese doctors, the Japanese Embassy and the Aulacese doctors of Bạch Mai Hospital for applying a new remedy to save my life. I hope that after my case, many other people will also be cured with even more success than me.

With heartfelt sincerity, we thank you Dr. Nguyễn Gia Bình, Phạm Thị Phương Thùy, and other staff of Bạch Mai Hospital as well as physicians in Japan and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine for your benevolent efforts that led to the saving of a precious life.

May many more people across the globe soon have access to this innovative blood filtration technology. Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy we are very glad for your recovery and may you enjoy the very best of health in the future.

For more details on these institutions, please visit the following websites
Bạch Mai Hospital www.BachMaiHospital.org
National Center for Global Health and Medicine www.NCGM.GO.jp

Thank you, health-conscious viewers, for your company on today’s episode of Healthy Living. Up next is Science and Spirituality, after Noteworthy News. May we all rapidly adopt the nutritious organic vegan diet to ensure vitality and long-life.