Bettie Reece, MOTHER OF MY “DADDY”, PENDON “NONE (BECAUSE HE HAD NO MIDDLE NAME) REECE; MAANN, WHAT A GRANDMOTHER!!??
NOW GRANDMA BETTIE REECE, WAS A HISTORICAL LADY IN CAMP COUNTY TEXAS. AS A VERY WELL KNOWN “MID WIFE”, AKA DOCTOR, SHE WAS A FANTASTIC LADY. AFTER OUR/MY GRANDPA (LOUIS REECE) CAME HOME DEAD (DRAGGED BY HIS HORSE…RUMORS WERE THAT WHITE FOLKS KILLED GRANDPA AND STAGED IT TO LOOK LIKE THE HORSE “DRAGGED-HANGED HIM”)..WELL, GRANDMA HAD TO RAISE 14 CHILDREN, ON A LARGE ACREAGE OF FARM LAND, AND THAT VERY, VERY STRONG LITTLE LADY, TO ME “WAS LEGENDARY”…
WHEN I STAYED WITH GRANDMA, YOU ALL CAN BELIEVE THIS OR NOT; BUT, I WAS BETWEEN 3-4-5-6, YEARS OLD AND STUFF IS “FUZZY” BUT GRANDMA HAD A “POTION” DO NOT ASK ME, BUT FROM MY VERY VERY SKETCHY MEMORY, SHE TOLD ME IT WAS MADE FROM “TREE SAP, FROM THE ROOTS AND MOONSHINE” SHE HAD THESE LITTLE “PACKETS” AND CONTAINERS OF NATURALLY DERIVED MEDICINES AND A “MEDICAL JOURNAL (NOBODY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT JOURNAL, EVEN THOUGH UNCLE EARLY WAS RUMORED TO HAVE TAKEN IT)…MMAANNN!!!!
BUT THAT “TREE SAP, FROM THE ROOTS AND MOONSHINE” “VOODOO” MEDICINE WAS TO TREAT SOME FORM OF THE VIRUSES, THAT WE ARE SEEING, WHICH HAVE ADAPTED THEMSELVES STRAINS OF THE “BIRD FLU” AND “COVID-19” AND OTHERS…
THIS IS “CRAZY”, BUT “GRANDMA” CALLED IT A MEDICAL NAME, I SIMPLY CANNOT REMEMBER…SO THESE ARE SOME RESEARCH STUFF, WHICH I HAVE DONE WITH “ONLY” FUZZY AND LITTLE SMALL FLASHES OF HER TELLING ME TO GO OUT TO THE YARD TO THAT “OLD BLACK IRON Large Cast Iron Wash Pot
AND SEE “IF” IT WAS “BOILING AND THICK”..”BUBBLING/SLOWLY”…WHAT DID I KNOW, I WAS A LITTLE KID?? SHE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT NOT DOING THAT IN THE HOUSE, BECAUSE OF DANGER OF “BLOWING US TO BITS”; SAME WAY THAT “DADDY” BLEW UP THE SMOKE HOUSE, LATER, I THINK??……
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131203124911.htm Y’ALL CAN GO RESEARCH THIS STUFF, FOR YOURSELVES…
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have evidence that descendants of the H2N2 avian influenza A virus that killed millions worldwide in the 1950s still pose a threat to human health, particularly to those under 50. The research has been published in an advance online edition of the Journal of Virology.
The study included 22 H2N2 avian viruses=( I THINK GRANDMA CALLED THAT VIRUS, THIS OR SOMETHING LIKE THIS; IN HER MEDICAL TERM; WHICH I DID NOT REALIZE WAS MEDICINE(S)) collected from domestic poultry and wild aquatic birds between 1961 and 2008, making it the most comprehensive analysis yet of avian H2N2 viruses.
Researchers reported the viruses could infect human respiratory cells. Several strains also infected and spread among ferrets, which are susceptible to the same flu viruses as humans. Based on those and other indicators, one virus was classified as posing a high risk for triggering a pandemic.
Researchers found evidence the viruses were susceptible to current antiviral medications and could likely be controlled with an available prototype vaccine.
Such protection was unavailable in 1957 when an H2N2 virus that included genes from avian flu viruses emerged. Federal health officials estimate the 1957-58 pandemic killed 1 to 2 million people worldwide. While the H2N2 strain disappeared from flu viruses circulating in humans in 1968, it has persisted in the world’s bird population.
“This study suggests H2N2 has the characteristics necessary to re-emerge as a significant threat to human health in part because most individuals under the age of 50 lack immunity to the virus,” said corresponding author Robert Webster, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Infectious Diseases. “This highlights the importance of continued surveillance of viruses circulating in animals and additional research to enhance our ability to identify viruses that are emerging health threats.”
The research stems from the institution’s role as a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance. St. Jude is also home to the only World Health Organization Collaborating Center focused on the spread of animal flu viruses to humans.
Historically, pandemic flu viruses arise when bird and human flu viruses swap genes. The mixing can result in novel viruses capable of spreading efficiently in humans and against which the human immune system is unprepared. “One school of thought regarding emerging flu viruses is that in more than 100 years, only three of the 18 subtypes of influenza A have caused pandemics. The H2 subtype is one,” Webster said. The H2N2 viruses in this study remained genetically similar to the 1957 pandemic strain.
Along with being able to infect human trachea and other mammalian cells growing in the laboratory, five viruses also infected ferrets, according to researchers. Ferrets are a reliable model for studying flu’s spread in humans. The five strains were among the nine H2N2 viruses that researchers tested in ferrets.
Three of the strains demonstrated a surprising ability to spread among ferrets housed in the same cage. The strains included the Dk/HK319/79 virus, which researchers classified as having high pandemic potential. The virus was isolated in 1979 from a duck in Hong Kong. The other viruses were classified as having low to intermediate pandemic potential. None of the viruses studied in ferrets spread via airborne transmission.
In addition, none of the viruses showed changes in the two viral proteins viewed as indicators of avian flu virus adaptation to human infection and transmission. Those markers are the hemagglutinin (HA) protein that the virus uses to infect cells and the PB2 protein, which is required for viral replication. The viruses in this study had HA and PB2 proteins with a preference for infecting avian, rather than human cells.
“While these viruses genetically look very avian, this study shows they can behave like mammalian viruses and replicate in multiple mammalian models of flu,” said the study’s first author, Jeremy Jones, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Webster’s laboratory. “That is troubling because some of the original H2N2 pandemic viruses looked avian when the pandemic began in 1957, but in a few short months, all of the isolated viruses had picked up the genetic signatures of adaptation to humans. Our results suggest the same could happen if the H2N2 viruses again crossed from birds into humans.”
Work is underway at St. Jude to identify other changes that are critical to the ability of avian flu viruses to infect and replicate in mammalian cells, Jones said.
NOW, GRANDMA BELIEVED, WHETHER TRUE OR NOT; THAT “BIRDS AND BATS” GOT “BITTEN” BY MOSQUITOES, AND THE MOSQUITOES COULD/WOULD HELP SPREAD THE “SICKNESS AND DEATHS”…I DON’T KNOW, MAYBE SHE KNEW THAT “WHATEVER IT WAS” COULD BE SPREAD THAT WAY OR SHE SUSPECTED IT COULD BE SPREAD THAT WAY…BUT, ANYWAY…MY WIFE SAYS TEXAS HAS “JURASSIC SKEETERS” AND SHE SAYS THEY ARE BIGGER THAN WHAT SHE HAD EVER SEEN, UNTIL WE VISITED “UNCLE TIP”, WHEN ON OUR WAY FROM DALLAS TO TEXARKANA, (I ALWAYS STOPPED TO CHECK ON UNCLE TIP)…
OTHERS COULD HAVE STOLEN GRANDMA’S “MEDICAL JOURNAL”…IT JUST “POOF/DISAPPEARED”…AND I WENT TO THAT OLD HOUSE, OF GRANDMA’S A FEW TIMES, SEARCHING FOR WHERE IT COULD BE HIDDEN/MAYBE?? BUT, FOUND ONLY TRASH AND JUNK, LEFT BEHIND…EVEN THOUGHT TO DIG IN THE SPOT WHERE UNCLE EARLY WAS GOING TO PUT “HIS SWIMMING POOL” LOL…
SOOO, FROM MY “FUZZY/CRAZY/SKETCHY” MEMORIES, I DESIGNED AND “HID” what i had remembered in a “COMEDY SPOOF”, THAT I ORIGINALLY WROTE FANTASIZING ABOUT “MARLON WAYANS” BEING THE STAR CHARACTER…MANY TIMES WRITERS WILL “ENVISION” WHO WE WANT TO PLAY THE ROLES OF CERTAIN BRANDS AND/OR SERIES…Marlon WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT TO PLAY A “COMEDY SPOOF” SUPER HEROIC SERIES BASED UPON SUPER MAN, AND WITH A TWIST OF WHAT I USED FROM FUZZY MEMORIES, FROM MY REALLY YOUNG DAYS WITH GRANDMA BETTIE REECE, BLACK COMMUNITIES AND MOONSHINE AND ALCOHOL AND DRINKING AND MOSQUITOES…LOL
MARLON WAYANS, WAS ALREADY A FAVORITE STAR OF MINE, ALONG WITH THE OTHER WAYANS FAMILY AND MEMBERS OF “IN LIVING COLOR”; BUT HE (MARLON) REALLY, REALLY SURPRISED AND GREW ON ME, WHEN HE PLAYED IN: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. MY WIFE’S FAVORITE IS STILL; I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (LOL)
ANYWAY THAT IS MY FINAL ANSWER, AND I AM STICKING TO IT!!
I PULLED OUT THE BOOK OF OUR FAMILY REUNION, UP AT THE ADDISON HOTEL, A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO; THE LAST REUNION WHERE “UNCLE TIP” AND MOM “CUT THE RUG” A LITTLE COUPLE OF MINUTES…MMAANNN, MY LATE-GREAT UNCLE’S FAVORITE SAYING, WHEN I WALKED UP TO THE HOUSE/TRAILER WHERE HE WAS STAYING ON THE LAND THAT GRANDMA’S HOUSE USED TO BE ON, WAS “I’M STILL KICKING, BUT NOT QUITE AS HIGH!” THEN HE WOULD HUG ME AND WITH THAT BIG SMILE; GLAD TO SEE ME AS GLAD I WAS TO SEE HIM…REMINDED ME SOOOO MUCH OF DADDY..WELL, THEY WERE BROTHERS AFTER ALL, AND LOOKS ASIDE, DOWN TO THEIR “QUIET SOFT, MANNERISMS” AND HOW THEY WALKED AND CARRIED THEMSELVES..
WITH “DADDY” THE ALCOHOL WAS JUST NOT ONLY A “POISON TO HIS BODY AND LIVER” BUT TO HIS MIND AND SPIRIT. WHEN “DADDY” WAS NOT DRINKING OR DRUNK; THAT MAN COULD HAVE THE “SWEETEST/NICEST” MANNERISM AND THEN BE “HELLISH” WHEN HE WAS DRINKING, WHICH LED TO THE DISASTER THAT CAUSED HE AND MOM/MAMA/MOTHER, TO HAVE TO DIVORCE, AND ALMOST KILLED HER..SSOO (THAT IS A WHOLE ANOTHER CHAPTER OF MY LIFELONG “P.T.S.D./TRAUMA” AS A YOUNG CHILD TO HAVE TO HOLD HIS MOTHER’S/MOM’S/MAMA’S HEAD, IN MY ARMS, WITH HER SPITTING UP BLOOD UPON MY CLOTHES AND I REMEMBER, VERY GENTLY PLACING A PILLOW FROM THE COUCH UNDER HER HEAD, AND CRYING AND SCARED OUT OF MY MIND, THAT SHE WAS DYING IN MY ARMS…
BUT, GRANDMA BETTIE REECE, AND WHAT SHE KNEW, WHAT ALL SENIORS/ELDERS KNOW/KNEW AND SHARING OF DATA AND INFORMATION WITH THE FAMILY/FAMILIES; IS A “LOST ART/LEGEND/HERITAGE/HISTORIES/EDUCATIONAL LOVE THAT OUR PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT AND IS NO LONGER PASSED DOWN…
I DO NOT KNOW “IF” GRANDMA BETTIE’S LITTLE BAGS/PACKETS OF “STUFF” COULD EVER HAVE BEEN/BE ADAPTED TO WORK ON THESE NEW STRAINS AND VIRUSES?????? BUT, WE WILL NEVER KNOW!!
MEMORIES DO GET LOST! AND THERE ARE AGES OF “LOST” DATA AND DISCOVERIES, THAT FOR WHATEVER REASONS, WE MEN/WOMEN, KEEP BEING “DOOMED” TO REPEAT HISTORY AND MISTAKES..
WHO WOULD EVER HAVE “THUNK IT” THAT “GRANDMA, AND MELVIN “TAPPIN” PORTER, “DADDY” AND “MOM/MAMA/MOTHER” AND THE ELDERS WERE ALWAYS “ON-TO-SOME-THINGS” WHEN I 1ST SPRAINED MY ANKLE(S), PLAYING BASKETBALL..WHO WOULD HAVE EVER “THUNK IT”; THAT A “POULTICE” MADE BY SOAKING CORN MEAL OR CLAY DIRT IN VINEGAR INTO A WRAP WOULD HEAL MY ANKLES, OVER AND OVER AGAIN..I SPRAINED THEM A LOT… WHO WOULD HAVE EVER “THUNK IT” THAT THE 1ST TIME I GOT STUNG BY BEES, AT GRANDMA BETTIE’S HOUSE, SHE MADE ME PUT “RAW BACON” ON THE SPOTS AND IT FELT BETTER, ALMOST WITHIN MINUTES..VERY GREEZY..BUT IT WORKED… WHO WOULD HAVE EVER “THUNK IT” THAT WHEN I STOOD TOO CLOSE TO THE HEATER, AND CAUGHT MY SELF ON FIRE, BURNED MY LEG AND LOWER FOOT; MY SISTER PORTER PUT ASHES AND SOMETHING..CAN’T REMEMBER, ON IT AND IT WORKED…
YEAP, STUPID/DUMB KIDS..WE ALL WERE/ARE/CONTINUE TO BE, THAT THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME…”tiny/puny/pertty” HUMANS; WE NEVER LEARN!!! WE CALLED GRANDMA CRAZY AND “VOODO LADY” AND PEOPLE CALLED HER EVERYTHING, STUPID; BUT WHENEVER THEY NEED TO “BIRTH A CHILD” OR GET A “NATURAL REMEDY” FOR SOMETHING THEY CALLED HER TOO! AND WHATEVER SHE HAD IN THAT “MEDICAL JOURNAL”, IN TODAY’S TIMES COULD LEAD TO CURES, THAT WE WILL NEVER, EVER KNOW, UNTIL WE GET TO HEAVEN; AND CAN ASK HER; AND SHE WILL TELL US/ME IF I HAVE MEMORIES CORRECT??
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES THAT DO LINGER IN WHATEVER WAYS THEY DO!! LOOSING THEM, THESE DAYS!!!!
THANKS GRANDMA BETTIE REECE!!! WWOOWW WHAT A “SUPER HEROIC” “little” WOMAN. SHE WEIGHED WHAT 100 LBS, AT BEST???>LOL
