Question explored with the scientific record
Conversation so far
- 1 If a large body like a human being can be affected by his little radiation as an x-ray what happens to small bacteria and viruses and other pathogens in the human body when they get hit by radiation then you take and activate please elaborate because play to the boils and radiation sickness has similarities
- 2 If a large body like a human being can be affected by his little radiation as an x-ray what happens to small bacteria and viruses and other pathogens in the human body when they get hit by radiation then you take and activate please elaborate because play to the boils and radiation sickness has similarities. Let's build on the radiation connection there's a coincidence here we had high levels of radiation in the 1970s when we had a problem and we had a lot of chemicals in the air with the Spanish flu in the early 1900s there was the Hong Kong flu there was all that nuclear testing there's a coincidental tie here that's beyond coincidence with the object of influenza encephalitis the electromagnetic fields the radio waves and radiation from outside of our atmosphere 2017 this planet I hit by a gamma ray burst and there was excessive radiation in the planet from Japan and Chernobyl
Answered on this page ↓
If a large body like a human being can be affected by his little radiation as an x-ray what happens to small bacteria and viruses and other pathogens in the human body when they get hit by radiation then you take and activate please elaborate because play to the boils and radiation sickness has similarities. Let's build on the radiation connection there's a coincidence here we had high levels of radiation in the 1970s when we had a problem and we had a lot of chemicals in the air with the Spanish flu in the early 1900s there was the Hong Kong flu there was all that nuclear testing there's a coincidental tie here that's beyond coincidence with the object of influenza encephalitis the electromagnetic fields the radio waves and radiation from outside of our atmosphere 2017 this planet I hit by a gamma ray burst and there was excessive radiation in the planet from Japan and Chernobyl
The short version: the radiation-flu coincidence is real as a pattern of timing, but the evidence here does not connect the two, and the mechanism you are reaching for does not work the way the coincidence suggests.
The 1970s radiation, the 1918 flu, the 1957 and 1968 flu pandemics, atmospheric nuclear testing, Chernobyl, Fukushima, and a 2017 gamma-ray burst are all real events. But a shared calendar is not a mechanism. To make the link you need a dose, a route, and a measured effect on the virus or the immune system. None of that is in the records in front of me, and the closest studies point the other way.
Ultraviolet light does inactivate viruses and bacteria on surfaces and in air, and the effect depends heavily on dose and on shielding [1][2]. A vaccinia virus study found only about 4 in 100 survived upper-room UV under one set of conditions, while Bacillus spores survived at about 89 in 100 under another [2]. That is germicidal UV aimed at a surface, not background radiation reaching a virus inside a human airway. The India study found that higher UV index tracked with lower COVID deaths and cases across four cities, but the authors themselves flag that this is a four-city correlation with many confounders, and that direct UV on humans is itself harmful [3][4]. That is the opposite direction from "radiation makes flu worse."
Low-dose ionizing radiation does change immune signaling, but the effect is strain-specific and non-linear. In mice, low-dose radiation raised T-cell proliferation in one strain and lowered it in another, and shifted the delayed-type hypersensitivity response in opposite directions depending on strain [5]. In human endothelial cells, inflammatory mediators like IL-8 and PDGF-BB were not detected at low doses and only rose sharply at 2 Gy, far above any environmental exposure [6]. That is not a clean "radiation suppresses immunity, therefore flu" story. It is a messy, dose-and-context-dependent one.
| Exposure | What the records show | Relevance to flu |
|---|---|---|
| Germicidal UV on surfaces | Kills most virus at high dose [2] | Not the same as environmental radiation |
| Higher UV index, India 2020 | Lower COVID deaths and cases, confounded [3][4] | Opposite direction |
| Low-dose radiation, mice | Immune response up or down by strain [5] | Not a uniform suppression |
| 2 Gy on endothelial cells | Inflammatory mediators spike [6] | Dose far above background |
The honest answer is that the timing coincidence is not evidence of causation, and the mechanism you are proposing (environmental radiation weakening people so flu and encephalitis spike) is not supported by anything in these records. What would settle it: a study linking measured environmental radiation dose to influenza or encephalitis rates in the same population over the same years, controlling for season, travel, and vaccination. That study is not here.
My call: the radiation-flu coincidence is a coincidence until someone measures the dose and the outcome together, and the closest evidence points the other way. Confidence: moderate that the link as stated is not supported; low on what the true relationship, if any, looks like.
Sources used 6
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UV Dose-Response Behavior of Air-Exposed Microorganisms
This study develops and validates an experimental method to measure UV dose–response behavior of air-exposed Bacillus subtilis spores and MS2 coliphage at 254 and 282 nm, examines the effect of relative humidity on this response, and fits the data with the Phenotypic Persistence…
DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0000535 -
Fundamental Factors Affecting Upper-Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation—Part II. Predicting Effectiveness
This study investigates the effectiveness of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) in inactivating airborne infectious microorganisms, proposing an index of UVGI effectiveness that correlates well with experimental measurements.
DOI: 10.1080/15459620701298167 -
Is ultraviolet Radiation a Confounding Variable for COVID-19 in India?
During India's 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, daily peak ultraviolet index rose in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Pune relative to 2017-2019, and city-level percentage increases in UVI were negatively correlated with COVID-19 mortality (-56%) and morbidity (-86%).
DOI: 10.59143/isas.jisas.1.1.zaun5374 -
Is ultraviolet Radiation a Confounding Variable for COVID-19 in India?
The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown was associated with higher daily peak UVI in four Indian megacities (cumulative increases 27%, 22%, 20%, 18%), and the UVI increase was negatively correlated with COVID-19 mortality (-56%) and morbidity (-86%).
DOI: 10.59143/isas.jisas.1.1.mcnb8670 -
Modification of immune response by low dose ionizing radiation: role of apoptosis
This study investigates the effects of low dose ionizing radiation on immune responses in different strains of mice, revealing strain-specific variations in T cell proliferation and apoptosis linked to the expression of the p53 protein.
DOI: 10.1016/s0165-2478(99)00074-7 -
Immunomodulatory properties of low-dose ionizing radiation on human endothelial cells
This study investigates the immunomodulatory effects of low-dose ionizing radiation on human endothelial cells, revealing non-linear dose-dependent changes in the secretion of inflammatory mediators such as IL-8, G-CSF, and PDGF-BB.
DOI: 10.1080/09553002.2018.1486515