The Swine flu

What is “Swine Flu” or H1N1?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the Swine flu (official name is H1N1) is a new version of the influenza virus. The Swine flu was first detected in the US in April 2009. The reason this strand of influenza virus is called the “Swine Flu” is because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to the influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs (swine).

How can Swine Flu be transmitted and who can it affect?

Swine flu can be transmitted from person to person just like the regular flu does by coughing or sneezing. It can also be transmitted by touching an object that the virus is on and then touching your nose or mouth.
One thing that is different between the Swine Flu and the seasonal flu is that the Swine Flu does not affect adults older than the age of 64 as much as it does affect children and adults younger than the age of 60. The reason for this is that it has been found that people under the age of 60 do not have the existing antibodies in them which would naturally protect them from the virus.

What are the symptoms of the Swine Flu?

Symptoms of swine flu are like regular flu symptoms and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. In severe cases the swine flu can progress and symptoms vary depending on the age group. The following is a breakdown on how the symptoms vary in children and adults.

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough


Prevention:
Here are some recommendations on how to prevent you from getting sick:
• Practice good hygiene (cover your mouth while coughing/sneezing,wash your hands with warm water and soup prior to eating)
• Avoid close contact with sick individuals
• Drink plenty of water
• Get adequate sleep (7-8 hours/night)
• Avoid alcohol use
• Avoid tobacco use
• Avoid excessive intake of sugars
• Exercise 3-5 days per week
• Get adjusted regularly???

o So you might ask “how can getting adjusted regularly prevent me from getting sick?”

 According to a study performed by Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York's Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University, the chiropractic patients were found to have a 200% greater immune competence than those people who had not received chiropractic care, and they had 400% greater immune competence than those people with cancer and other serious diseases.

Is there a natural cure for Swine Flu?

Although there are no natural cures for Swine Flu you can take remedies, vitamins, and minerals to help with fighting the virus and its symptoms.
• Treatment for Swine Flu Chest Congestion: Eucalyptus, tea tree and lemongrass oils rubbed on the chest for congestion
• Remedy for Swine Flu & Cold Symptoms:
Vitamin C with bioflavanoids (1000-3000mg/daily); Echinacea tincture daily, Zinc (50-100mg/daily)
• Some say that the flu "begins in the gut and ends in the gut". This means that if you have good digestion, you will increase your resistance to this and other flu strains. Take a probiotic daily. Probiotics have been shown to be an effective natural treatment for swine flu.
• If you do feel the flu symptoms coming on, get adjusted to boost your immune system.
• Here at CSI we have had great success with treating the seasonal flu’s with our detox footbath combined with cold laser therapy.

Should I get vaccinated?

So here are some of the questions you might be asking yourself at this time.
Should I get vaccinated? Will the vaccine protect me? Is there a side effect to the vaccine?

Before I answer those questions let’s take a look at a few interesting facts.

According to the CDC “Most people who have become ill with this new virus have recovered without requiring medical treatment”. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm

They go on to state that “Each year, in the United States, on average 36,000 people die from flu-related (seasonal flu) complications and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related causes”.

Now back to answering the questions about vaccination.

• One thing to keep in mind is that viruses are great at mutating and changing into a different strain, so it is difficult to come up with a vaccine that effectively will prevent you from getting sick. And if you do decide to get the vaccine you are not 100% guaranteed to be safe from the virus.
• Once you do take the vaccine there might be side effects. The last ‘Swine Flu outbreak’ in the U.S. was in 1976 and according to the statistics from that outbreak:
o More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu
o 500 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) were detected.
 GBS is auto immune disorder, affecting the peripheral nerves and causing paralysis, inability to breathe, and even death.
• http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/gbs_qa.htm
o The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times.
o The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear.
o The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected
Having said all this, I am not trying to down play the seriousness of the flu but before you go out there and inoculate yourself with a vaccine, educate yourself and learn the truth.

Dr. Amir Mahmud