The swine flu outbreak has scared a lot of people these past few weeks. Many regularly watch television or tune in to the radio to get some updates regarding swine flu and learn how it started, when and where it first broke out, how this disease can infect us and what we can do to prevent it.

Lack of understanding has caused some to panic. Face masks are out of stock because we know that the swine flu virus can spread through the air. Some health agencies have also recommended vaccines as a means to avoid infection.

But do face masks really help? Do we need to be vaccinated against this disease?

When I first heard about the swine flu pandemic, I quickly did some research to find out how to prevent this disease. I found out that the flu vaccine is not affordable and not safe. I continued my research until I found Dr. Mercola’s article, “The Swine Flu Pandemic – Fact or Fiction?” I found it very helpful because it gave me some useful, natural and safe tips on how to avoid swine flu.

One of the most important things to do is to optimize your vitamin D levels. It is one of the best strategies to avoid disease. Dr. Mercola believes that vitamin d deficiency is the likely reason why we go down with the flu, not the flu virus itself.

The flu shot has been found to be ineffective and dangerous. During the swine flu outbreak in the 70s, many of those vaccinated suddenly suffered paralysis due to Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

There are many ways to safely boost your body’s natural defense against diseases. Avoiding sugar will help enhance our immune system because sugar decreases its ability to function. Avoid eating processed food because most have hidden sugar.

Rest well to strengthen your body’s ability to fight the flu and other diseases. Stress can also affect your immune system so it will be useful to find stress-relieving methods like EFT.

Exercise is always a big help and is good for your health. Good exercise helps circulate your immune system’s components and increases the chances of finding infections before it spreads to your body.

Taking animal-based omega-3 fats will help you maintain good health and avoid damage to your immune response caused by trans fat and processed foods.

Proper hand washing is the simplest way of preventing communicable diseases, including the flu. Using a chemical-free soap is advisable rather than an antibacterial soap.

Regular consumption of garlic can help because garlic works like an antibiotic and helps fight bacteria, viruses and protozoa in your body. However, this may probably not work for people who are allergic to garlic.

If it is not an emergency, better stay at home rather than go to the hospital. Hospitals might be the breeding ground of infections.

These are Dr. Mercola’s simple tips to avoid swine flu, the regular flu and other diseases. I hope these tips will help lessen your worries. It’s not that difficult to prevent illness; all you need is to be more aware and do the necessary research.

But that doesn’t mean state and local officials aren’t hard at work preparing for it.

Many experts predict that if a worldwide influenza were to hit the U.S., it would first be seen in California. The state is uniquely situated to be the first hit by the virus: It borders Mexico, has trans-Pacific trade at its ports and airports, and is on the Pacific flyway used by migrating birds.

Any or all of those factors could make California an entry point for the H5N1 flu strain.

San Bernardino County officials say they’re preparing now.

“We are planning for the potential and how it would impact everyone in the county,” said Natalie Kessee, county program coordinator for preparedness and response. “We’re planning what we as a department need to do.”

The H5N1 strain of influenza is just one of the possible scourges that could lead to a pandemic, officials said. But by preparing for it, the state will become better equipped to deal with any natural or man-made disaster.

Avian flu is, as yet, largely a disease of birds, both wild and domestic. Its spread to humans has been spotty, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that could be transmitted human-to-human.

Kessee said the county has received $175,338 from the state Department of Health Services and expects more to help prepare for a potential flu pandemic. Preparations have been under way for months.

Kessee said the county is working with private and public agencies to buy ventilators, respirators and sundries such as sanitizers, gloves and masks.

They’re also checking on how to best ensure that the county has supplies of a flu vaccine, such as Tamiflu, in the event of a pandemic. That’s difficult to plan for, Kessee said, because such medicines have a limited shelf life.

And if supplies of a viral prophylactic are limited, the county will look to the Centers for Disease Control and the state to determine who gets inoculated. Likely, first responders such as medical professionals would be the priority, Kessee said.

The county will hire four or five more people devoted to emergency response in a pandemic, Kessee said.

Scott Smith, a registered nurse in the emergency room at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and disaster coordinator for the hospital, said the county hospital holds regular drills to prepare for a pandemic disaster.

The hospital keeps caches of medications appropriate for a flu outbreak, Smith said. Also, there are plans to make room — in the hospital’s clinics, conference rooms or in other community facilities — to accommodate hundreds more patients.

“We’re hoping this never occurs,” Smith said. “But we’re doing drills much more frequently than in the past.”

Kessee said partnerships between public agencies and private businesses is a main focus of county efforts, and noted that it would be dangerous to rely on a large-scale national effort to protect county residents.

“The event would affect the county in multiple agencies,” she said. “It’s beyond something public health would handle alone.”

Dr. Mark Horton, state public health officer, said at a news conference Thursday that health experts worldwide are worried about avian flu. As many as one-third of the state’s population could become ill if the virus hit California, he said.

“An influenza pandemic knows no borders,” Horton said. “It would disrupt the health-care system, the economy — all facets of life.”

Officials from the governor’s office unveiled a plan to work with the 10 states along the U.S.-Mexico border –four in the U.S. and six in Mexico — to study the threat of a pandemic and make plans.

“The governor wants to strengthen our safety at customs, Border Patrol and so on,” said A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

“Smuggled birds could also pose a threat,” Kawamura said. “The international movement of people, goods and services has increased our vulnerability.”

The governor’s plan calls for stronger border security, improving public health monitoring, increased international cooperation in both surveillance and response to the virus, and outreach to poultry owners.

Sandra Shewry, director of California’s Department of Health Services, said in creating the binational council the state is improving an already-strong network of surveillance and response.

“The council will strengthen California’s already robust response,” Shewry said. “It will also strengthen our ability to react to natural or man-made disasters.”

To make sure you are fully prepared for the crisis check out : Bird Flu Preparations

http://www.google.com

Bird flu comes from South Asia and threatens to spread all over the world. Nowadays there is hardly a person who is not aware of expansion of the deadly disease, but still most of us do nothing in terms of protection, as we hope the virus won’t reach us. Even if the danger is overestimated, at least your conscience will be clear, as you’ve done the due diligence. It is not so difficult to take some preventive measures, because if the disaster occurs it will be too late.

What to Start With?

As the incubation period of this disease is equal to 3-5 days, you will have not much time to think over your auctions, and that is in case you KNOW you have been infected. So, it is necessary to think of possible ways of bird flu survival beforehand.

The vaccine against bird flu has not been developed yet, for it needs some time to study the virus mutation in human body. But there are some prototypes which contain substances that may defend you from the disease. So, first of all, it is necessary to find an opportunity to take vaccine.

The second step to increase your survival rate is to buy enough quantity of Tamiflu. That is an antiviral drug that fights H5N1 strain effectively. If you are infected, you will have to take a double dose, and for prophylaxis a single dose a day is enough. Therefore you should get enough quantity of Tamiflu, for, in case of pandemic, it will be impossible to find this medicine at any price.

Finally, it is obvious you should not travel to the countries where bird flu is raging.

What Should I Do to survive if it Reaches Me?

In order to foresee the approaching of the disease it is necessary to keep informed. As soon as you learn from mass media that bird flu is drawing near, you should supply yourself with food and water that will be necessary for the next 3-4 months. It is also recommended to leave the city for a country house, because in case of anarchy connected with the pandemic you will feel safer out of town.

Another thing you should do for bird flu survival is washing your hands thoroughly and wearing masks if contact with infected people is unavoidable. As any other influenza virus, bird flu gets the human organism through dirty hands contacting with mouth, eyes and nose.

If you have any children you should keep them indoors and prepare them for home schooling. In the event of any member of your family still has been infected, you need to prepare a quarantine room. It should be a remote room, supplied with all the necessary: water, food, medicine and entertainment.

You should always remember that we may wish for the best, but we must be prepared for the worst. Nowadays lots of books, newspaper and magazine articles devoted to bird flu survival are available. Besides that, you can look for the information on bird flu survival on the Internet.

http://www.google.com

Tamiflu, whose common scientific name is oseltamivir, is part of a family of flu fighting medicines called neuraminidase inhibitors. Tamilflu is used in the treatment of infections caused by both the influenza A and influenza B viruses. Tamiflu, which requires a prescription, can be used both to treat the flu if taken soon after symptoms appear, or to prevent the flu.

The difference between Tamiflu and a vaccine is that Tamiflu helps your immune system be in a position to fight off the advance of the viral infection, whereas a vaccine is just a straight injection of dead influenza that causes your immune system to produce antibodies to fight off the virus itself.

Tamiflu demand has skyrocketed over the past year for several reasons. There was a shortage of available flu vaccine during flu season 2005, with in some cases only enough for senior citizens or those with more vulnerable immune conditions being able to get vaccinated.

Also, the U.S. government was concerned that an outbreak of bird flu in the United States could leave the U.S. short on flu vaccines, causing them to hold back supplies just in case of an outbreak. However, the bird flu is different form human influenza.

Bird Flu is much harder to transmit than human influenza, requiring very close physical contact to spread the disease. Bird flu has been observed in countries where humans and animals are in close contact. There have been roughly 70 deaths worldwide and approximately 130 infections since 2005.

It is possible that bird flu will infect someone who is already carrying the human influenza strain, and that the two viruses will swap genetic material, causing the bird flu to spread like a deadlier version of human influenza. A highly virulent straight of bird flu could create a pandemic for the world, as did the Spanish Flu virus of the early 1900’s that killed 20 to 50 million people worldwide.

The bird flu is associated with the influenza A strain H5N1 flu virus. Although not the same as the Spanish flu virus, the current avian flu strain does share many similarities with the Spanish flu strain. Initial studies have shown that Tamiflu may be effective in helping to fight the effects of this flu virus if the medication is taken very early after flu symptoms appear. As a result, the demand for Tamiflu has skyrocketed.

A Swiss drug maker, F. Hoffman La-Roche Ltd., currently has a tight hold on the manufacturing of Tamiflu. Biolyse Pharma Corp., when turned down in its bid to try to enter the Tamiflu marketplace, had decided as of December of 2005 to attempt to mass produce several tons of shikimic acid, which is the main ingredient in Tamiflu, from the needles of discarded Christmas trees, as well as other pine, fir, and spruce trees. Such trees are the main source of shikimic acid.

Oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, is one of several medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment and prevention of influenza. Flu shots are still the best way to prevent someone from developing the flu, but as of right now there is no known vaccine for the bird flu. The CDC has announced that development of a vaccine has begun.

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Not long ago, I read an article about alternative health where someone with a serious disease was counseled to look upon it as a “blessing.”

Your first reaction is probably the same as mine was — what a stupid idea! How can cancer or heart disease be a blessing?

First off, let me say that I do believe that humanity’s greatest strength is the ability to persevere in the face of problems and to turn negatives into positives — lemons into lemonade.

So if you believe, as alternative health advocates do, that you do have some control over your health — then any disease indicates that you need to make some kind of change in your life.

That may be a change in diet, reducing stress, etc. — but if you can learn the lesson before the “teacher” disease kills you, you’ll be healthier for having had the problem.

As I write, 105 people have died from bird flu from Indonesia to Turkey — to alert humanity to the danger it’s facing. We cannot raise them from the dead, but we can attempt to give meaning to their death by learning how to prevent more, and thereby making bird flu a blessing for survivors and our children.

The first step was taken about 5 months ago by President George W. Bush. As part of his request to Congress for 7 billion dollars to fight bird flu, he wants to advance the technology of making vaccines so that they can be created and manufactured more quickly.

A company in Isreal had already started working on a “generic” flu vaccine. That is, it would train your immune system to target the universal genetic structure of all influenza viruses. They originally planned to do in 5 years. Now they’re trying to finish before bird flu goes pandemic.

Those of us who live in the developed world must stop being so complacent.

Because long after bird flu is a boring chapter in history, we will be threatened by new diseases.

Most Americans have heard of Ebola, but are not aware of the many other emerging diseases we have discovered in the past 20 to 30 years. It’s a long and scary list.

And although they all seem remote from us, they’re all just one international jet flight away. They’re no more remote than West Nile fever was before it started killing birds and people in Brooklyn in 1999.

We need to take care of our immune systems.

We need to better track viral infections in people. The developed world needs to make its expertise and resources available, and the developing world needs to make public healthcare and a medical infrastructure a higher priority.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control has done a terrific job at this for many years. It needs to expand its operations, the UN World Health Organization needs to expand and national health systems around the world need to do a better job of tracking and controlling disease threats.

We need to do a much better job of incorporating alternative health methods into standard medical care.

We need to stop counting on Tamiflu and start expanding the use of Vitamin C (especially injected ascorbate for serious illnesses), curcumin, garlic, beta glucans and other supplements from mushrooms . . . for starters.

For poor countries it makes economic sense to make use of regional herbs and supplements over expensive drugs such as Tamiflu.

Also, a massive demand for effective herbs and substances should spur farmers in the developing world to raise those herbs in a sustainable fashion.

This would encourage good use of land and also bring cash income to the poor farmers, everybody else involved in the processing and shipping of the supplements and their communities.

The human race has survived and prospered by learning from its mistakes. A lot of people are going to die for the lessons we learn from the bird flu pandemic — let’s learn and apply as many of those lessons as possible.

We owe that to the dead and to our children.

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