The latest count from the Center for Disease Control is 40 cases of swine flu inside the United States. Some good news - Laboratory testing has found the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. However, you must start the treatment within 2 days of symptoms.
The influenza virus is an RNA virus, meaning that it contains a single strand of ribonucleic acid. Recall that RNA differs from DNA because it contains ribose rather than deoxyribose. There are five types of flu, with A, B, and C, the most common. The flu vaccine explains that the influenza mutates rapidly and the seasonal influenza vaccine is actually a blend of three virus strands, selected in February by scientists predicting the prevalent strain for the upcoming winter. So that flu shot you had last season might help a little, but probably not much.
The CDC tells us that swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs that has crossed species and is now causing human infection. The usual symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, although some diarrhea and vomiting have been reported. With most flu viruses, healthy adults may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 5 days after becoming sick. Symptoms start one to four days after the virus enters the body.
How can you protect yourself? Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your nose, eyes, and mouth. If symptoms occur - see health professionals quickly because the antiviral drugs must be administered early. Some advice I posted in beginning of flu season:
Believe it or not, Eat your veggies to avoid the flu tells that eating vegetables when exercising to fatigue, reduces the chances of catching the flu. The study actually revealed two things with laboratory mice - First, strenuous exercise does increase the susceptibility to catching the flu. Second, quercetin has shown evidence of increasing anti-viral activity.
Quercetin is a flavonoid found in many vegetables. Apples, leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, and many berries have high concentrations of quercetin. Tea also contains the substance.
How to deal with swine flu: heeding the mistakes of 1976 reminds us that swine flu infected hundreds of soldiers in February 1976 at Fort Dix. A vaccine was quickly deployed, but it had a side effect of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralyzing nerve disease. Over 30 people died from the side effect. Of course, scientists were attempting to avoid the 1918 flu pandemic that killed anywhere from 20 to 100 million. (Gulp.) The pandemic first broke out at Fort Riley, Kansas, and had an astonishing 50% infection rate.
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