Don't forget to check out the link on remedies for the flu... https://earthchanges.ning.com/profiles/blogs/flu-remedies
Also, start increasing your Vitamin D3 to boost your immune system so you just don't catch the flu in the first place.You need to be a member of Earthchangers College to add comments!
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Don't forget to check out the link on remedies for the flu... https://earthchanges.ning.com/profiles/blogs/flu-remedies
Also, start increasing your Vitamin D3 to boost your immune system so you just don't catch the flu in the first place.
Blavatsky said:
Chinese herb mix may shorten flu fever
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/15/us-chinese-herb-flu-idUST...By Amy Norton
NEW YORK | Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:18pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In mild cases of H1N1 influenza, a traditional Chinese herb mixture may relieve a fever about as well as the antiviral drug Tamiflu, researchers reported Monday.
The herb product, called maxingshigan-yinqiaosan, is not widely available on store shelves in western countries.
But in a study of 410 Chinese adults with H1N1 flu (also known as swine flu), those who took the herb mixture typically saw their fevers resolve after 16 hours, versus 26 hours in patients in a "control group" whose only flu treatment was acetaminophen (Tylenol) if their fever passed 102 degrees F.
Patients in a third group received the prescription antiviral drug Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir. With Tamiflu, fevers typically resolved after 20 hours, or six hours sooner than in the control group.
A fourth study group received both the herb mix and Tamiflu, with their fevers generally disappearing in 15 hours, according to findings published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Exactly what the results mean for flu sufferers around the world is not clear.
The study included only young and middle-aged adults who, other than having a fairly mild case of the flu, were healthy. Tamiflu and another antiviral drug, Relenza (zanamivir), are usually reserved for people with severe cases, or those at high risk of flu complications like pneumonia.
The elderly and people with certain chronic health conditions, like heart or lung disease, are among those at high risk.
It was necessary to first study the effects of maxingshigan-yinqiaosan in low-risk people with milder cases of the flu, said Dr. Lixing Lao, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore who was not involved in the research.
But that's also a limitation of the study, he noted.
"In people with severe illness, this herb may not work. We don't know yet," said Lao, who also directs the traditional Chinese medicine research program at the university's Center for Integrative Medicine.
And for healthy people with mild cases of the flu, there's the question of availability.
The herbs used in the study, which were heated and made into a beverage, have a long history of use in China for colds and flu.
They are also widely available in certain other countries, like Japan, Korea and Germany, according to Drs. Cheng Wang and Bin Cao of the Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine, who led the study.
It's possible, the researchers say, that maxingshigan-yinqiaosan could offer a flu-fighting alternative in certain places where Tamiflu is scarce -- like rural China.
But one of the key ingredients is ephedra, or ma huang, which is banned from use in dietary supplements in the U.S. and Canada. Those bans came after ephedra in weight-loss and body-building supplements was linked to heart attacks, strokes and deaths in some users.
That ban did not apply to ephedra's use in Chinese medicine, where small doses are mixed with other traditional herbs -- in contrast to the single, higher doses used in the banned supplements.
However, Americans cannot go to their local store and pull maxingshigan-yinqiaosan off the shelf. They would need to go to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, Lao said.
Properly using the right mix of herbs, he said, "requires some knowledge."
Lao said he was happy to see that a prestigious medical journal published a study on a traditional Chinese remedy as it is actually practiced -- combining small doses of different herbs.
"If you only look at one herb, it may not work," Lao told Reuters Health.
He also pointed out that the small herb doses used in practice limit the risk of side effects.
In this study, two of the 103 patients who used maxingshigan-yinqiaosan alone developed nausea and vomiting. There were no side effects reported in the other three study groups.
The H1N1 swine flu broke out in 2009 and quickly spread around the world, killing more than 18,000 people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO declared the H1N1 flu pandemic over in August of last year, but H1N1 has now taken over as the main seasonal flu strain in circulation around the world.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends Tamiflu and Relenza for treating the flu in people who are very sick or at high risk of complications.
But in general, the agency says, flu sufferers who are otherwise healthy do not need the drugs. They can recover by getting plenty of rest and fluids, and using over-the-counter remedies like acetaminophen for fever.
According to Lao, the current findings are a "good first step" in showing through a controlled clinical trial that traditional Chinese herbs may also battle flu symptoms.
The CDC stresses, however, that the best defense against the flu is the flu vaccine. Experts recommend that everyone older than six months receive a yearly flu shot, which now includes a vaccine against H1N1.
SOURCE: bit.ly/lKiQRq Annals of Internal Medicine, August 16, 2011.
The document below from MI Flu Focus suggest that H1NI 2009 A and B is occuring worldwide, although incidents are low at the moment. As soon as the cold weather kicks in thus status might change
In Australia, increased influenza activity due to both A(H1N1)2009 and influenza B virus was reported.
The predominant virus in New Zealand was influenza B with lower levels of influenza A(H3N2) and
A(H1N1)2009 co-circulating. In southern Asia, regional outbreaks of A(H1N1)2009 occurred in Cambodia.
In South America, the predominant circulating virus in Chile was A(H1N1)2009 with co-circulation of
A(H3N2). Some other countries in central and South America also reported detection of influenza viruses.
In Africa, sporadic detections of influenza A(H1N1)2009, A(H3N2) and B were reported from some
countries. In general, influenza virus activity was low.
CDC: New H1N1 Strain H3N2 Infected Two Children In Recent Months
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/233823.php
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made a startling announcement this week. Two children previously vaccinated for the H1N1 influenza virus have contracted a new strain named H3N2 in what is being called a virus "reassortment." The good news is both have been treated successfully, but what's next?
The viruses are similar but not identical to each other, but they are different from eight other H3N2 infections identified in people over the past two years because they both contain the so-called matrix gene from the pandemic H1N1 influenza strain.
The new identified variant contains genes of the H3N2 swine influenza that has been circulating in North American pigs since 1998 as well as the gene from the pandemic virus H1N1, making it a kind of hybrid.
The infected boy had no direct contact with pigs, but his symptoms which included fever, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, and sore throat, began two days after he was cared for by someone who'd had direct contact with asymptomatic animals in the preceding weeks.
The girl, on the other hand, had been to an agricultural fair where she had direct exposure to swine. Four days later, she was taken to the hospital with fever, nonproductive cough, and lethargy.
The CDC report states:
The viruses in these two patients are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, but are susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitor drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. Because these viruses carry a unique combination of genes, no information currently is available regarding the capacity of this virus to transmit efficiently in swine, humans, or between swine and humans.
To detect human infections with animal influenza viruses more effectively, CDC and state and local health departments have strengthened laboratory and epidemiologic procedures to promptly detect sporadic cases such as these.
The CDC concludes:
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