Viral infections that should not be treated with antibiotics include:
Colds
Flu (Influenza)
Most coughs and bronchitis
Sore throats (except for those resulting from strep throat)
Some ear infections
Bacterial cell is immortal. It never dies unless sterilized. Divides for new offspring’s. Even in harsh conditions it tries to survive as spore form (dormant).
These differences are the key for treatment of bacterial diseases by use of antibiotics. Without such differences it would be difficult to target and kill bacterial cells once they get into human body.
Excerpt from Solucija.com
http://www.solucija.com/external/471005
http://www.studyread.com/what-is-sterilization-methods
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Bacteria are the plural of bacterium, which are microscopic one-celled organisms. They are found everywhere and can be harmful, as in infections; or they can be beneficial, as in fermentation or decomposition. Five types of bacteria are: Coccus, Bacillus, Spirillum, Rickettsia, and Mycoplasma.
Excerpt from Your Dictionary.com
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-bacteria.html
Even though we try to stay away from pathogens, many other bacteria and viruses are helpful. Bacteria that live in the oceans and soil are important to cycle nutrients in the environment. Other bacteria turn milk into yogurt or cheese for us to eat.
There are even some helpful viruses and bacteria that live inside you, called mutualists. Some viruses and bacteria inside you actually help guard your body against more dangerous infections, and other viruses can help plants survive cold or droughts better. Bacteria in your guts help you digest your food and make vitamins you can’t make yourself.
If we were able to see viruses with our eyes we would see that they are all around us. Luckily, your immune system can remove most viruses that make you sick. In some cases, doctors give us medicines that can slow down difficult viruses to help your immune system fight them.
Catching viruses:
There are many ways viruses can get into the body. Insects, like mosquitoes, can spread some viruses between people they bite. More often, the viruses that cause colds come from infected people through a sneeze or cough. Once out, they can get in your body when you inhale them from the air or touch a surface they are stuck to.
Excerpt from ASU.edu
Read this one.
http://askabiologist.asu.edu/virus
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http://www.infobarrel.com/What_You_Need_to_Know_About_Viruses
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Viruses are the smallest of all the microbes. They are said to be so small that 500 million rhinoviruses (which cause the common cold) could fit on to the head of a pin. They are unique because they are only alive and able to multiply inside the cells of other living things. The cell they multiply in is called the host cell.
A virus is made up of a core of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a protective coat called a capsid which is made up of protein. Sometimes the capsid is surrounded by an additional spikey coat called the envelope. Viruses are capable of latching onto host cells and getting inside them.
Excerpt from microbiologyonline.org.uk
http://www.microbiologyonline.org.uk/about-microbiology/introducing-microbes/viruses
http://www.microbiologyonline.org.uk/about-microbiology/introducing-microbes/overview
Size Comparison Illustration.
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What a Common Cold Is:
A common cold is an illness caused by a virus infection located in the nose. Colds also involve the sinuses, ears, and bronchial tubes.
The symptoms of a common cold include sneezing, runny nose, nasal obstruction, sore or scratchy throat, cough, hoarseness, and mild general symptoms like headache, feverishness, chilliness, and not feeling well in general.
Colds last on average for one week. Mild colds may last only 2 or 3 days while severe colds may last for up to 2 weeks.
A cold is a milder illness than influenza. Influenza typically causes fever, muscle aches, and a more severe cough. However, mild cases of influenza are similar to colds.
Adults average 2 to 3 colds per year and children 6 to 10, depending on their age and exposure. Children's noses are the major source of cold viruses.
There are over 100 different cold viruses. Rhinoviruses are the most important and cause at least one-half of colds.
Cold viruses can only multiply when they are inside of living cells. When on an environmental surface, cold viruses cannot multiply. However, they are still infectious if they are transported from an environmental site into the nose.
Cold viruses live only in the noses of humans and not in animals except chimpanzees and other higher primates.
How Cold Virus Infection Occurs:
A cold virus is deposited into the front of the nasal passages by contaminated fingers or by droplets from coughs and sneezes. Small doses of virus (1-30 particles) are sufficient to produce infection.
The virus is then transported to the back of the nose and onto the adenoid area by the nose itself!
The virus then attaches to a receptor (ICAM-1) which is located on the surface of nasal cells. The receptor fits into a docking port on the surface of the virus. Large amounts of virus receptors are present on cells of the adenoid.
After attachment to the receptor, the virus is taken into the cell where it starts an infection. New virus particles are produced in the infected cell. The infected cell eventually dies and ruptures, releasing newly made cold virus to infect other cells in the nose and start the process over again. The virus is much smaller than the cell.
Small doses of virus (1-30 virus particles) when introduced into the nose are sufficient to reliably produce infection.
From the time a cold virus enters the nose, it takes 8-12 hours for the viral reproductive cycle to be completed and for new cold virus to be released in nasal secretions. This interval is called the incubation period.
Cold symptoms can also begin shortly after the virus is first produced in the nose (10-12 hours). The time from the beginning of the infection to the peak of symptoms is typically 36-72 hours.
Excerpt from commoncold.org
http://www.commoncold.org/understand.htm
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Virus:
A virus is a parasite that must infect a living cell to reproduce. Although viruses share several features with living organisms, such as the presence of genetic material (DNA or RNA), they are not considered to be alive. Unlike cells, which contain all the structures needed for growth and reproduction, viruses are composed of only an outer coat (capsid), the genome, and, in some cases, a few enzymes. Together these make up the virion , or virus particle. Many illnesses in humans, including AIDS, influenza, Ebola fever, the common cold, and certain cancers, are caused by viruses. Viruses also exist that infect animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi.
Physical Description and Classification:
Viruses are distinguished from free-living microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, by their small size and relatively simple structures. Diminutive viruses such as parvovirus may have a diameter of only 25 nanometers (nm, 10-9 meters). Poxviruses, the largest known viruses, are about 300 nanometers across, just at the detection limits of the light microscope. Typical bacteria have diameters of 1,000 nanometers or more. Information on the structure of viruses has been obtained with several techniques, including electron microscopy (EM).
[[This is important to know in regards to True HEPA filters that catch particles down to the size of .2 microns -- which is 200 nanometers. Poxviruses and Bacteria are caught by True HEPA filters -- but Parvoviruses are not, unless they are attached to something bigger or clustered together.]]
There is great diversity among viruses, but a limited number of basic designs. Capsids are structures that contain the viral genomes; many have icosahedral symmetry. An icosahedron is a three-dimensional, closed shape composed of twenty equilateral triangles. Viral proteins, in complexes termed "capsomers," form the surface of the icosahedron.
Excerpt from encyclopedia.com
http://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/microbes-algae-and-fungi/moneran-and-protistan/virus
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Influenza, also known as the "flu", is a respiratory infection caused by viruses. The flu differs in several ways from the common cold. Symptoms of the flu include body chills, fever, headache, muscle ache and sore throat. Unlike many other viral respiratory infections, the flu can cause severe illness and life-threatening complications in many people. The flu is contracted in the same airborne manner as the common cold. For both cold and flu, the viruses are easily transmitted in highly populated areas.
The gastrointestinal system is also commonly affected by viruses with symptoms such as diarrhea and/or vomiting. Stomach viruses can be spread through contaminated food or water and can cause viral gastroenteritis, meaning inflammation of the stomach and intestines (small and large). Improper hand washing following a bowel movement or handling a diaper can spread the disease from person to person. Symptoms of gastroenteritis can include nausea with or without vomiting, diarrhea, low-grade fever and abdominal pain. Many people call gastroenteritis the "stomach flu", although this virus is not a strain of Influenza at all.
The skin can also be infected by a viral infection such as the common wart or chicken pox. Chickenpox is an infectious disease; with most cases occurring in children under age 15, but older children and adults can also get it. It spreads very easily by human contact. Symptoms include itchy rash, fever and headache. The rash is blister-like and usually appears on the face, scalp or torso. The disease is usually mild and lasts 5 to 10 days, although adults and older children tend to get sicker from it. Chickenpox is a virus that stays in the body forever and in most cases a person who has had the virus will likely never contract it again.
Excerpt from nativeremedies.com
http://www.nativeremedies.com/ailment/types-of-viral-infections.html
Allergens can be anywhere, indoors, outdoors, at work, at home, in our food, and in our air, and are typically grouped into the eight major categories described below.
Excerpt from whatisallergy.com
http://whatisallergy.com/medical/allergens/
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Allergies are caused by your immune system's altered or exaggerated reaction to otherwise harmless substances commonly present in the environment – allergens. Allergens may be airborne particles, ingestibles or contact allergens causing respiratory, food or contact allergies, respectively. Sometimes allergic reactions can be triggered by allergens introduced by an insect sting/bite or by an exposure of a sensitized individual to a certain medication. Allergy symptoms may range from just making you miserable to putting you at risk for life-threatening reactions. They may be acute, transient or constitute chronic, life-long conditions. Allergic reactions can affect essentially any organ or system in your body, most commonly nose, throat, eyes, lungs, skin, stomach or intestines. However, rarely, allergic reaction can be generalized (affecting the whole body) and result in a rapid multi-organ failure and death. Whenever you are exposed to something you are allergic to, your immune system will trigger an allergic response again even though the severity of the reaction may vary. Thus, it is very important to learn what you are allergic to and take measures to effectively avoid such allergens and treat possible reactions.
Excerpt from allergyandasthmaclinicalcenters.com
http://www.allergyandasthmaclinicalcenters.com/allergy_asthma_information.html
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An allergy is a specific immunologic reaction to a normally harmless substance, one that does not bother most people. People who have allergies often are sensitive to more than one substance. Types of allergens that cause allergic reactions include pollens, dust particles, mold spores, food, latex rubber, insect venom, or medicines.
Why are some people allergic to these substances while others are not?
Scientists think that people inherit a tendency to be allergic, meaning an increased likelihood of being allergic to one or more allergens, although they probably do not have an inherited tendency to be allergic to any specific allergens. Children are much more likely to develop allergies if their parents have allergies, even if only one parent is allergic. Exposure to allergens at certain times when the body's defenses are lowered or weakened, such as after a viral infection or during pregnancy, seems to contribute to the development of allergies.
Excerpt from healthieryou.com
http://www.healthieryou.com/air.html
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What Are Top 10 Worst States for Allergies?
Some regions of the United States have more allergens than others. According to Asthmacapitals.com, more than 20 million American children and adults live with asthma, of which common allergens can trigger attacks. Asthmacapitals.com uses resources to conduct research on the top 10 cities in the country for asthma allergens to help municipalities improve air quality for their residents.
Kentucky
The Carolinas
Tennessee
Michigan
Wisconsin
Georgia
Virginia
Arkansas
Missouri
Excerpt from livestrong.com
http://www.livestrong.com/article/178239-what-are-top-10-worst-states-for-allergies/
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Allergies are a problem for at least 2 out of every 10 people and are an abnormal immune system response to something that is harmless to most people (the allergen). Identifying the allergen is important, as the immune system’s response may worsen with each exposure. That shrimp or bee sting that caused itching or mild swelling the first time can become an immediate throat-swelling, life-threatening emergency with further exposures. Dealing with allergies is a two-prong approach: avoidance and treatment. There are many home remedies for allergies that will safely alleviate the symptoms. Avoidance is particularly important with food allergies or insect stings, as anaphylaxis is a whole-body allergic reaction requiring immediate emergency room treatment.
During an allergic reaction, the body attempts to bind the allergen with a specific antibody, IgE. The antibodies join with mast cells (a type of blood cell). The allergen (pollen, etc.) links to the antibody, causing the mast cell to release histamine into the blood stream; this causes the reaction – sneezing, itching, etc.
Excerpt from earthclinic.com
http://www.earthclinic.com/cures/allergies.html
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The reaction between allergen and IgE antibodies causes the release of substances such as histamine, which produce allergic symptoms in the skin, the nose, the eyes, the chest, etc.
Excerpt from hpathy.com
http://hpathy.com/cause-symptoms-treatment/homeopathic-treatment-of-allergy/
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As the golden days of summer begin to fade, thoughts often turn to the last sun-ripened tomatoes and bringing in the harvest. But if you or someone you know are among the more than 26 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies (or the estimated 50 million who suffer from all types of allergies), you may be focused more on pollen counts, the first freeze, and stocking up on tissues and allergy meds than on harvesting tomatoes.
Members of the sniffling, sneezing and itching allergy demographic typically rely on numerous drugs and sprays for relief — often with mixed results. Many pharmaceutical treatments relieve sneezing and itching, but do little to treat congestion, and vice versa. In fact, at a recent meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Dr. William E. Berger reported that nearly a third of allergy patients think their medications don’t work. Plus, pharmaceutical remedies are often expensive and frequently come with unwanted side effects, such as drowsiness and nasal irritation. The sedative effects of these drugs can impair driving ability and cause a mental disconnect that many users find irritating.
Excerpt from motherearthnews.com
http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/natural-allergy-remedies-zmaz06aszraw
[['Infectious' means you can give the flu bugs to someone else.]]
Influenza illness can include any or all of these symptoms: fever, muscle aches, headache, lack of energy, dry cough, sore throat, and possibly a runny nose. The fever and body aches can last 3-5 days and the cough and lack of energy may last for two or more weeks.
Influenza Type A viruses can infect people, as well as birds, pigs, horses, and other animals. There are different strains (or subtypes) of influenza type A viruses, two of which circulate among humans: H1N1 and H3N2. These two subtypes are included in the seasonal flu vaccine each year.
Influenza Type B viruses are usually found only in humans. Influenza B viruses can cause illness among humans, but in general are associated with less severe infection than influenza A viruses. Influenza Type C viruses cause mild illness in humans. Influenza C cases occur much less frequently than A and B and are not typically included in the seasonal flu vaccine.
Influenza types A and B are the most severe of the flu viruses. The viruses change constantly and different strains circulate around the world every year. The body's natural defenses cannot keep up with these changes. Type C causes either a very mild illness, or has no symptoms at all. It does not cause epidemics and does not have the severe public health impact that influenza types A and B do.
DNA and RNA genomes both use polymerase enzymes for replication, but under suitable conditions, RNA molecules can replicate spontaneously and maintain continuous synthesis. Between the two types of genome, DNA and RNA, RNA viruses have the ability to evolve a million times more rapidly than their DNA based host. Because the error rate of RNA is so high, many variants of an RNA virus may coexist and compete. The fittest of these variants and hence the best adapted to its host will become the most abundant within a given population.
Influenza is caused by an orthomyxovirus, measuring 80 to 120 nanometers in diameter. The core of the viral particle consists of ribonucleoproteins surrounded by a lipid envelope that contains two types of glycoproteins in the form of spikes. The haemagglutinin spikes are responsible for binding the virus to red blood cells and other host cells, as well. The second protein, neuraminidase is an enzyme that cleaves terminal sialic acid residues from host-membrane bound glycoproteins and glycolipids. The neuraminidase facilitates release of viral progeny from infected cells as well as the spread of the virus from one cell to another. While antibodies against both haemagglutinin and neuraminidase may reduce the reproduction of the virus in the host, only the antibodies against the haemagglutinin can neutralize the infectivity of the virus particle. There are three strains of flu virus, A, B, and C, each characterized by the antigenic properties of its internal, nonglycosylated components.
Big Report About Influenza.
Excerpt from medicalecology.org
http://www.medicalecology.org/diseases/influenza/influenza.htm#sect3
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A picture of a typical Influenza Virus particle.
Picture from dozens of sources.
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Essentially, Influenza is like many viruses in its mechanics. It is extremely small, extremely deadly, and is considered to be immortal by defeatists. The common concensus, amongst people who are at least semi-conscious about this matter, is that it is not to be treated with antibiotics. In some cases antibiotics can do more harm than good when fighting this virus. Still, there is a herd of alienated and incompetent imbeciles out there that are saying that antibiotics can treat viral infections.
There are three FDA-approved influenza antiviral drugs recommended by the CDC for use against recently circulating influenza viruses.
Relenza (zanamivir)
Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate)
Rapivab (peramivir)
The problem with them is, they must be taken within two days of the occurrence of the symptoms of the Influenza.
You should not ask your doctor to give you or your children antibiotics for a viral illness. Instead, ask your doctor what you can do to feel better and ease your symptoms while your body fights the infection.
Do antibiotics work against all infections?
No. Antibiotics only work against infections caused by bacteria, fungi and certain parasites. They don't work against any infections caused by viruses. Viruses cause colds, the flu and most coughs and sore throats.
The overuse of antibiotics has led to antibiotic resistance, when bacteria and infections can no longer be killed off or treated with strong drugs.
In this study, doctors who prescribed 25% fewer antibiotics saw a modest reduction in patient satisfaction with them or with their surgery.
The General Practice Patient Survey, which invites nearly three million adults registered with GPs in England to comment on the quality of their care every year, is also a factor taken into account in GPs' performance-related pay.
Dr Mark Ashworth, GP and lead study author, from the King's College London division of health and social care research, said: "GPs often feel pressured by patients to prescribe antibiotics and find it difficult to refuse a patient who asks for them.
"GPs who are frugal in their antibiotic prescribing may need support to maintain patient satisfaction."
The purpose of the paper, described as "high-value care advice," is to amplify and update rather than replace messages from recent guidelines on appropriate antibiotic prescribing, note the authors.
It is aimed at general practitioners and health care professionals who see patients with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in outpatient settings.
The authors note that ARTIs - such as the common cold, uncomplicated bronchitis, sore throat and sinus infection - are the most common reason for outpatient antibiotic prescriptions for adults in the US.
As a result, they note, inappropriate use of antibiotics for ARTIs contributes significantly to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections - and the rise of so-called superbugs.
The CDC estimate that every year, at least 2 million people in the US become infected with - and at least 23,000 die as a result of - bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
Excerpt from medicalnewstoday.com
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/305251.php
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Experts at the influential centre, based in Stockholm which is focused on controlling infectious diseases in Europe, say the prescription of the pills, which are not necessary in most cases, is fuelling the rise in the number of infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
They have warned for the first time that modern medicine is reaching a point when it will no longer be able to function because antibiotics are powerless to fight life-threatening hospital infections.
It will mean that organ transplants, hip replacements and cancer treatment may have to be halted because antibiotics used to protect patients from hospital infections will no longer work.
GPs have claimed they often feel under pressure from patients who are angered if they are refused treatment for colds and sore throats even though antibiotics do not combat viruses.
“But I’m sure what I have is bacterial.”
Unlikely but possible. Nothing in medicine is absolute and doctors are sometimes wrong. Ascertaining as to when, even if rarely, antibiotics might be indicated can be difficult. Because even a simple illness can change, doctors always insist on being called if symptoms are worsening or the illness is not resolving.
Excerpt from perspectivesonmedicine.blogspot.com
http://perspectivesonmedicine.blogspot.com/2008/08/normal-0-microsoftinternetexplorer4.html
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Antibiotics don’t kill viruses. And yet we doctors continue to prescribe them for most of those types of infections. Why?
Well, for one reason we’re trying to please you patients. I know that’s a kind of wimpy excuse but it’s true. Many patients get upset if they’ve gone to the trouble to come in for an office visit for a lingering cough, and all they hear is that it’s probably viral; take some over-the-counter somethings and it’ll run its course. Many see it as wasted time and money.
So, prescribing antibiotics is easier than asking you to wait, give your body a chance to fight it off, and come back if you’re not better in a week or two.
If the infection is viral, bad bacteria may still be in your system, just not strong enough or in large enough numbers to harm you.
But antibiotics don’t discriminate against good or bad bacteria. They kill all they can. Again, you can be left with the antibiotic-resistant ones that now have room to thrive.
Excerpt from thesurvivaldoctor.com
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2013/01/24/lingering-cough/
[[This is what natural medicine people are talking about when they say that eating Yogurt gives you Good Bacteria to fight Influenza with. Antibiotics annihilate all bacteria, Good or Bad, except the Superbugs that are now antibiotic resistant. Therefore, it helps to keep eating Good Bacteria in the form of Yogurt. Indeed, I know of one Yogurt company that puts 'Probiotic' on their containers.]]
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Although doctors try to use antibiotics for specific bacterial infections, they sometimes start antibiotics without waiting for tests that identify the specific bacteria.
Bacteria can develop resistance to the effects of antibiotics.
Taking antibiotics as directed, even after symptoms disappear, is essential to curing the infection and to preventing the development of resistance in bacteria.
Antibiotics can have side effects, such as upset stomach, diarrhea, and, in women, vaginal yeast infections.
Some people are allergic to certain antibiotics.
Antibiotics (antibacterials) are drugs derived wholly or partially from bacteria or molds and are used to treat bacterial infections. They are ineffective against viral infections and fungal infections. Antibiotics either kill microorganisms or stop them from reproducing, allowing the body's natural defenses to eliminate them.
Excerpt from merckmanuals.com
http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/infections/antibiotics/antibiotics
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Selection and Use of Antibiotics:
Antibiotics should be used only if clinical or laboratory evidence suggests bacterial infection. Use for viral illness or undifferentiated fever is inappropriate in most cases; it exposes patients to drug complications without any benefit and contributes to bacterial resistance.
Certain bacterial infections (eg, abscesses, infections with foreign bodies) require surgical intervention and do not respond to antibiotics alone.
Spectrum of activity:
Cultures and antibiotic sensitivity testing are essential for selecting a drug for serious infections. However, treatment must often begin before culture results are available, necessitating selection according to the most likely pathogens (empiric antibiotic selection).
Whether chosen according to culture results or not, drugs with the narrowest spectrum of activity that can control the infection should be used. For empiric treatment of serious infections that may involve any one of several pathogens (eg, fever in neutropenic patients) or that may be due to multiple pathogens (eg, polymicrobial anaerobic infection), a broad spectrum of activity is desirable. The most likely pathogens and their susceptibility to antibiotics vary according to geographic location (within cities or even within a hospital) and can change from month to month.
Excerpt from merckmanuals.com/professional
http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/infectious-diseases/bacteria-and-antibacterial-drugs/overview-of-antibacterial-drugs
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Bullying of Doctors by brainwashed patients is clearly indicated here. The illusion of antibiotics being a cure-all for everything that ails us must be eliminated.
Influenza Outbreak in a Vaccinated Population.
Earlier this year (2014) the CDC published a report documenting an influenza outbreak which occurred among fully vaccinated navy personnel aboard the USS Ardent, a U.S. Navy minesweeper moored in San Diego, California while conducting training.
Surprisingly, the CDC admits this is a common occurrence:
Other options include: combination 'cough and cold', or 'cold and flu' medicines complementary medicines (e.g. vitamin C, zinc, echinacea).
Medicines for relieving pain and fever:
Adults and children older than 1 month can take paracetamol.
Adults and children older than 3 months can take ibuprofen.
The dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen for children is worked out according to how much your child weighs. Read more about measuring and administering a child’s dose of medicine.
Excerpt from nps.org.au National Prescribing Service -- Australia
http://www.nps.org.au/conditions/respiratory-problems/respiratory-tract-infections/for-individuals/conditions/influenza/for-individuals/how-to-feel-better
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The incubation period of influenza is 2 days long on average but may range from 1 to 4 days in length. Aerosol transmission may occur 1 day before the onset of symptoms; thus, it may be possible for transmission to occur via asymptomatic persons or persons with subclinical disease, who may be unaware that they have been exposed to the disease.
Influenza A and B vaccine is administered each year before flu season. The CDC analyzes the vaccine subtypes each year and makes any necessary changes on the basis of worldwide trends.
Traditionally, the vaccine is trivalent (ie, designed to provide protection against 3 viral subtypes, generally an A-H1, an A-H3, and a B). The first quadrivalent vaccines, which also provide coverage against a second influenza B subtype, were approved in 2012 and were made available for the 2013-2014 flu season.
The FDA has approved a vaccine for H5N1 influenza. It is available only to government agencies and for stockpiles.
The following are influenza vaccine recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for 2016-2017:
All persons aged 6 months or older should receive influenza vaccine annually. Influenza vaccination should not be delayed to procure a specific vaccine preparation if an appropriate one is already available.
For healthy children aged 2-8 years who have no contraindications or precautions, either live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) or inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) is an appropriate option. No preference is expressed for LAIV or IIV for any person aged 2-49 years for whom either vaccine is appropriate. An age-appropriate formulation of vaccine should be used.
LAIV should not be used in the following populations: Persons younger than 2 years or older than 49 years; children aged 2-17 years who are receiving aspirin or aspirin-containing products; persons who have experienced severe allergic reactions to the vaccine or any of its components or to a previous dose of any influenza vaccine; pregnant women; immunocompromised persons; persons with a history of egg allergy; children aged 2-4 years who have asthma or who have had a wheezing episode noted in the medical record within the past 12 months; or persons who have taken influenza antiviral medications within the previous 48 hours.
Persons with a history of egg allergy who have experienced only hives after exposure to egg should receive influenza vaccine. Because relatively few data are available for use of LAIV in this setting, IIV or trivalent recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV3) should be used. RIV3 may be used for persons aged 18 years or older who have no other contraindications.
Regardless of allergy history, all vaccines should be administered in settings in which personnel and equipment for rapid recognition and treatment of anaphylaxis are available.
A previous severe allergic reaction to influenza vaccine, regardless of the component suspected of being responsible for the reaction, is a contraindication to future receipt of the vaccine.
Excerpt from emedicine.medscape.com
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/219557-overview
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How is the flu treated?
The flu cannot be cured with antibiotics. Treatment is aimed at easing symptoms. There are new medications that may help with the symptoms. The medications are changing rapidly. They are effective in some cases but not others. You may want to talk to your doctor to see if your child can take one of these medications. Rest will help the body fight infection and ease symptoms.
- Fever: Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol, Temporal Panadol, or Liquiprin) can be used to treat fever, headache, aches and pains, and sore throat. Use the right amount of medication based on weight, not age.
- Do not give children aspirin or medicine with aspirin in it. It could cause brain or liver damage. Talk to your doctor first.
- Your child should drink plenty of fluids, even more if she has a fever. Children may enjoy Popsicles, Jell-O, ice cream, or applesauce.
- Your child will probably feel tired. If not, it's okay if she plays at home.
- Vomiting and Diarrhea: If your child vomits, stop all food intake. Give her clear liquids slowly, in many small sips. Do not give her plain water or milk at first. Increase fluid, food, and milk products slowly as she is able to keep them down.
- Vomiting and diarrhea can cause dehydration (not enough fluids in the body). If your child is dehydrated, she may need an oral rehydration solution, or ORS (such as Pedialyte). Talk to your doctor.
- Excerpt from virtualpediatrichospital.org
- http://www.virtualpediatrichospital.org/patients/cqqa/flu.shtml
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Three types of influenza vaccines are available in the U.S.: inactivated influenza vaccine [[IIV]], recombinant influenza vaccine [[RIV]] and live attenuated influenza vaccine [[LAIV]]. Inactivated influenza vaccine consists of two types: Intramuscular influenza vaccine which is injected into the muscle, and intradermal influenza vaccine, which is injected into the skin. Inactivated, injectable influenza vaccines packaged in multi-dose vials contain the mercury preservative thimerosal, but inactivated influenza vaccines in single dose vials are thimerosal-free or contain trace amounts of the mercury preservative.
In 2016, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) advised against use of the live attenuated nasal influenza vaccine due to lack of effectiveness of the vaccine based on data collected between 2013 and 2016.
There are several different influenza vaccine products licensed in the U.S. marketed by different pharmaceutical companies. Most seasonal influenza vaccines in the U.S. contain either two type A influenza viruses and one type B influenza virus (Trivalent) or two type A influenza viruses and two type B influenza viruses (Quadrivalent) that are selected every year by the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for inclusion in flu shots given during the current flu season.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that all Americans six months of age or older get a flu shot every year throughout life. The CDC states that babies between six and eight months old should receive two doses of influenza vaccine one month apart.
Reported moderate reactions to influenza vaccine include fever, local reactions (pain, redness, swelling at the site of the injection), headache, fatigue, sore throat, nasal congestion, cough, joint and muscle pain, and nausea. Reported serious complications include brain inflammation, convulsions, Bell’s palsy, limb paralysis, neuropathy, shock, wheezing/asthma and other breathing problems. Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a disabling neurological disorder that involves temporary or permanent paralysis that can lead to death and has been causally related to influenza vaccinations.
As of October 3, 2016, there had been 2,954 claims filed in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) for injuries and deaths following Influenza vaccination, including 109 deaths and 2,845 serious injuries.
Using the MedAlerts search engine, as of June 30, 2016, there have been more than 128,194 reports of reactions, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following influenza vaccinations made to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), including 1,270 related deaths, 10,780 hospitalizations, and 2,377 related disabilities. In 2013 the Federal Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) voted to add GBS to the Vaccine Injury Table within the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
nvic.org
http://www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/Influenza.aspx
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How long should antiviral drugs be taken?
To treat the flu, Tamiflu® and Relenza® are usually prescribed for 5 days, although people hospitalized with the flu may need the medicine for longer than 5 days. Rapivab® is administered intravenously for 15 to 30 minutes.
Excerpt from cdc.gov
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/antivirals/whatyoushould.htm
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Cold remedies: What doesn't work.
The list of ineffective cold remedies is long. A few of the more common ones that don't work include:
Antibiotics. These attack bacteria, but they're no help against cold viruses. Avoid asking your doctor for antibiotics for a cold or using old antibiotics you have on hand. You won't get well any faster, and inappropriate use of antibiotics contributes to the serious and growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Over-the-counter cold and cough medications in young children. OTC cold and cough medications may cause serious and even life-threatening side effects in children. The FDA warns against their use in children younger than age 6.
Zinc. The cold-fighting reputation of zinc has had its ups and downs. That's because many zinc studies are flawed.
The jury is still out, but a review of 18 randomized, controlled studies indicated that zinc lozenges or syrup reduced the average length of a cold in otherwise healthy people when taken within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms. The review also found some evidence that zinc taken for five months to prevent colds reduced the incidence of colds in children. Keep in mind, though, that you can't really know what's in the zinc product you take.
The review didn't recommend zinc for people with chronic illnesses, such as asthma, because they weren't included in the studies. Side effects of zinc include a bad taste and nausea.
Excerpt from mayoclinic.org
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/in-depth/cold-remedies/ART-20046403
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It may be 'just a cold,' but it's nothing to sneeze at. And the flu can make you feel downright drained. Fortunately, fast action on your part including these simple home remedies for colds and flu can mitigate the misery.
Natural home remedies: Colds and flu. Is it a common cold or the flu? If your symptoms are above the neck congestion, sore throat, sneezing, and coughing you probably have a cold. If you have all those symptoms plus a fever of 38.8C (102F) or more, headache, muscle aches, extreme fatigue, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, you’re more likely to have the flu.
What you can do for colds and flu: For a sore throat remedy, fill a 250 ml (8 ounce) glass with warm water, mix in one teaspoon of salt and gargle away. The salt really does soothe the pain. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to a glass of warm water for the more traditional sore throat gargle. This creates an acidic environment that’s hostile to bacteria and viruses.
Excerpt from besthealthmag.ca
http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/home-remedies/natural-home-remedies-colds-and-flu/
When you have a cold or the flu, steam is your friend because it helps open your airways.
Boil water and pour it into a large bowl containing at least two teaspoons of shaved ginger. Drape a towel over your head, lower it until you’re right over the bowl, and breathe in the gingered steam. You can also do this with Vick’s Vapor Rub. Simply drop a heaping spoonful of the balm into the boiling water and stir it until it dissolves. Again, breathe in the steam.
2. Eat Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.
I’m a vegetarian, but when my family or friends get sick, I make a gigantic pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. My friends swear that a few bowls of the soup are better than a trip to the doctor’s office. This might be a good way to save on medical expenses.
Why does chicken noodle soup help heal you when you’re sick? Well, doctors and scientists aren’t really sure. Some think that the hot chicken soup can improve the function of cilia, which are the tiny projections on your lungs that help protect you from foreign bacteria. The soup can also help strengthen the movement of your white blood cells, which fight disease. The broth also gives your body much-needed hydration.
Personally, I think it works because homemade chicken noodle soup is made with love. Delivering that homemade soup is a sure sign that you care about someone, and I think this perks them up more than anything you could buy over the counter.
3. Drink Ginger Tea.
Ginger helps stimulate the nerves that lead to mucus production. If you have a scratchy throat, or dry, irritated nasal cavities, then slice some fresh ginger and put it in a tea strainer. Pour in some boiling water and let the ginger steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
To get the healing benefits of fruit juice without all the sugar (and calories), cut your glass of fruit juice in half with tap water or sparkling water. And read labels carefully to make sure that you're buying whole juices such as orange, pineapple, and tomato, not "fake" juices that contain less than 100% fruit juice, says Dr. Hardy.
A Berry Good-Tasting Cold Remedy.
At last: a cold and flu remedy that actually tastes good. Elderberry has a long history as a tasty healer. Europeans would chase away cold and flu symptoms by drinking hot elderberry wine with lemon.
Today, elderberry is used by herbalists to treat viral infections, including colds, flu, and bronchitis. It may shorten the length of a cold by as much as 30 to 40%, according to Winston. "If you take it early enough, you may not get sick at all."
Excerpt from encognitive.com
http://www.encognitive.com/node/14650
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Natural Antibiotics and Antivirals for Illness.
There are several potent natural antibiotics that in some cases work much better than store bought varieties. The following are ones I keep around at all times:
Oregano and Oregano Oil– Oregano oil is a potent natural antibiotic and antiviral. I diffuse this as needed during illness or use a tiny amount (diluted) on the feet.
Thyme and Thyme Oil– A tea (not nice tasting) made from thyme is very effective against cold and flu. Thyme oil rubbed on the skin will help the body fight infection. Pregnant women and small children should not use thyme.
Other Effective Natural Remedies.
Coconut Oil– Coconut oil is high in lauric acid and is thought to dissolve the lipid coating around some viruses and make them more susceptible to attack by the immune system. If sick, aim for 5-6 tablespoons per day in food or melted and stirred into hot tea. Coconut oil has many other health benefits as well and is known to boost the immune system.
Onions and Garlic on the Feet at night. For extreme cases of illness, I slice onion and garlic and place all over the bottom of the infected person’s foot (rub olive oil on the foot first). I then wrap the foot in saran wrap and place a sock on overnight. Onions and garlic have been shown to pull toxins and help the body heal. Some natural practitioners even claim that having cut onions around will absorb toxins and keep others in the family from getting sick, though I have not tried this.
Apple Cider Vinegar Gargle and Drink. Yes, it tastes awful, but if you are sick enough, you won’t taste it anyway. Drink a tablespoon in water (gargle first) at the first sign of illness and repeat hourly until symptoms disappear. This alkalizes the body and helps kill viruses and bacteria.
Excerpt from wellnessmama.com
http://wellnessmama.com/1499/natural-remedies-for-illness/
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Antibiotics Can Cause More Harm than Good.
Taking antibiotics when you have a virus may do more harm than good. Taking antibiotics increases your risk of getting an antibiotic-resistant infection later.
Antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria in the gut, allowing more harmful bacteria, such as C. difficile, to grow in its place.
Although this infection is more commonly found in hospitals, it also occurs in clinics outside of the hospital. Read more about C. difficile.
Antibiotics cause 1 out of 5 emergency department visits for adverse drug events. Antibiotics are the most common cause of emergency department visits for adverse drug events in children under 18 years of age. It’s important to only take antibiotics for bacterial infections since they can put you or your child at risk for harmful side effects and antibiotic-resistant infections.
Excerpt from cdc.gov/getsmart
http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/community/about/should-know.html
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Unlike the highly touted flu shot, black elderberry has actually been conclusively proven to be effective. It is one of the few natural remedies that has been written up in the medical journals.
An Ancient Panacea.
The medicinal use of the elderberry is nothing new. Mentioned in ancient medicinal texts, the humble black elderberry has been used as a multi-purpose treatment for centuries. In 400 BC, Hippocrates referred to the elderberry bush as his “medicine chest” because of its varied uses, and it was mentioned several times in the writings of Pliny the Elder when he recorded the practices of the ancient Romans.
How It Works.
Scientists have isolated the active compound in the elderberry. It is called Antivirin and is found in proteins of the black elderberry. The compound prevents the flu virus from invading the membranes of healthy cells.
Excerpt from healthy-holistic-living.com
http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/elderberry-extract-natures-tamiflu.html
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You are probably aware (hopefully) that most colds and flus are not caused by bacteria, they are caused by viruses. Therefore, standard antibiotics are useless as a remedy for colds and flus. There are now anti-viral medications, but in a recent study, they only reduced flu symptom length from 7 days to 6.5 days, and may have some side effects. Plus, who really wants to schlep into the ER when you feel lousy and your immune system is already compromised? Secondary infections are often more dangerous than the original virus.
It turns out that many common herbs are not only antibacterial but also antiviral, and have minimal to no side effects. In the book Herbal Antibiotics, Stephen Harrod Buhner presents his top choices for cold and flu fighting herbs, including echinacea, wormwood root, balsam root, boneset, red root, licorice, sage, garlic and honey. (While not technically an herb, honey is often used in herbal medicine and so is included in the book.) Complete dosing instructions and contraindications are given in the text. I highly recommend the book, as it gives not only practical information on herbal use, but an overview of the history of antibiotics and how antibiotic resistance spreads. Technically, he includes both herbs and spices in his arsenal, as various plant parts are used.
Excerpt from commonsensehome.com
http://commonsensehome.com/preparing-for-cold-and-flu-season-herbs-spices-and-the-kitchen-sink/
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One particular herb which has recently had a lot of press coverage is Echinacea.
Echinacea has in fact been used by America Indians for hundreds of years. It is native to the North America Plains, but varieties of the species are now found on most continents and has become one of the top selling herbs in the United States. Echinacea activates the body's immune system increasing the chances of fighting off any disease. The most important immune-stimulating components are the large polysaccharides, such as inulin, that increase the production of T-cells and increase other natural killer cell activity.
Its anti-bacterial effect makes it a good herb for treating many viral and bacterial infections. Echinacea is also an excellent blood cleanser which helps to sweep dead cells through the channels of the lymphatic system and dispatches white blood cells to fight the infection. So when you feel the cold coming on - reach for the echinacea tincture. As with any of these herbal remedies it is important to try to take echinacea before the full onset of a cold or flu to give the best chance of a swift recovery.
Excerpt from disabled-world.com
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/cold-flu.shtml
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Steam: Vapor could help to relieve stodginess and blockage. Boil a pot of water on the range and after that gradually breathe in the vapor using a large towel over your head and the steam.
Salt Water: Salt water in nasal washes, saline nasal sprays, and gargles has long been made use of effectively to soothe aching throats, and keep breathing passages moist, decongested and devoid of infesting viruses. For nasal cleaning, make use of a neti pot or bulb syringe with a quarter teaspoon salt in 1 mug of warm water. Note: Although a lot make use of warm faucet water in their neti pots, distilled, disinfected, or formerly steamed water is recommended to keep safe.
Ginger: Ginger’s wellness abilities have long been acknowledged. Steep many slices of fresh ginger root in warm water and sip for an extra wellness boost or to ease a cough or scratchy throat. Peppermint Herbal Tea: Peppermint is laced with nutrients that help the physical body combat illness. It likewise could serve as an expectorant, helping the physical body to cough up mucous. Green Herbal Tea: Green tea is recognized to have numerous abilities that could help keep you healthy, and because of that considerably better prepared to fend off the flu or a cold. 2-3 cups on a daily basis are frequently encouraged. If you do contract cold or influenza (or feel them starting), think about taking 3 to 4 cups of green herbal tea day-to-day to expedite freeing your body of those vicious bugs and offer your physical body’s defenses an additional invigoration.
Excerpt from homeremedieslog.com
http://homeremedieslog.com/health-topics/colds-and-flu/flu/treatment-4/
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5. Take vitamin A: Take 1 dropper full of micellized vitamin A daily.
6. Drink marine plasma seawater: Take 2 vials of QuintEssential 3.3 – a liquid hypertonic marine plasma – daily.
7. Take a food-sourced vitamin C: Take 2 to 4 tablets of a food-sourced vitamin C (800 to 1,600 mg) – 1,500 mg of food-sourced vitamin C is equivalent to 10,000 mg of ascorbic acid.
8. Cut out the sugar: Eliminate refined sugar and baked goods from your diet – at least until the flu season is over. Sugar suppresses your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to the flu.
9. Eat whole grapefruit: Juice a peeled whole organic grapefruit (with the seeds) two to four times per week, preferably in the morning.
10. Get sunlight: Get 15 to 20 minutes of directly sunlight on as much bare skin as possible, several times per day. This will boost your vitamin D3 levels.
11. Drink green tea: Green tea has been shown to reduce the duration of the flu.
Excerpt from naturalhealth365.com
http://www.naturalhealth365.com/flu-remedies.html/
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Echinacea:
Echinacea is shown to reduce the duration of the symptoms in clinical studies. This herb is known to boost the immune system and is one of the popular remedies for flu.
Dose: Take 300 mg three times daily. Tincture - Use 3 to 5 mL three times daily. Take it for up to 14 days with the first appearance of symptoms. Avoid using it regularly as it doesn't seem to prevent you from catching the influenza virus. Experts suggest not using echinacea in children due to reports of allergic reactions such as rash.
Vitamin C:
Vitamin C enhances the immune system function by increasing white blood cells activities. In one study, subjects given 100 mg of vitamin C daily for 10 months were 28% less likely to catch the influenza virus. Moreover, their symptoms lasted 10% shorter.
Another study showed that mega dose of vitamin C reduced the duration of the influenza symptoms significantly. Other studies show similar benefits (although there are also studies that show it doesn't work).
Vitamin D:
In one study, children attending school has less risk of getting influenza infections when given 1,200 IU of vitamin D daily.
There is growing research to show that vitamin D can regulate the immune system. It is growing in popularity as a remedies for flu prevention. This study was done during the winter seasons when there is less sun exposure needed by the body for making vitamin D.
Excerpt from natural-remedies-review.com
http://www.natural-remedies-review.com/remedies-for-flu.html
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3. Steam.
A cool mist humidifier is super helpful when it comes to relieving those stuffed up heads. Some room humidifiers have a special compartment for essential oils. If yours does, try adding a few drops of menthol or eucalyptus oil to really help clear up sinuses and stop infections.
Depending on the age of your child, you could run a hot, steamy shower or bath and either bath with your child or just sit in a chair and let them breathe in the steam. Again, a few drops of eucalyptus, menthol, or peppermint oil in the water really helps clear up a stuffy head.
5. Saline Nasal Sprays.
Unlike those steroid filled over the counter nasal sprays that actually make problems worse, saline sprays can be made at home and used repeatedly as there are absolutely no side effects.
Mix two teaspoons of non-iodized salt with one pint of water. Put in a spray bottle and you are good to go.
Ask your child to blow their nose first, and then spray one nostril at a time.
7. Vapor Rub.
These rubs can help your child sleep better at night by warming the chest and relieving congestion. You don’t have to use that petroleum based rub your mom most likely used on you.
You can mix up your own right at home! Mix together ½ cup of coconut or olive oil, 2 tablespoons of beeswax pastilles, 20 drops of eucalyptus oil, 20 drops of peppermint oil, 10 drops of rosemary oil, and 10 drops of cinnamon oil. Melt the beeswax and oil together over low heat, then mix in the essential oils. Remove from heat and put into tins or glass jars. When completely cool, rub this mixture onto your child’s chest at night and they will sleep like a baby.
Don’t use this on children less than 3 years of age as it might be too strong for their sensitive skin. Test on a small area first to be certain your child won’t have an adverse reaction.
Excerpt from naturalon.com
http://naturalon.com/all-natural-cold-and-flu-remedies-for-kids/view-all/
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Do Essential Oils Work?
I am a mom and I have lots of mom friends on social media (and in real life) that use or sell essential oils. Their popularity has skyrocketed in recent years and I have seen all sorts of outrageous claims about their benefits. I am admittedly a skeptic but that is because there is no good science to prove that these oils have any benefit at all. Most are extremely expensive and if ingested, can cause serious harm. A majority of the companies that sell these products do not claim they will cure or help with illness but many of their "independent consultants" do make these claims. Make sure you know what you are spending your money on and understand that science does not prove these oils work.
Excerpt from verywell.com
https://www.verywell.com/natural-and-herbal-cold-and-flu-treatments-770679
A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus,
A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus and a
B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B/Victoria lineage).
Four component vaccines [[Quadrivalent]] are recommended to include the same three viruses above, plus an additional B virus called B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata lineage).
Excerpt from cdc.gov/flu
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2016-2017.htm
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pdf, 172kb
pdf, 120kb
pdf, 137kb
pdf, 126kb
http://www.who.int/influenza/vaccines/virus/recommendations/2016_17_north/en/
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Influenza is a highly infectious viral illness. The disease has sickened and killed millions of people in local epidemics and global pandemics. The first documented pandemic that clearly fits the description of influenza was in 1580. The most lethal pandemic of record began in 1918, just after World War I, when an estimated 21 million people died from what was called the “Spanish” flu (CDC, 2015a).
Smith, Andrewes, and Laidlaw isolated influenza A virus in ferrets in 1933, and Francis isolated influenza B virus in 1936. In 1936, Burnet showed that the virus lost virulence when it was cultured in fertilized hens’ eggs. This led to the study of the characteristics of the virus and the development of inactivated vaccines. The protective efficacy of these inactivated vaccines was determined in the 1950s.
Since then, vaccination has limited the infection’s spread but has not prevented pandemics of the disease (CDC, 2015a). In 1957, the Asian flu swept around the world, killing 1 to 1.5 million people, and in 1968, a pandemic called Hong Kong flu killed nearly a million more (Kilbourne, 2006). Then, in 2009, a pandemic called swine flu, caused by a virus found in pigs, swept around the world (WHO, 2016a).
Excerpt from nursingceu.com/courses
http://www.nursingceu.com/courses/538/index_nceu.html
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5. You can't get the flu from the flu vaccine.
Flu vaccines are made from killed viruses. Mild symptoms, such as nausea, sleepiness, headache, muscle aches, and chills, can occur.
The side effects of the flu vaccine are mild (and nothing compared to having the flu). The most common side effects are pain and tenderness at the site of injection. Fever is also seen within 24 hours after immunization in approximately 10% to 35% of children younger than 2 years of age, but rarely in older children and adults. These symptoms are usually mild and resolve on their own in a couple of days.
6. If you catch the flu and are vaccinated, you will get a milder form of the disease.
We know that flu vaccines are about 60% effective -- yes, we all wish that number were higher. The good news is that vaccinated people who get the flu usually get a mild form of the disease, just the sniffles, according to a recent study. People who are not vaccinated will be in bed with fever and miserable. [[That did not answer the question.]]
7. There should be plenty of vaccine for everyone this year.
For the 2016-2017 season, manufacturers have projected that they will produce up to 170 million doses of flu vaccine.
8. The influenza vaccine doesn't cause autism.
A robust body of research continues to show that the influenza vaccine is safe and is not associated with autism.
9. The flu vaccine can be given at the same time as other vaccines.
The flu vaccine may be given at the same time as other vaccines, but at a different place on the body. It is also important to note that children 6 months through 8 years of age may need two doses spaced one month apart to be fully protected. These children should receive their first dose as soon as the vaccine is available in their community. Live vaccines (like the MMR and chickenpox vaccines) may be given together or at least 4 weeks apart.
Excerpt from healthychildren.org/English. Pediatricians say to Immunize Children. The problem is the Missing Children who disappeared after being vaccinated.
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/immunizations/Pages/Prepare-Your-Family-for-Flu-Season.aspx
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In the twentieth century, the world experienced three influenza pandemics: 1918, 1957, 1968.
Since then, the world has experienced one pandemic: 2009.
2009:
A new H1N1 influenza virus derived from human, swine and avian strains was initially reported in April 2009 in Mexico and subsequently spread around the world. Cases of pandemic (H1N1) influenza 2009 have been confirmed in most other countries throughout the world by the World Health Organization. The pandemic (H1N1) influenza 2009 virus is not the same as seasonal influenza. The virus is mild in most people. However, in a small proportion of people the virus causes death due to viral pneumonia and lung failure. High risk groups have been identified where the illness is more likely to cause complications, including patients with chronic respiratory conditions, pregnant women, patients who are obese (BMI >30), indigenous people and patients with chronic cardiac, neurological and immune conditions. Children and younger people have also been shown to be at increased risk of serious complications as well as rapid spreaders of the virus.
In Australia during 2009, there were 37,636 cases of pandemic (H1N1) influenza 2009, including 191 associated deaths. The median age of those dying was 53 years, compared to 83 years for seasonal influenza.
Excerpt from health.gov.au/internet
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/about-pandemic-history
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However, it is inevitable that the world will face another influenza pandemic. While there is no certainty about where or when the next one will occur, Australia must be prepared. An influenza pandemic represents a significant risk to Australia. It has the potential to cause high levels of disease and death and disrupt our community socially and economically.
This plan - the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza (AHMPPI) - outlines Australia’s strategy to manage an influenza pandemic and minimise its impact on the health of Australians and our health system. The new and improved AHMPPI takes a significantly different approach to the previous plan and outlines the measures that the health sector as a whole would consider taking in response to an influenza pandemic. Continuous and extensive consultation with states and territories and other relevant stakeholders has enabled feedback to shape the development of the document.
In 2009, the earlier revision of the AHMPPI was used to guide Australia’s response to the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. This latest version of the AHMPPI draws on lessons learned in 2009 and developments in the approach to pandemic response within the international community.
Antiviral evidence summary - PDF 132 KB
Antiviral evidence summary - Word 135 KB
Assumptions evidence summary - PDF 158 KB
Assumptions evidence summary - Word 202 KB
Border measures evidence summary - PDF 106 KB
Border measures evidence summary - Word 144 KB
Infection control evidence summary - PDF 170 KB
Infection control evidence summary - Word 144 KB
Pandemic impact evidence summary - PDF 184 KB
Pandemic impact evidence summary - Word 186 KB
Pandemic vaccines evidence summary - PDF 216 KB
Pandemic vaccines evidence summary - Word 289 KB
Social distancing evidence summary - PDF 97 KB
Social distancing evidence summary - Word 92 KB
health.gov.au//internet
http://www.health.gov.au//internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-ahmppi.htm
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Social Distancing -- Evidence Summary.
Since the 2009 influenza pandemic, useful evidence has been generated from clinical and epidemiological studies, mathematical modelling and personal clinical experience about the potential impacts of social distancing and other related measures.
However, the overall quality of the evidence is not strong. Overall, social distancing measures were found to be moderately effective and many are likely to be acceptable in Australia as temporary measures, especially where the economic and social impacts are minimal.
School closure, whether proactive or reactive, appears to be moderately effective in reducing the transmission of influenza and in delaying the peak of an epidemic, but this measure is associated with very high economic costs and social impacts.
School closures should therefore be considered only in a severe pandemic and for the shortest duration possible. Individual school closure can be as effective as entire school-system closure. A limited duration of closure would be acceptable to the Australia public, especially if it was reactive rather than proactive, but it is likely that most children will continue to make contacts through outdoor activities during the period of closure, which may negate some or many of the benefits expected to be achieved.
From available but limited evidence, workplace-related interventions like work closure and working from home are also modestly effective and are acceptable or even popular among employees, especially if compensation is provided. However, a fairly high proportion of workplace closures (about 33%) would be needed for a significant impact, and workplace closures could cause considerable economic hardship and social distress.
Excerpt from health.gov.au//internet
http://www.health.gov.au//internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/519F9392797E2DDCCA257D47001B9948/$File/Social.pdf
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In other words, no one has a clue as to what Influenza will really happen in the 2016 to 2017 season. The CDC and the WHO have chosen four possibilities to immunize against. But who knows?
Types of Objects Flu Prefers.
The flu virus seems to live longer on nonporous objects, such as plastic, metal or wood. Wash objects made of these materials frequently. The virus does not seem to pass easily between fabrics or paper.
Excerpt from livestrong.com
http://www.livestrong.com/article/16108-long-can-flu-virus-live/
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Flu viruses.
Flu viruses capable of being transferred to hands and causing an infection can survive on hard surfaces for 24 hours. Infectious flu viruses can survive on tissues for only 15 minutes.
Like cold viruses, infectious flu viruses survive for much shorter periods on the hands. After five minutes the amount of flu virus on hands falls to low levels.
Flu viruses can also survive as droplets in the air for several hours; low temperatures increase their survival in the air.
Parainfluenza virus, which causes croup in children, can survive for up to 10 hours on hard surfaces and up to four hours on soft surfaces.
Excerpt from nhs.uk United Kingdom
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/how-long-do-bacteria-and-viruses-live-outside-the-body.aspx
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Germs (the catchall name for bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms) are everywhere—at home, in the office, even in your car. Luckily, about 99% of them can't harm us. But the other 1% can be annoying, uncomfortable, or downright scary: Most of these pathogens are either viral or bacterial and can cause everything.
You may think you know the obvious places that germs propagate—the doctor's office, the soles of your shoes—but many more germ-friendly locales are completely unexpected yet no less dangerous. We uncovered a host of surprising new spots where germs like to lurk, and offer easy solutions to keep you and your family safe and healthy.
Excerpt from prevention.com/health
http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/top-10-places-germs-can-make-you-sick
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There are very few websites that are willing to hazard a guess about this question. It seems that a Virus lasts longer on a hard surface (up to 48 hours) than it does on a soft surface (several hours) or in the air for three hours.
This is Nonsense! The only thing to do -- is to expect a Virus to stay alive on a hard surface for 48 hours, and to stay alive everywhere else for 24 hours.
Therefore, if you have to cough and spit (without tissues or paper towels) spit on some place where PEOPLE NEVER WALK -- such as grass or empty ditches or ravines without streams (etc). DO NOT SPIT INTO WATER SUPPLIES -- such as irrigation canals and streams.
Otherwise -- keep a heap of paper towels handy wherever you go. During this spell with Influenza -- which I am finally getting over as I write this -- I had (and still have) heaps of tissues and paper towels in ...
1. The truck.
2. The Cashmere Impala.
3. As many as can fit into my right pocket.
4. The garage.
5. A separate stockpile on every floor of the house, including the basement.
During the miserable course of this Influenza I have bought at least seventy (70) rolls of jumbo paper towels. And, eight cans of Disinfectant Aerosol (that spray a mist). And, eight bottles of Disinfectant Spray (that spray a stream of disinfectant fluid). And, a dozen bottles of 91% Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl).
They work together very well -- like this ...
****PAY ATTENTION HERE****
What do you do when the Influenza comes knocking at your door?
The little bastards are too tiny to shoot.
They get in through the walls.
Answer: TRAP THEM AND KILL THEM!!!!
Aside from the use of True HEPA filters as I will mention elsewhere ...
When you cough or spit into a tissue or paper towel, wad that piece of paper into an ball and surround it with four more layers of tissues -- and then discard it.
Trap the enemy as follows. Discard those balls of tissue or paper towels (with the Virus captured inside) into 'impervious' containers such as thick-walled plastic trash cans -- with heavy lids that close tightly. This will keep those specimens of coughed-up Virus from going anywhere else .
HOWEVER ...
that is not good enough! Several times a day, open the lid of each Special Trash Container ((one of each floor of the house)) and spray the living shit out of the contents, until the tissues and paper towels inside are saturated with disinfectant.
Now, it just so happens that I have come up with a Jiffy New Idea for that. Disinfectant Spray comes in bottles that you hold in your hand and pump a trigger on the side, which causes the liquid contents to spray from the nozzle.
[[I am not talking about Disinfectant Aerosols which spray a fine mist from a top nozzle.]]
Such Disinfectant Spray bottles have labels that say they kill 99% of all germs (etc). Well -- so does 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. So -- what I do is to mix 91% Isopropyl Alcohol with the Disinfectant Spray liquid (50/50) and then I spray the hell out of the contents of my Special Trash Containers several times a day, or more. That assures me that those Virus particles will never bother me or anyone else again.
Just like the True HEPA filters capture germs and pollens and allergens and remove them from the air -- my method of trapping all coughed up (or sneezed up) specimens of the Virus traps them forever in the Special Trash Containers.
By the way, each Special Trash Container is lined with three layers of plastic bags -- the kind that say they are 'Odor Proof' or 'Odor Resistant'. Those types of plastic bags are the best for this.
Then -- when a Special Trash Container becomes full of used tissues or paper towels -- I take out the bags and seal them tightly and take them out to the garage -- where I deposit them and spray them again. I am going to get a 'Burn Barrel' soon and incinerate those bags of tissues with a hot fire.
The so-called medical examiners say that after two weeks of having Influenza a person is no longer contagious and cannot spread the virus to anyone else. Take a look at the junk that you cough up from your lungs. Do you want to spread that around? Do you want to breathe that again?
Eye of a Needle -- 1,230 microns
Beach Sand -- 100 to 2000 microns
Fertilizer -- 10 to 1000 microns
Pollens -- 10 to 1000 microns
Human Hair -- 40 to 300 microns
Mold Spores -- 10 to 30 microns
Combustion-related Carbon Monoxide
(motor vehicles, wood burning,
open burning, industrial processes) -- up to 2.5 microns
Coal Dust -- 1 to 100 microns
Anthrax -- 1 to 5 microns
Yeast Cells -- 1 to 5 microns
Bacteria -- .5 to 20 microns
Radioactive Fallout -- .1 to 10 microns
HIV -- .1 microns
Oil Smoke -- .03 to 1 micron
Tobacco Smoke -- .01 to 1 microns
Viruses -- .002 to .3 microns
Typical Atmospheric Dust -- .001 to 30 microns
Pesticides & Herbicides -- .001microns
Traditionally a few highly tested vaccines were mandatory for children to protect against deadly or severe diseases, such as smallpox and polio. In the 1990s, vaccine manufacturers began introducing and persuading states to require numerous additional vaccines for non-deadly and even sexually transmitted diseases. About one-third of the states have philosophical exemptions entitling parents to decline the vaccines; 48 out of 50 states have religious exemptions; all states have medical exemptions, but they are hardest to obtain.
Excerpt from conservapedia.com/Vaccine
http://www.conservapedia.com/Vaccine
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Flu Shots for ALL Americans.
Today, the most common childhood infection is influenza, and in the past few years federal health officials have directed doctors to give all Americans an annual flu shot, from six months of age onward, until the year of death.
New Jersey has also passed a law requiring all children attending daycare or pre-school to get an annual flu shot, and some health care workers are being fired if they refuse to get an annual flu shot.
This can only be viewed as the prelude to a much larger campaign that, in the future, may end up dictating whether you will be allowed to enter higher education, get a job, or even travel… Simply put, this trend of mandating annual influenza vaccinations must be resisted and stopped.
Follow the Money.
The vaccine industry seems to view the 308 million people living in the United States as little more than pin cushions for their profitable vaccine products.
Pharmaceutical profits from swine-flu-related drugs alone have soared – with earnings between $10 billion and $15 billion in 2009, according to estimates from investment bank JPMorgan.
A report from 2007 entitled "Pipeline and Commercial Insight: Pediatric and Adolescent Vaccines," written by vaccine analyst Hedwig Kresse, makes some interesting points about the future of vaccine profits.
The report includes an assessment of products and forecast of market size and coverage rates to the year 2016, predicting that due to the "promising commercial potential" of new, high-price vaccines, the pediatric and adolescent vaccine market will quadruple from approximately $4.3 billion in 2006, to over $16 billion by 2016, across the US, the EU-five including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, and Japan.
Excerpt from articles.mercola.com
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/04/big-profits-linked-to-vaccine-mandates.aspx
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----------The American public is largely unaware that there is a vaccine court known as the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP). This program was started as a result of a law passed in 1986 that gave pharmaceutical companies total legal immunity from being sued due to injuries and deaths resulting from vaccines.
If you or a family member is injured or dies from vaccines, you must now sue the federal government in this special vaccine court. Many cases are litigated for years before a settlement is reached.
Once every 3 months the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines meets, and the Department of Justice issues a report of cases settled for vaccine injuries and deaths. As far as I know, Health Impact News is the only media source that publishes these reports each quarter. Past reports can be found here.
The most recent report was just issued on September 20, 2016 which covered the period from 5/16/16 to 8/15/16. 233 cases were adjudicated. 113 of them were listed in the report (see below), specifying the vaccine, the injury or death, and the amount of time the case was pending before settlement.
Excerpt from healthimpactnews.com
http://healthimpactnews.com/2016/government-vaccine-court-records-show-injuries-and-deaths-from-flu-shot-as-2016-flu-season-begins/
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Excerpt from nvic.org
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/March-2015/adults-targeted-for-vaccine-compliance-by-feds.aspx
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----------There is a visible backlash happening against parents who are challenging government and corporate vaccine orthodoxy. The US media’s latest ‘mandatory vaccination’ PR campaign was successfully launched nationwide following an “outbreak” incident at Disneyland, the Walt Disney theme park brand on January 7th (see the timeline of events here).
As a popular and recognizable children’s brand, Disneyland was crucial in propelling successful headlines that boldly declared, “Disneyland Measles Outbreak”. Even the President endorsed the campaign stating, “There is every reason to get vaccinated — there aren’t reasons to not,” Barack Obama told Today on Monday.
[[Butt -- what told it to say that?]]
Today, CNN took an even more aggressive stance in promoting what the network is now touting as a “federal mandate”.
CNN’s Sanjay Gupta pressed hard on the new US Surgeon General Vivek Murphy about how vaccines “do not cause autism”. Host Jake Tapper continued heaping on the narrative by claiming, “When they [parents] opt-out [of vaccines] they put not only their children but other children at risk too”. Tapper later insisted that the federal government “needs to convince” parents that all vaccines “are safe”. The messaging being pushed here is as follows: “measles are currently ravaging the US and so we need all children to receive ALL vaccines mandated by the state”. That could total up to 49 or more vaccines per child.
Excerpt from 21stcenturywire.com
http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/02/04/us-measles-hoax-cdc-who-merck-documents-proves-vaccinated-are-spreading-virus/
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However, the stakes are significant. Based on recommendations of health agencies, North American children receive about 48 doses of 14 different vaccines before the age of 6 - double the amount prescribed 25 years earlier. Despite this extraordinary increase, few studies independent of the pharmaceutical industry have been conducted into their long-term side effects. This is a disturbing situation given the numerous toxins, including mercury and aluminum, contained in some commonly administered vaccines.
Several worried pediatricians and scientists are sounding the alarm. Some of the research underway indicates that vaccination is directly responsible for immune or neurological disorders among certain people genetically or neurologically predisposed to react badly to vaccine components. Cases of autism, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, macrophagic myofasciitis, encephalitis, paralysis and neuropathies indicate the seriousness of the situation.
Unbelievable Video Attached!!!! This is the one about the Missing Children after vaccinations were administered.
You know that I have already mentioned how vile and false and lethal the West Des Moines Insurance Medicine Frauds are. This video explains how such Quacks and Assholes (that should never be in the so-called Medicine Profession) also infest the Big Business of Vaccinations.
Excerpt from topdocumentaryfilms.com
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/shots-in-the-dark/
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MAZZETTI: They were doing broad, you know, health work inside of Pakistan, not just vaccinations, but other work to better the conditions of Pakistani children.
DUBNER: According to Mazzetti’s reporting, the CIA recruited Dr. Afridi to do some vaccination that was not connected to Save the Children:
MAZZETTI: He did lead a number of vaccination efforts around Pakistan, from around 2009 on. He was sort of the perfect spy for the CIA. He could move around Pakistan. He had reason to be in places where, you know, Americans couldn’t go. And he was able to get access by launching these vaccination programs. And he was very willing to take the CIA’s money for his efforts.
DUBNER: Eventually, Mazzetti says, the CIA asked Afridi for some help locating a certain fugitive:
MAZZETTI: In the beginning of 2011, the CIA asked Dr. Afridi to launch a Hepatitis B vaccination campaign that would focus on a certain neighborhood of Abbottabad in order to get inside these houses, but specifically to get inside one house to find out whether Osama bin Laden was there.
DUBNER: The CIA suspected that bin Laden and his family were living in this house, but they were hoping to confirm this suspicion with DNA evidence.
MAZZETTI: Nobody expected bin Laden was going to agree to a vaccination, but if they could get possibly relatives, children, they could find DNA that they could link to bin Laden. So they go about doing this. The CIA gives Dr. Afridi a handsome sum to begin the campaign, and they never were successful. Afridi and his team went to the house. That house was the one house that refused vaccinations for the people inside of it. And so at the end of the day they were never able to confirm through this that bin Laden was hiding in the compound.
Excerpt from freakonomics.com
http://freakonomics.com/2015/01/08/why-doesnt-everyone-get-the-flu-vaccine-full-transcript/
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Most vaccines contain a little bit of a disease germ that is weak or dead. Vaccines do NOT contain the type of germ that makes you sick. Some vaccines do not contain any germs.
Having this little bit of the germ inside your body makes your body's defence system build antibodies to fight off this kind of germ. Antibodies help trap and kill germs that could lead to disease.
Your body can make antibodies in two ways: by getting the disease or by getting the vaccine. Getting the vaccine is a much safer way to make antibodies without having the suffering of the disease itself and the risk of becoming disabled or even dying.
Antibodies stay with you for a long time. They remember how to fight off the germ. If the real germ that causes this disease (not the vaccine) enters your body in the future, your defence system knows how to fight it off.
Excerpt from phac-aspc.gc.ca
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/vs-sv/vs-faq01-eng.php
[[This refers to the Seasonal Influenzas.]]
Excerpt from who.int/mediacentre
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/
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Age-Specific Mortality Rate (per 100,000 population) of 2009 H1N1 Influenza in California, Reported April 23, 2009 - August 28, 2010.
This figure shows the mortality (death) rate (per 100,000 population) of 2009 H1N1 influenza in California, by age group. As in previous months, the overall mortality rate is highest among individuals aged 50-64 years (3.2 influenza fatalities per 100,000 population), and lowest among children aged 1-4 years (0.2 influenza fatalities per 100,000 population). The influenza mortality rate for all ages combined is 1.5 fatalities per 100,000 population.
[[This is about the 2009 Pandemic -- NOT -- about Seasonal Influenza. You will note that the 'most affected age groups' for the Pandemic are NOT the same for Seasonal Influenzas.]]
Statistics for California only, during the H1N1 Epidemic in 2009-2010. Influenzas are labeled Alpha-Numerically. H1N1 still exists, and is classed as a Swine Flu, and was responsible for the Epidemics of 1918 and 2009.
Excerpt from cdph.ca.gov
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/data/statistics/Pages/H1N1Graphs.aspx
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Between April 2009 and February 2010, there were an estimated 59 million cases of H1N1 flu in the US. These cases resulted in approximately 265,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths nationwide. About one-third of cases, one-third of hospitalizations, and about 10% of deaths nationwide occurred in children younger than 18 (compared with less than 1% of deaths during an average seasonal influenza year). About 90% of the deaths due to H1N1 (Pandemic) were among those younger than 65, while about 90% of the deaths due to seasonal flu are among those 65 and older.
They studied how five different influenza epidemics struck in Östergötland County of East Sweden between 2005 and 2010. Except for the swine flu, they were all what are known as seasonal flu. The difference in those taken sick among age groups varies up to 10 times in certain cases, they state, for example, with swine flu. 2.3 cases per thousand inhabitants were diagnosed in the 10-19 age group, compared with 0.2 cases per thousand in the 70 and older age group. This was before they were able to start up the vaccinations.
For all five outbreaks, the risk of falling ill was greatest in the 30-39 age group, and least for those aged 70 and over. The researchers, however, point out that this data should be interpreted carefully, since many of the elderly are regularly vaccinated against seasonal influenza. On the other hand, their study does not support the hypothesis that school children are a bigger risk group in general.
However, Timpka says, it's clear that the risk of being infected by the flu is equally great in various age groups, and he wants to study theories as to why: "One hypothesis is that the first influenza infection you get in your life affects your immune system. This means that your immune system learns to react to one category of influenza, but has a poorer defence against other types. This is one of the theories we want to study."
Which type of flu you suffer from as a child should thus be able to affect your immune system for the rest of your life.
The body has two types of defences against infections, Timpka explains. On the one hand antibodies, which are formed as a response to an infection and then remain, make us less susceptible to an infection of that type. Antibodies thus cannot help up the first time we suffer from an infection. However the second defence type, T-cells, can; they're released immediately once the body is infected and they kill off the virus."Very small children have their mother's antibodies. The most vulnerable group is children between the ages of one and three; they still lack their own antibodies. As a rule, they develop them in some form later," Timpka says.
Pneumonia is one of the most common - and serious - flu complications that occur in the elderly. It can develop quickly and become very severe in older adults who aren't able to fight off the infection. If you are an older adult, and either have chest pain or a cold that lasts for more than two weeks, you should see a doctor.
Excerpt from verywell.com
https://www.verywell.com/how-the-flu-affects-the-elderly-770471
Babies and children under the age of 2 are at high risk for complications from the flu. When they get influenza, babies are more likely to get seriously ill and end up in the hospital than older kids.
Why Do Babies Get So Sick From the Flu?
Babies under the age of 2 are more likely to get the flu because their immune systems have not fully developed. They may also have difficulty feeding due to congestion, which can lead to dehydration.
Productive coughing can be difficult for babies and pneumonia can develop quickly.
How Does the Flu Affect Young Children?
Symptoms of the flu in babies include cough, congestion, fever and fussiness. You should call your health care provider right away if your child:
Has difficulty feeding or refuses to drink
Is fussy or will not smile or play for more than 4 hours
Has difficulty breathing or makes a "whistling" sound (wheezing) when breathing
Has persistent vomiting or diarrhea
Has a frequent cough
Has a fever over 100.3 degrees (F) if under two months of age
Has no tears when she cries or has not had a wet diaper in 8 hours
These can all be signs of serious complications and should be discussed with your health care provider right away.
Excerpt from verywell.com
https://www.verywell.com/babies-and-the-flu-770468
He worked on vaccine safety and efficacy for more than 30 years. He was one of four scientists who worked to replace the DTP vaccine, a vaccine that caused every child to become sick with a high fever at the time of vaccination, with the DTaP vaccine, which is an attenuated vaccine and causes illness due to fever in only 3% of those vaccinated.
But it turns out entities as simple as the flu virus — housing a mere eight genes inside a microscopic protein shell and debatably not even alive — can cooperate too. Discoveries of viruses working together and the importance of genetic diversity among viruses may even shift how we think about infection, researchers say.
“Once a virus initiates an infection and starts to replicate, it quickly generates a lot of mutant viruses,” said Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center evolutionary biologist Dr. Jesse Bloom of the complex community that can arise from infection. “It’s not right to think that all the viruses in an infection are identical.”
Excerpt from fredhutch.org
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2016/03/New-study-shows-flu-viruses-join-forces.html
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon launch experiments designed to combine the H5N1 virus and human flu viruses and then see how the resulting hybrids affect animals. The goal is to assess the chances that such a "reassortant" virus will emerge and how dangerous it might be.
The plans call for trying two methods to create hybrid viruses, CDC spokesman David Daigle told CIDRAP News via e-mail. One is to infect cells in a laboratory tissue culture with H5N1 and human flu viruses at the same time and then watch to see if they mix. For the human virus, investigators will use A (H3N2), the strain that has caused most human flu cases in recent years, according to the CP report.
The other method is reverse genetics—assembling a new virus with sets of genes from the H5N1 and H3N2 viruses. Reverse genetics has already been used to create H5N1 candidate vaccines in several laboratories, according to Daigle. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said recently it would soon launch a clinical trial of one of those vaccines.
Of the two methods, the co-infection approach was described as slower and more laborious, though closer to what happens in nature.
Excerpt from cidrap.umn.edu
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2005/01/cdc-mix-avian-human-flu-viruses-pandemic-study
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Because viruses can reproduce so rapidly and produce such large numbers of progeny, the effects of natural selection can produce evolutionary change in viruses over a shorter time scale than seen for complex organisms. In general, RNA genome viruses can undergo evolutionary change quicker than DNA genome viruses. This is because most viral DNA polymerases have a proofreading activity but viral RNA polymerases do not. Thus, a random nucleotide mistake made by the viral genome replicating enzyme would almost always be immediately repaired in dsDNA but not in RNA. So, there will be much more inherent variation at the nucleotide sequence level in a replicating population of an RNA virus than for an otherwise similar DNA virus.
Antigenic drift: is a result of the gradual accumulation of mutational changes in the genome. Some of these changes will be neutral and some will be favored ("disfavored" changes will not accumulate in the population). From the beginning to end of a winter "flu season", or from one winter to the next, a given strain of influenza virus may change by a percent or so at the nucleotide sequence level. (One percent of 12 Kb is 120 nucleotides.) Thus, there is a gradual change at the amino acid sequence level in some parts of some of the viral proteins. Over a decade or so, a given "strain" of influenza virus can change quite significantly in, for example, the region of HA to which antibodies bind. So, your memory B cells (and memory T cells) from a case of flu you had just a few years ago may not be able to protect you from getting the flu from "the same strain" now.
Antigenic shift: is a sudden major change in antigenic type. This can result from a mixed infection (in a single cell) with two influenza type A strains, producing a new strain with some genome pieces from each original strain. Strains of influenza A are defined mainly by their HA and NA structures, since these two virion surface glycoproteins are the major targets of antibody binding. So, if we imagine an "H1N1" strain and a "H2N2" strain infecting the same cell in the same organism (human or non-human), we could expect that it might be possible that one of the new virions produced from this infected cell might have the "H1" HA-coding RNA piece and the "N2" NA-coding RNA piece. If this new mixed-genome virion is indeed infectious, it could be the beginning of a "new strain" of influenza A virus, "type H1N2". (This kind of recombination to produce a new strain is not necessarily limited to the HA and NA genome segments; thus, we could imagine that there may be various possible viable combinations that could result from an infection with two strains.)
Excerpt from lehigh.edu
http://www.lehigh.edu/~jas0/V10.html
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Researchers in China are getting heat from senior scientists for creating a new strain of a killer influenza virus in a lab, The Independent reported.
Created from the merging of bird flu and human influenza viruses, this deadly strain could leak from the veterinary laboratory it was born and cause a global pandemic.
While the senior scientists are unaware of the lethality of the new strain to humans, they recognize that at most between 500,000 and 100 million people could die.
"They claim they are doing this to help develop vaccines and such like. In fact the real reason is that they are driven by blind ambition with no common sense whatsoever," Lord May of Oxford, Former President of the Royal Society, told The Independent.
"The record of containment in labs like this is not reassuring. They are taking it upon themselves to create human-to-human transmission of very dangerous viruses. It's appallingly irresponsible," he said.
Researchers led by Chen Hualan of China's Harbin Veterinary Research Institute conducted the experiment in a laboratory setting with high security systems. Their study, published online today in Science, produced 127 different viruses that were hybrids of H5N1 and H1N1. Out of these 127, five were airborne and capable of being passed to guinea pigs.
They concluded that taking one gene from the human influenza virus and putting it into the bird flu produced an easily contagious and dangerous strain of H5N1 bird flu.
Excerpt from medicaldaily.com
http://www.medicaldaily.com/chinese-scientists-create-killer-hybrid-flu-virus-lab-245494
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That last excerpt makes me think of the movie called 'Virus', which was a Japanese production that should have been given more money and higher production values; and yet it is still very capable of bringing across the message of just how bad these Natural, and Seasonal, and Pandemic and Man-made Viruses can be. This stuff is really no joke, and any of it could get out of control and wipe out a billion or more people at a time.
I will not go so far as to say that we have a potential 'On The Beach' scenario possible with these Viruses; that would kill all Humans and imitations. But, we could easily lose a billion or two to a raging pandemic. I hope you have been looking at the websites that I have linked to so far. If you have, then you have read that pandemics move around the world with people, and are thus spread globally because they spread via Human traffic before their existence is known. Now, they are talking about airborne and lethal pandemic viruses; which would circulate the globe by themselves.
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Reassortment: is the mixing of the genetic material of a species into new combinations in different individuals. Several different processes contribute to reassortment, including assortment of chromosomes, and chromosomal crossover. It is particularly used when two similar viruses that are infecting the same cell exchange genetic material. In particular, reassortment occurs among influenza viruses, whose genomes consist of eight distinct segments of RNA. These segments act like mini-chromosomes, and each time a flu virus is assembled, it requires one copy of each segment.
If a single host (a human, a chicken, or other animal) is infected by two different strains of the influenza virus, then it is possible that new assembled viral particles will be created from segments whose origin is mixed, some coming from one strain and some coming from another. The new reassortant strain will share properties of both of its parental lineages.
Reassortment is responsible for some of the major genetic shifts in the history of the influenza virus. The 1957 and 1968 pandemic flu strains were caused by reassortment between an avian virus and a human virus, whereas the H1N1 virus responsible for the 2009 swine flu outbreak has an unusual mix of swine, avian and human influenza genetic sequences.
With big diagram of how flu strains are mixed in biotechnology laboratories.
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassortment
There are various types of influenza viruses. Apart from those which can circulate among humans and cause seasonal influenza, many other influenza A viruses are found in birds and other animal species. These viruses are distinct from human seasonal influenza viruses and are not easily transmitted to humans. However, some of these animal viruses may occasionally infect humans. These are known as novel influenza viruses and avian influenza viruses are one example.
Avian influenza is caused by those influenza viruses that mainly affect birds and poultry, such as chickens or ducks. Human cases infected with avian influenza A (e.g. H5N1, H5N6, H6N1, H7N9, H9N2 and H10N8) viruses have been identified in recent years.
Since they do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. However, if an avian influenza virus acquired the capacity to spread easily from person to person, either through adaptation or acquisition of certain genes from human viruses, an influenza pandemic can occur.
Good Report From Hong Kong.
Excerpt from chp.gov.hk
http://www.chp.gov.hk/en/content/9/24/13.html
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How are bird flu viruses different from human flu viruses?
There are many different subtypes of type A influenza viruses. These subtypes differ because of certain proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus (hemagglutinin [HA] and neuraminidase [NA] proteins). There are 16 different HA subtypes and 9 different NA subtypes of flu A viruses. Many different combinations of HA and NA proteins are possible. Each combination is a different subtype. All known subtypes of flu A viruses can be found in birds. However, when we talk about “bird flu” viruses, we are referring to influenza A subtypes chiefly found in birds. They do not usually infect humans, even though we know they can. When we talk about “human flu viruses” we are referring to those subtypes that occur widely in humans. There are only three known A subtypes of human flu viruses (H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2); it is likely that some genetic parts of current human influenza A viruses came from birds originally. Influenza A viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans.
Good Report From Winnebego County
Excerpt from wchd.org
http://www.wchd.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=426&Itemid=809
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The Experiment: Transmitting Flu from Ferret to Ferret.
To investigate the potential for bird flu spread among humans, Fouchier turned to ferrets, an animal with a respiratory tract similar to humans and thus often used in flu research. The research team started in the lab, using reverse genetic tactics to give the virus the ability to attach to the cells lining the nose and throat. When ferrets were exposed to this strain, they became sick but the virus did not readily spread to other ferrets.
The researchers next experimented with the transmission of the virus by infecting a ferret with H5N1, taking infected material from the animal’s nose, and inserting it into the nose of a healthy ferret. This ferret also came down with the flu, and provided material to infect another healthy animal. The process was repeated 10 times before the virus mutated enough to be capable of airborne transmission. The end result of the experiment was a strain of bird flu that was transmissible from ferret-to-ferret through regular close contact.
AIRBORNE!!!! YOU HAD BETTER READ THAT AGAIN!!!!
Are Results Too Dangerous to Share?
Fouchier presented his research in September at the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza conference in Malta and is now looking to publish in an academic journal. Experts in the biosecurity field believe the research should not be published as it could provide instructions to create powerful new bioweapons.
Biosecurity experts counter that a virus with such a clear pandemic threat is far too risky for laboratory research such as Fouchier’s. While it is too late to prevent the experiments, proceeding with publication would be unnecessarily dangerous. A rogue scientist or bioterrorist with access to the published study may essentially have a recipe for a dangerous bioweapon.
Excerpt from healthmap.org
http://www.healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/bird-flu-controversy-research-vs-biosecurity-12611
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Avian influenza is a viral infection caused by influenza A viruses that can spread quickly and easily among birds. There are several types of avian influenza viruses, and most rarely infect humans. What causes bird flu?
Bird flu is caused by a virus. After a wild bird infects a farm-raised bird, the virus can easily and quickly spread among hundreds or thousands of birds. Sick birds must then be killed to stop the virus from spreading.
[[Even if that means that millions of poultry birds have to die at chicken farms and turkey farms (etc).]]
People who come into contact with sick chickens, ducks, or turkeys are more likely to get the virus. Bird flu virus can be passed through bird droppings and saliva on surfaces such as cages, tractors, and other farm equipment.
Most people don't need to worry about getting sick with bird flu virus. You cannot get bird flu from eating fully cooked chicken, turkey, or duck, because heat kills the virus.
HEAT KILLS THE VIRUS!!!!
Why are people so worried about bird flu?
In a few cases, experts think that bird flu was passed from one person to another person, not from a bird to a person. But this was very rare. The bird flu virus can make people sicker than other kinds of flu viruses. Even though only a few hundred people are known to have been sick with bird flu, more than half of them have died.
Experts also worry because the bird flu virus is so different from other flu viruses that our bodies do not have immunity against it. Not having immunity means that our bodies have a hard time fighting the virus. It also means that anyone, including those who are otherwise very healthy, can get seriously ill if he or she gets this kind of bird flu.
What are the symptoms?
At first, the symptoms of bird flu can be the same as common flu symptoms, such as:
A fever.
A cough.
A sore throat.
Muscle aches.
Sometimes bird flu can cause other symptoms, such as:
Vomiting or diarrhea.
An eye infection (conjunctivitis).
But bird flu can quickly progress to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, a serious lung problem that can be deadly. For the people who die from bird flu, the average length of time from the start of symptoms until death is 9 to 10 days.
Call your doctor right away if you have travelled somewhere or live in an area where there is bird flu and you have a fever and a hard time breathing.
British Columbia
Excerpt from healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics
https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/tp23638spec
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Any of the new strains could start a pandemic, they say.
The virus is entrenched in poultry populations across swathes of China, making it likely that people will continue to be infected sporadically.
The researchers warn that it seems only a matter of time before poultry movement spreads this virus beyond China by cross-border trade, as happened previously with H5N1 and H9N2 influenza viruses.
Taking swabs from birds at live poultry markets in 15 cities in five different eastern Chinese provinces, the researchers have evidence that the H7N9 virus is moving across China and gaining genetic diversity in the process.
The virus was detected in markets in seven cities and in 3% of samples on average.
The team then sequenced the genomes of 438 viral isolates and found that as the virus spread south, it evolved into three main branches, with multiple sub-branches. They have found at least 48 different sub-types.
"The extent of viral transmission among chickens was largely unclear until our paper showed that the virus had diverged into regional lineages," says Yi Guan, a co-author of the paper and a virologist at the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Shenzhen, China.
Genetic changes.
As flu viruses evolve and diversify in birds, genetic changes can alter their infectivity, virulence or ability to spread among humans, notes Guan. Human infections also provide viruses with opportunities to better adapt to their hosts.
The H7N9 has seen mutations that allow the virus to spread from birds to humans more easily than avian H5N1 flu, which has infected 784 people in 16 countries and killed 429 of them since it appeared in 2003.
While Guan's team reported no further significant mutations in H7N9, the threat from H7N9 is unlikely to go away any time soon.
The H7N9 strain of avian influenza first reared its head in humans in early 2013 in eastern China, prompting a shutdown of live bird markets. It then re-emerged in winter the same year in a second wave that led to 318 human cases and over a hundred deaths.
excerpt from ibtimes.co.uk United Kingdom
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bird-flu-fast-mutating-deadly-strain-could-turn-into-pandemic-warn-researchers-1491550#
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If you read deeply enough in documents like these you will get the idea that Viruses do not mix together on their own. They must be invading the same host (victim) at the same time; and inside the poor and unfortunate victim they mutate together into new Viruses. The mutations are called 'New Strains' and immunity to the host viruses may not give immunity to the new mutations.
A highly contagious form of human influenza caused by a filterable virus identical or related to a virus formerly isolated from infected swine.
Excerpt from medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/swine+flu
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Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always lead to human flu, often resulting only in the production of antibodies in the blood. If transmission does cause human flu, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection.
[[So, any town that has a lot of hog workers in its population is also at an increased risk of swine flu infection.]]
Around the mid-20th century, identification of influenza subtypes became possible, allowing accurate diagnosis of transmission to humans. Since then, only 50 such transmissions have been confirmed. These strains of swine flu rarely pass from human to human. Symptoms of zoonotic swine flu in humans are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
In August 2010, the World Health Organization declared the swine flu pandemic officially over.
Cases of swine flu have been reported in India, with over 31,156 positive test cases and 1,841 deaths till March 2015.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of the 2009 "swine flu" H1N1 virus are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Symptoms include fever; cough, sore throat, watery eyes, body aches, shortness of breath, headache, weight loss, chills, sneezing, runny nose, coughing, dizziness, abdominal pain, lack of appetite and fatigue. The 2009 outbreak has shown an increased percentage of patients reporting diarrhea and vomiting as well. The 2009 H1N1 virus is not zoonotic swine flu, as it is not transmitted from pigs to humans, but from person to person through airborne droplets.
Because these symptoms are not specific to swine flu, a differential diagnosis of probable swine flu requires not only symptoms, but also a high likelihood of swine flu due to the person's recent and past medical history. For example, during the 2009 swine flu outbreak in the United States, the CDC advised physicians to "consider swine influenza infection in the differential diagnosis of patients with acute febrile respiratory illness who have either been in contact with persons with confirmed swine flu, or who were in one of the five U.S. states that have reported swine flu cases or in Mexico during the seven days preceding their illness onset." A diagnosis of confirmed swine flu requires laboratory testing of a respiratory sample (a simple nose and throat swab).
The most common cause of death is respiratory failure. Other causes of death are pneumonia (leading to sepsis), high fever (leading to neurological problems), dehydration (from excessive vomiting and diarrhea), electrolyte imbalance and kidney failure. Fatalities are more likely in young children and the elderly.
To humans:
People who work with poultry and swine, especially those with intense exposures, are at increased risk of zoonotic infection with influenza virus endemic in these animals, and constitute a population of human hosts in which zoonosis and reassortment can co-occur.
Vaccination of these workers against influenza and surveillance for new influenza strains among this population may therefore be an important public health measure. Transmission of influenza from swine to humans who work with swine was documented in a small surveillance study performed in 2004 at the University of Iowa. This study, among others, forms the basis of a recommendation that people whose jobs involve handling poultry and swine be the focus of increased public health surveillance. Other professions at particular risk of infection are veterinarians and meat processing workers, although the risk of infection for both of these groups is lower than that of farm workers.
IF YOU REALLY WANT TO STAY HEALTHY IN A WORLD LIKE THIS, YOU SHOULD READ ALL OF THIS ARTICLE.
Swine_influenza_symptoms_on_swine-en -- Wikipedia
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).Original uploader was Zedla at en.wikipedia.
AntigenicShift_HiRes_vector -- Wikipedia
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).This vector graphics image was created with Adobe Illustrator. - AntigenicShift_HiRes.png, Public Domain
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza
Citrus:
Common name for several related evergreen trees and shrubs of the Rue family, and generally for the fruits they produce, including the citron, grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, shaddock (or pomelo), tangerine, and bergamot (a pear-shaped orange). Native to Southeast Asia, the plants are characterized by winglike appendages on the leaf stalks, white or purplish flowers, and fruit (classified scientifically as a kind of berry) with a spongy or leathery rind and a juicy pulp divided in sections. The leaves, flowers, and rind of the fruit abound in volatile oil and emit a sharp fragrance. Many citrus plants have thorny branches. Most species of citrus cannot withstand frost, and their cultivation is restricted to warm climates.
Encarta by Microsoft
It is also said (widely) that dairy products -- except for fruity yogurts -- are very detrimental to your recovery; because dairy products cause more chest congestion. That is quite true. In both cases I agree completely. Citric drinks of 100% juices really help my recovery efforts. I get to points in the day (or night) when I can feel that I am 100% Citrified, and those times correspond directly with my hours of best comforts during the ordeal -- and it is an ordeal. Likewise, if I drink a quart of milk I will (and do) suffer much more chest congestion. I avoid milk thereafter. Downing half a dozen fruit yogurts perks me up though, and I do not get the chest congestion.
About the water. I know that I am going to drink a lot of fluids during a 'Flu Attack', so I sort of become a land-based aquatic animal for the duration of the illness. I know I need a lot of water also, so I dilute some of the juices that I get with 50% water. If I buy a quart of 100% orange juice, I will pour it into a bigger container and follow with the same amount of water. I drink those 50%//50% combinations all of the time. Water Water Water!
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Vapor Rub: For me, sleeping is the worst time because this Influenza is unlike the previous ones that I have had. This one causes you to wheeze in your sleep, and the sounds of that keeps you awake. It makes your lungs sound like a bagpipe, and if you do not do anything to correct the situation then you have to turn on some noise-making machine in the same room as yourself; so you will not hear the wheezing of your own lungs, and you can sleep. Earplugs make it worse, because then you hear your own lungs more.
I was given an inhaler called Symbicort, which was supposed to cause the constrictions of my air passages to open up and the wheezing would go away. That worked for about a week during the worst part of the attack. It allowed me to sleep without staying awake listening to my own lungs wheeze. Then, I looked on the Internet for information about Symbicort. The reviews on the Internet fell entirely into two opposing categories ...
A. People who love Symbicort, and think it is 'Marvey-Poo', and will not live without it ever again.
B. People who think it is awful, and terrible, and Medicine's revenge upon all complainers. They avoid Symbicort like Death itself.
I immediately saw that the 'B' group all experience bad side effects from Symbicort. While the 'A' group does not. However, the 'A' group are now Symbicort Junkies, and are forever mentally addicted to Symbicort. The bad side effects which the 'B' group experiences causes them to throw out the Symbicort, thus freeing them from any addiction to it or dependency upon it.
So ... in Week Five of my ongoing ordeal I threw out the Symbicort. It was causing cankerous lesions in the linings of my inner mouth that were painful. When the Pharmacists give you Symbicort, they tell you to rinse your mouth out after you inhale the stuff twice; but that does not prevent the Symbicort from having bad side effects to your mouth -- IF -- you are one of the people who gets that reaction. Symbicort worked for about six days and helped, but then I got the canker sores in my mouth and I threw it out. Which forced me to find other means of sleeping without wheezing.
Enter the Warm Misters and Vapor Rub!!!!
I immediately went out and bought two of those Vicks Warm Misters for the floor of the house that I sleep on. This was an improvement over something else that I was already doing with the Vapor Rub chest gel, or goo, or whatever you call it. I had already known that putting Vapor Rub on your chest will help you fight chest congestions.
Follow this >>>> I have known for decades about putting Vapor Rub Goo (also called Medicated Chest Rub) on my chest followed by three or four T-shirts, in times of chest congestion caused by colds. It works for me. I layer half a jar of the Gel (Goo) onto my chest at a time; and then put on four T-shirts; which I wear all day; smelling like a Eucalyptus Tree of course. Do you know what I mean? The Goo is sold in every Dollar Store, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and most supermarkets. It always comes in a small blue container with a green cap (3.5 to 4 ounces) and smells like Eucalyptus Oil; which is one of the ingredients. I use the 'Rexall' brand, but it comes in a variety of labels and they are all the same stuff, basically. I have not found one to be better than the others. The prices do range widely however, depending upon how great the company thinks it's name is.
Most stores only carry a few jars of it, so I have been forced to buy all of the supplies of Wright County, Hamilton County, and Franklin County so far. I see they have been dutifully replaced on the shelves by now. The Influenza is starting to spread about here in the Midwest. I am seeing people with the symptoms from Kansas to Wisconsin and from Minnesota to Missouri -- and it is getting worse every day. I was one of the first persons to be hit by this (mid-August), and I know what those people will suffer. I think most adults will get through it after prolonged misery, but it will be doubly hard on children. Really bad times in a young child's life can leave long term mental and physical scars.
All of the states that border Iowa probably have it by now. I doubt if it will be a Pandemic, I hope not, but it is a miserable and lingering beastie. The previous supplies of Vapor Rub jars in stores seem to have doubled; but it is NOT ENOUGH and the retailers need to keep that stuff coming our way!!!! I now have enough of the Goo (Chest Rub etc) to get me through the last of this attack.
Well, to get to my point here -- I bought those Warm Misters and they have a cup on the blue top to add inhalant liquid to them; which will vaporize from the heat and get added to your atmosphere. I put the Vapor Rub Gel in those cups and it works quite well.
When my progress got to the point where I could feel that I was recovering -- but I still had the lingering chest misery -- that Warm Mist practice -- AND -- the pumping of cold air into the room with an air conditioner -- AND -- doing a lot of Pre-Sleep Coughing and Clearing of the Lungs (preferably in the shower) -- AND -- smearing half a jar of the Goo on my chest and wearing four T-shirts >>>> beat the wheezing while I slept and caused it to go away. I noticed that it went away slowly every night. I would wheeze when I started to sleep, and the wheezing would subside as I slept. The congestion would travel down to the bottom of my lungs allowing me to have more breathing capacity, and by that I was able to breathe better while I slept. I actually do sleep quite well now, for as long as I want to. Of course, all of that has to be coughed up during your Post-Sleep Adjustment Period.
Thus, by using a combination of resources and techniques I have been able to completely do without Symbicort. No addiction for life to any medicine for me.
I say -- if you have to have the 'Oh Ye Damned Whale Of An Influenza' anyway, it must be on your own terms. Interfere with the program of the Influenza as much as possible, and exist through the ordeal on your own terms as much as is possible. Allow no one and no thing to dictate terms to you during an Influenza Attack, unless you are destitute and cannot obtained any of the resources that will help you to help yourself.
And all of this was before I found those Honeywell Air Purifiers at Shopko, and bought two of them that day. The air purifiers have helped by making the entire house smell fresher and seem to be cleaner, which it really is. Which is good for a victim's attitude; by making my breathing easier, and by eliminating any possible Allergen Complications. There is no doubt that I am now breathing better in my own house, due to the air purifiers.
Now >>>> the interior of my house changes depending upon my activity, the Warm Misters are on constantly and are being refilled with water, the Vapor Rub Goo is on my chest and in the Warm Mister cups, and the four air purifiers are running constantly >>>> 24/7.
I recently sent a message to someone about those air purifiers. I will repeat it here for your convenience:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Honeywell-HPA160-True-HEPA-Tower-Allergen-Remover/27435374
The prefilter has to be tossed out every three months. Prefilters are very important to have in these machines. The main filters last a year. I would change the main filters after ten months. You can always order these units to be sent to the Walmart nearest you, and pick them up at the service center inside the Walmart. These might not be on display inside the store. You can order new filters that way too. This is a current model. In Iowa, we do not have much choice where such machines are concerned. We are dependent upon Walmarts and Menards (etc). Fortunately the Honeywell machines are built strong and of good materials and work right.
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There are two bigger units that I will show you links to >>>>http://www.honeywellstore.com/store/products/true-hepa-large-room-air-purifier-with-allergen-remover-black-hpa200.htm
----------http://www.honeywellstore.com/store/products/hpa300-true-hepa-whole-room-air-purifier-with-allergen-remover.htm
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There is also a version that has what is called a 'Permanent HEPA Filter', which is washable and still catches germs down to .3 microns.http://www.honeywellstore.com/store/products/airgenius-5-air-cleaner-and-odor-reducer-hfd320.htm
I do not trust permanent filters. I would much prefer to change out HEPA filters periodically, and remove them from the house entirely.
There are Honeywell models with UV Light filters in them, and they are sold at Walmart stores and Menards -- but like I said, cheap UV Light machines usually break down. I got one of those (Other Brand) UV models that they sell at Walmart, and it burnt out in one hour; after smelling horrible for an hour. Decent UV Models sell for $800 and can be found on the Internet.
These machines not only make the air in your house smell better and fresher, they wipe out Allergens that can cause complications to Influenza attacks -- doubling your displeasure. If you have to have the damned Flu, it is good to know that you are not being attacked by Allergens at the same time. These machines all have a Germ Removal setting on them as well.
Even with these machines I swear by Lysol disinfectant spray. I use a case of that stuff every time I get the flu.
Markel
They were written by students and clergy when the latin idiom was the lingua franca across Italy and Western Europe for travelling scholars, universities and theologians. Most of the poems and songs appear to be the work of goliards, clergy (mostly students) who satirized the catholic church. The collection preserves the works of a number of poets, including peter of blois, walter of châtillon, and an anonymous poet, referred to as the archpoet.