Flu Fighters

Despite all your flu fighting efforts to keep you and your household healthy, it's almost certain that someone in the family will bring home the flu (or common cold) virus. Although that family member maybe sneezing their head off they are not necessarily sick yet; it's just their body is fighting off the virus attack. A sneeze or cough is the body's first line of defense in expeling the invader.

But when that happens, droplets of the virus are ejected into the air and on the lookout for the nearest warm body to infect.

Tip 1: Use tissues to catch the sneeze or cough - simple right? But in order to do that there must be boxes of tissues within easy reach in every room of the house and in every pocket especially when we leave the house. Consistently teaching this to your children from an age when they can hold a tissue to their nose will eventually make it secondnature to them. They won't even have to think about it, and when the adults of a household set the example, the lesson is driven home.

I've heard people say, "just turn your head and sneeze into your sleeve..." I agree that is a handy method in a pinch when you are caught without a tissue or hankie, but it's easier to sneeze into a tissue that you throw away than into a garment which must then be washed. Cold and flu viruses can live on surfaces anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours.

Tip #2: Be meticulous about wiping down the commonly used surfaces in your home (and work environment if possible). When droplets of the virus contaminate surfaces, a family member can transfer the virus to themselves by touching that surface then rubbing their nose, eyes or mouth, .

Keep household wipes handy in kitchen and bathrooms for countertops, sinks, faucets and other areas. But don't forget about the phone (especially the mouthpiece), doorknobs, remote control, computer keyboards, etc. etc. etc. Don't worry about complaints that you're being too fussy - better that than having a house full of 'sickies' on your hands.

Be sure to empty wastebaskets and garbage bags with the disposed tissues and wipes frequently. Daily is best - don't give those viruses any opportunity!

And lastly, but definitely not the least important - Tip #3: Wash your hands frequently! This cannot be stressed enough. Washing hands is the primary method for infection control.

Again train your children to wash their hands from toddler age and up. Make it fun using colorful, foamy soaps and gels. And explain in age-appropriate terms why they should wash their hands before eating, after going to the bathroom, and particularly after coughing or sneezing into their hands.

It is also advisable to wash hands when first coming home, either from school, work or shopping. This is extremely important if members of the household use public transportation - hundreds of people handle the poles, handrails and seat surfaces on buses, subways and escalators. Yeccck! Need I say more?

These 3 flu fighting tips cannot guarantee that you, or another family member, will not avoid the flu or a cold entirely. But following them will limit the spread of illness and keep you and your family healthier during flu season.

For the fifth time out of the last seven flu seasons, the predicted vaccine does not match all of the flu viruses lurking among the general public.

Several months back, following the 2007/2008 season in the Northern Hemisphere, the World Health Organisation (WHO) made its annual prediction for the virus strains that pharmaceutical companies should include for the next season's vaccine.

But they got it wrong! Again!

The flu virus strains included in the 2008/2009 vaccine are:
Type A Brisbane
Type A Uruguay
Type B Florida

It is the Type B strain that is mismatched - and it is children who are particularly vulnerable to this type.

The Type B strain that is presently circulating is B/Victoria which first emerged back in 2001. Until then only one family of B viruses appeared at any given time. Now two B Type viruses co-exist on a global scale. Which strain will dominate the season is unpredictable and claims that some medical authorities make for the current vaccine's cross protection of either strain are equally capricious.

"Historically it has obviously been difficult to predict which one's coming next," Dr. Joseph Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza surveillance and prevention, says of the flu B viruses. "And so one way to hedge those bets is just put them both in the vaccine."

So far this season, the U.S. and Britain are contending with the Type A viruses but Canada looks poised on the edge of a flu season dominated by the B/Victoria.

Rather than try to predict the future's emerging viruses or 'hedge their bets' by adding more strains to an unreliable vaccine with side effects, the medical industry should focus on educating the public on alternative ways to avoid catching the flu.

The best way to take herbs, especially when you are sick, is in liquid form. Your body assimilates their benefits more readily and the liquid can sipped as a tea or added to juice, whichever is preferable.

Also important that you buy the herbs from a reputable dealer and that they are produced from organic sources. Stock up on these 2 essential herbs throughtout the flu and cold season.

ECHINACEA
The Echinacea plant has been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans as a remedy for many health issues. European settlers noted the benefits of Echinacea and used it to fend off the diseases that threatened their new settlements. They found a willing and excited market back in Europe where it is still used to this very day.

In the modern world, German researchers have found the extract of Echinacea to have anti-viral activity against the influenza pathogen. By increasing the production of interferon, echinacea increases the number of phagocytes, which are the type of white blood cells that "engulf" microbial invaders such as the flu virus.

Echinacea may be taken for acute colds, flus, fevers, and infections. Of most importance is the dosage and frequency. Effectiveness is increased when taken every two hours until some symptoms are relieved.

At the first sign of a sore throat or cough, place a dropperful of alcohol-free Echinacea (combined with Goldenseal) in your mouth and hold it there for 5-10 minutes. Repeat every hour 3-4 times. This will stop the virus from spreading.

Caution: Side effects are rare when echinacea is taken orally but if you are allergic to flowers of the daisy family (the same genus as echinacea) you should not use this herb.

GOLDENSEAL
Goldenseal was also frequently used by Native Americans, including the Cherokee, as an herbal medication and was adopted by European settlers who noted the herb's benefits as a digestive bitter and as mouth and eye washes.

One of Goldenseal's most common uses today is to enhance the body's seasonal resistance. It acts on mucous membranes by increasing bile secretion, which may soothe these tissues. Finally, it has tonifying effects on the liver and stomach which is helpful when the lymphatic system is flushing away the toxins and virus fallout.

An important caution: goldenseal stimulates the uterus and should not be used during pregnancy.

Goldenseal's benefits may start to diminish over very long periods of time, so it is generally recommended for about three weeks at a time or less as necessary.

Combined with Echinacea in an alcohol-free extract is an excellent way to fight the flu in both adults and children. Put 3-4 drops in juice and give to child every 4 hours for 3 days. Can be combined with peppermint tea which will help open up the nasal passages if congested.

Both the flu and the common cold are caused by viruses. And this is the season for both. In fact, the flu season in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth runs until mid-April. Neither is treatable with antibiotics.

One of the easiest ways to avoid both colds and flu is to practice basic hygiene such as frequent handwashing, especially after:

a toilet visit,

a sneeze into the hand, and

travelling home from work by public transit - even if you avoid touching surfaces.

Yeccch. Some of those handrails feel downright nasty!

But despite it all, your body has succumbed to the onslaught and now you feel lousy. Probably got something from that guy who towered over you in the subway car last week and sneezed all over you. Didn't even cover his nose - just wiped it off with his hand and grabbed the pole again. You couldn't get away fast enough!

So what did he give you? A cold? Or the flu?

If you have;

a runny or stuffy nose

sneezing

and a scratchy sore throat,

it's probably a cold and you can still go about your daily business. Just make sure that you carry tissues to sneeze into so you won't spread it further. Carrying an alcohol based handwashing gel in your cold-fighting arsenal is a good idea too.

For the common cold, often over-the-counter remedies can be effective but they do have side effects. For example, antihistamines are routinely recommended for the symptoms of runny noses and sneezing but can make you drowsy. Something to consider if you drive or operate any machinery.

Throat lozenges can help a sore throat and sometimes even a cough if the congestion is not too deep into your chest. I recommend that, along with chewable vitamin C, you suck on lozenges with zinc and elderberry or Echinacea as these do the trick without side effects. Just make sure they are natural based products.

While the flu can show similar symptoms, it is definitely more serious. Additional symptoms that identify the flu are:

a high fever - over 39 degrees C or 101F

chills

aches and pains, sometimes so intense that your eyeballs hurt

weakness and lethargy,

and a loss of appetite.

What to do?

Stay home! Don't give it to anyone!

Rest, keep warm, and drink hot cinnamon or ginger tea with lemon (for vitamin C) and raw unpasteurized honey (for its anti-bacterial properties). Make sure you use only fresh ingredients and that the cinnamon is true cinnamon - the stuff in your neighbourhood corner shop is not. Cinnamon sticks are best.

It is of interest to note here that currently a number of research studies are being carried out in Israel and Copenhagen on the use of cinnamon (in its essential oil form) against the Avian flu virus.
Since both colds and flu can lead to serious complications such as

bronchitis,

pneumonia,

kidney and heart failure in people with compromised immune systems, the long term approach to avoiding viruses must be to boost the immune system to optimal levels.

Another natural cold and flu remedy that has been used for centuries is black elderberry extract. A study done in London, England in 2006 by a leading and well respected immunologist and flu researcher showed this extract to be 99% effective against the Avian flu virus. I recommend that you have this extract on hand throughout the flu season. Used as directed, there are no side effects whatsoever.

People often say that you should feed a cold and starve a fever, but even though your appetite maybe non-existent while you are sick with the flu, your body still needs nutrients. Vegetable or chicken soups are good. Fruit provides vitamin C and anti-oxidants and keeps you from getting dehydrated. Just eat very small portions,
as you are able, and avoid dairy products, alcohol, and sweets.

Every year just before the flu season starts, we are bombarded by news reports, both on television and in print, on the absolute need to get our annual flu jab.

What is usually missing in the information are the warnings:

vaccine inefficiency (some seasons its efficacy rate has been less that 45%),

what the vaccine is concocted from (cured by Formaldehyde and preserved with Mercury),

the inherent dangers that pose a threat to all individuals regardless of age,

and finally, who is profiting from the ever increasing proliferation of medical vaccines.

The flu vaccine is manufactured annually based on predictions by the World Health Organization (WHO) which flu strains are likely to be circulating the following flu season. However, to illustrate how chancy this can be, consider the problems experienced during the 2007-2008 season in North America. Two of the infectious viruses circulating, the Brisbane H2N2 and the Type B Florida strains, were not included in the current vaccine's make-up. It took the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S. almost a year before they admitted the error.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been very aggressive in promoting the vaccination of children as young as 6 months despite the growing body of evidence that vaccinations are made of many toxic substances including formaldehyde, mercury and more. And that the use of vaccines has been implicated in Autism, Hyperactivity, AIDS, MS, and Cancer.

And a recent study reported in the British Medical Journal highlights that the vaccines are on the whole ineffective in the age groups they are primarily aimed at, the elderly and the very young. Dr. Tom Jefferson, coordinator of the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Italy noted that recommendations for the flu jab have increased appreciably in the last several years. He further noted that after reviewing the evidence of the effect of the flu on these population groups, this increase might not be justified.

He told the news agency Reuters, "We recorded no convincing evidence that vaccines can reduce mortality, [hospital] admissions, death rates and time off work."

SO WHY THE INCREASE? WHO IS PROFITING?

After a fairly innocuous beginning in the late sixties, the flu vaccine has become an increasingly profitable venture for big business pharmaceuticals and the medical industry. Through draconian measures, widespread use of the flu shot has proliferated in the last 20 years. In the U.S. the number of vaccines has jumped an astonishing 530 % while the country's population has only increased by 25%.

A spokesman for the CDC stated that one reason is that manufacturers have discovered a market for their product. And the CDC has decided that more people need to be vaccinated...almost from birth to death (no pun intended). Or as a prominent doctor, Joseph Teitelbaum, MD, put it "...fear sells. And if there's a buck to be made, especially in medicine, it's going to be made."

That attitude is born out by 2 reports publicized in 1997 & 1998 in the Financial Pulse, a U.K. based periodical for the medical profession. The reports indicated how doctors could increase their profit margins by bumping up the practice of vaccinating all their patients. For a full report on how this was proposed, click on the links below.
How to Inject Extra Cash From Vaccinations and Immunisations
Act Now to Treble Next Year's Flu Clinic Profits

All the tricks imaginable are being used to generate more and more avenues to push the vaccine.
Economic penalties can be imposed when people refuse to inject themselves or their children with essentially poisonous substances. For example

denial of enrolment in daycare, elementary school, and college

denial of health insurance or Medicaid

even denial of employment or state/federal benefits

The latest is offering the vaccine at airports to busy travellers. At least 22 airports in North America have erected kiosks in airport concourses to offer the flu jab at $20-35.00 a pop. Only 2 of the airports offer the vaccine for free.

You can even get a flu jab at the corner store. Prominent retail store chains and pharmacies in the States plan to administer millions of shots this year. At $25-30.00 per shot - well, you do the math. Presently, the average wholesale price per dose is $12.00, lower if the chain can negotiate a discount price based on volume.

Another favorite is trying to 'guilt trip' people into accepting the flu jab, like; save your kids, help a war vet, etc.

Then there's the threat of imprisonment for parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated. In the state of Maryland, for instance, parents have to present their children's school with a current record of immunizations. If not, the child is sent home. During the child's absence, parents could be sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $50 for each day.

In the dogma of the ever-righteous medical and government health agencies, it seems there is no room or allowance for dissension, nor the freedom to choose the medical treatment preferred.

Is not that freedom included in every individual's privileges under any democratic country's charter of rights?

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