Tips To Prevent The Swine Flu

Tips To Prevent The Swine Flu

By: Colin Platt

The A (H1N1) virus Swine flu virus infection has now climbed
steadily over the week-end to 21,940 cases according to the
World Health Organisation (WHO), who are monitoring the
situation, with Mexico, USA, and Canada as the worst affected
countries. Saudi Arabia having their first case of Swine flu,
bringing the total number of Countries to 69. The WHO scale of
infection through 1-6, has reached 5, one short of a full scale
pandemic.

What are the effects of this particular flu and how
does it manifest itself, and how do we prevent swine flu?

This strain of flu is the same strain as the Spanish Flu in 1918
which killed between 50-100 million people with mortality rates
up to 90%. With the significant increase in worldwide population
since this time, and global interaction, this would equate to
over 300 million at today's figures!

Strangely, it infected young children, men and women aged
between 25 and 35 in the prime of their life and those with a
pre-existing medical condition, the old and infirm. So, why is
it so deadly, and what can we learn from past events. This
strain of flu, similar to the Spanish Flu has the ability to
turn a person's immune system inside-out. Breathing becomes
impossible as it eats up the victims lungs, causing acute
respiratory distress syndrome known as Cytokine Storm.

Normally most of the population has some immunity to flu strains
and recognise them as such. But, with a new strain, the body has
no idea how to cope with it, and goes into overdrive to try to
shut it down as quickly as possible, hence the storm, an
overreaction really.

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

The 'Storm' really is reference to the severity of the condition
as in chaotic weather events, where the fury of nature is
released uncontrollably, so the word 'storm' has no medical
connotation. The Cytokine does…. and it's alarming. So what does
Cytokine mean, in layman's terms, and simply, what effect does
it have in our bodies? They are important let's say elements of
the immune system that act as messengers or couriers if you like
between cells. The immune system latches on to a virus that it
has not seen before or does not recognise is in the case of H1N1
and all hell breaks loose releasing a cascade of biochemical's,
such as interferon, and interleukin, really overacting, causing
respiratory distress similar to Asthma but much worse.
Consequently, the lungs self ingest, suffocating the victim as a
result of the body's reaction. I have seen some references to it
as the Purple Death which signals the lack of oxygen in the body.

So how we can help ourselves to prevent swine flu? What we have
to remember is that viruses can survive for up to three days, so
they can hang about where you least expect them. As we all know
now coughs and sneezes spreads diseases, so my mother used to
drill into me, and how true today with a pandemic imminent.
There are some basic hygiene rules to follow to prevent swine
flu.

• Cover each Cough and Sneeze with a tissue, bin it then wash
ones hands as soon as possible. The virus can linger on door
handles, elevator buttons, toilet flush handles,

• The virus can linger on door handles, elevator buttons, toilet
flush handles, store trolley handles, even on your car steering
wheel. Computer keyboards and TV remote control stations.

• In our Gym there are antiseptic wipe dispensers for first aid
and personal use, mainly though to wipe down a machine after
use. So why not keep a box in your car to wipe down your
steering wheel (recommended), and all items of equipment
manually controlled. Researchers have found that it is more
beneficial to wipe one small area at a time and then throw the
wipe away, used on multi surfaces can spread viruses very
effectively. For more information on how to prevent swine flu
and optimise your immune system, follow me in my next blog.

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