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Emergency signs & symptoms with respect to swine-flu
Dr. S. Tamizuddin, MD (Hom.)
Some facts about
swine-flu:-
Swine flu is caused by a type A influenza virus, and the
new strain belongs to the most common subtype, known as
H1N1. Swine flu can infect humans. In such cases, it is
most often transmitted from a pig to someone handling
the animal. Swine flu can pass from human to human
through coughing, sneezing or touching infected people
or surfaces and then touching your mouth or nose. The
incubation period of swine flu is only a day or two.
The symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus in people are similar
to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include fever,
cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches,
headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of
people who have been infected with novel H1N1 flu virus
also have reported diarrhoea and vomiting.
As of today, 168 countries and overseas
territories/communities have reported at least one
laboratory confirmed case of pandemic (H1N1) 09. All
continents are affected by the pandemic. Globally
162380 confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza and 1154
related deaths have been reported so far. There must be
many times more unconfirmed cases.
According to WHO estimates seasonal flu kills between
250,000 and 500,000 people globally in an
average year. This indicates that the mortality rate of
the H1N1 influenza is not significantly different from
the normal seasonal flu but the lack of awareness of
this fact is making people panic the world-over.
In the present scenario of swine-flu epidemic, some
signs and symptoms that one should be careful about are:
1. Flu-like symptoms that improve with routine
medication only to return with fever and increased
cough;
2. Fast breathing / trouble in breathing / shortness of
breathe;
3. Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen;
4. Persistent vomiting;
5. Dizziness, dullness;
6. The patient does not waking up or interact;
7. Confusion or irritability or both.
8. Thirstlessness or not drinking enough fluids
Vaccination for Swine-flu
Vaccine – is a substance which contains part of, or a
harmless (?) form of, virus or bacterium, and which is
given to a person or animal to prevent them from getting
the disease that the virus or bacterium causes
(Cambridge International Dictionary of English). Most of
the vaccines are made up from live attenuated organism,
toxins of the organisms, or the death organism, or
obtained by genetic engineering. Vehicle and
preservative medium for most of vaccines can be harmful.
Some of chemicals commonly used are aluminum hydroxide,
antibiotics, borax, formaldehyde, mercury etc. In fact,
all vaccines are schedule 4 poisons (USA, FDA).
The protective ability of influenza vaccines depends
primarily on the closeness of the match between the
vaccine virus and the epidemic virus. So the presence of
non reactive H3N2 SIV variants suggests that current
commercial vaccines might not effectively protect pigs
from infection with a majority of H3N2 viruses. The
current vaccine against the seasonal influenza strain
H1N1 is thought unlikely to provide protection. The
director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and
Respiratory Diseases said that in the United States'
cases were found to be made up of genetic elements from
four different flu viruses—North American swine
influenza, North American avian influenza, human
influenza A virus subtype H1N1, and swine influenza
virus typically found in Asia and Europe.
Can vaccine be harmful?
In 1976 a new strain of swine flu started infecting
people and worried U.S. health officials started
widespread vaccination. More than 40 million people were
vaccinated. But several cases of Guillain-Barre
syndrome, a severe and sometime fatal condition that can
be linked to some vaccines, caused the U.S. government
to stop the program. The incident led to widespread
distrust of vaccines in general. (Source FACT BOX: swine
flu, http://swineflu-virus.blogspot.com)
Homoeopathy
Homeopathy was very successful in dealing with the
1918-19 flu pandemic. Here is a quote from the famous
historian Julian Winston:
Perhaps the most recent use of homeopathy in a major
epidemic was during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. The
Journal of the American Institute for Homeopathy, May,
1921, had a long article about the use of homeopathy in
the flu epidemic. Dr. T A McCann, from Dayton, Ohio,
reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically
had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu
treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%.
This last figure was supported by Dean W.A. Pearson of
Philadelphia (Hahnemann College) who collected 26,795
cases of flu treated with homeopathy with the above
result.
The most common remedy used was Gelsemium, with
occasional cases needing Bryonia and Eupatorium
reported. Dr. Herbert A. Roberts from Derby, CT, said
that 30 physicians in Connecticut responded to his
request for data. They reported 6,602 cases with 55
deaths, which is less than 1%. Dr. Roberts was working
as a physician on a troop ship during WWI. He had 81
cases of flu on the way over to Europe. He reported,
"All recovered and were landed. Every man received
homeopathic treatment. One ship lost 31 on the way."
(SOURCE: www.hpathy.com/papersnew/winston-homeopathy-epidemics.asp)
An example of the effectiveness of homeopathy in an
epidemic in India is Japanese encephalitis in Andhra
Pradesh 10 years ago. The government distributed one
million doses of Belladonna to children. No child was
affected by Japanese encephalitis after that. |
