6 ways to protect your child from swine flu

As swine flu continues to infect school kids, parental anxieties have stirred up with each one trying to be cautious enough to avoid the spread

protect your child from swine flu (Getty Images)

of HINI virus that has caused severe illness and deaths worldwide.

Dr Galit Holzmann-Pazgal assistant professor of pediatrics at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston suggest parents can ease their anxieties by arming themselves with facts about H1N1 and using some commonsense tips.

* Wash your hands after you touch...and Twitter

Washing your hands is the single-most important step to prevent the spread of H1N1. The virus is spread by droplets from coughs and sneezes as well as touching hands and objects contaminated with these droplets such as each other''s phones, computer keyboards, iPods and video games.

* Know the symptoms

Main symptoms of swine flu are fatigue and fever. Others include body aches, runny or stuffy nose, cough, sore throat and fever, headache, chills, diarrhea and vomiting

* Know when it is an emergency

Call your doctor if your child has symptoms including rapid breathing, not drinking enough, fussiness or if symptoms improve and then return with fever and worsened cough.


* With mild cases, call your doctor first

If your child just feels lousy, and doesn''t have a high fever or trouble breathing, call your pediatrician instead of heading to the hospital.

* Keep the kids home

Keep your sick child at home for at least 24 hours after his fever is gone (without the use of a fever-reducing medicine) except to get medical care or for other necessities, according to the CDC.

Encourage her to cover her mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, throw away used tissue in the waste basket, and to clean her hands every time she coughs or sneezes.

* Start the vaccinations

Federal officials expect release of the H1N1 vaccine in October. The vaccine may require a second shot given three weeks after the first. It may take another two weeks before the vaccine fully protects the body against the flu. Recent studies showed that one shot may protect against H1N1, stretching the supply of the vaccine.

Until the H1N1 shot is ready, Pazgal advises families to go ahead and get the "regular" flu shot, which protects against the seasonal flu and is already available. That way, your children won''t get the flu twice in one season.


P.S., Know more about benefits of Vitamin C to increase resistance to Flu diseases.



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U.S. to Donate 10 Percent of Swine Flu Vaccine to WHO

The United States plans to donate 10 percent of its supply of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the World Health Organization for use in low-income countries.

The nation has on order 195 million doses of the swine flu vaccine, which is due to start arriving early next month. The White House said it "is taking this action in concert" with eight other countries.

The White House released no details about the program, such as timetables and total amounts of vaccine to be donated. Officials at the Geneva-based WHO did not respond to phone and e-mail inquiries.

The other countries making donations are Australia, Brazil, Britain, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.

Earlier this summer, two vaccine manufacturers, Sanofi Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline, said they would donate 150 million doses of pandemic vaccine to WHO. Global production, by about 20 makers in all, is projected to be 2 billion to 4 billion doses over a year.

The number of people who could be protected is uncertain. The first tests of the pandemic vaccine showed that adults will need only one shot, not two as some experts predicted. Children, however, are likely to need two.

"The United States recognizes that just as this challenge transcends borders, so must our response. We invite other nations to join in this urgent global effort," the White House said.

The statement noted as well that "we remain confident that the United States will have sufficient doses of the vaccine to ensure that every American who wants a vaccine is able to receive one."

WHO officials have grappled all summer with how to prevent virtually all the supply of vaccine and antiviral drugs from going to rich countries, leaving poor countries unprotected.

"Improving access to vaccine is the central global issue at this time," Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director general, told epidemiologists and influenza researchers in Washington this week. They were meeting at the Institute of Medicine to discuss events of the first five months of the pandemic.

Negotiations between WHO, the United Nations, vaccine manufacturers and wealthy countries that have standing orders for an essentially limitless supply of pandemic flu vaccine have been "slow and time-consuming," Fukuda said.

Without them "the least developed countries are not really going to have a chance of getting the vaccine." But he acknowledged that "nobody expects the numbers to work out in this pandemic."

Fukuda said that "prolonged ad hoc negotiations" like the ones this summer would be unrealistic in a pandemic more severe than this one.

In 2007, when researchers complained that Indonesia was not making samples of H5N1 "bird flu" available for study, WHO convened intergovernmental negotiations to try to reach an agreement for sharing both virus samples and the benefits that might result from them, such as vaccines. The negotiations ended this year without a full agreement.


P.S. boost your immune system thru Vitamin C nutrition.



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Protect yourself against the swine flu with good nutrition

The swine flu is all over the news right now and leaving people in a panic wondering what can be done to protect against getting the illness. Good nutrition is a great place to start. Adding just a few foods to your diet can dramatically decrease your risk of getting the swine flu by building up your immune system.

Right now our population is overfed and undernourished. Meaning that people are filling up on nutritionally deficient foods, leaving their bodies malnourished and immune depressed. When your immune system isn’t supported with good nutrition your body can’t fight off bacteria and viruses as well putting you at a much greater risk of getting sick.

Foods to boost your immune system:

1) Protein: our bodies are made up of protein and in the every day wear and tear we need to keep up adequate protein intake to help our bodies re-build tissues and cells. Good sources of protein include lean meats, eggs, beans, and healthy soy products like tempeh.


2) Vitamin C: everyone knows that Vitamin C is essential to a good immune system; this is why it is frequently taken by people at the first sign of a cold. The problem is that people don’t get enough day to day and it is not stored in the body so when your stores are depleted your immune system crashes. Make sure to get Vitamin C in the foods you eat every day to keep your immune system running strong all the time. Good sources of Vitamin C include citrus fruits, bell peppers, berries, broccoli, tomatoes, and even potatoes.


3) Garlic: garlic is antimicrobial, antiviral, and antiparasitic. It is a wonderful immune enhancer. If you don’t like the taste of garlic, or don’t like smelling like garlic then take it in supplement form. Many supplements out there don’t have a taste or smell. Kyloic aged garlic extract is a great supplement.


4) Probiotics: probiotics keep our gastrointestinal (GI) system working properly. Sixty percent of our immune system lies within our GI tract, thus a healthy GI means healthy immunity. The overuse of antibiotics kills off our natural healthy gut flora and lowers our immunity, ironically. Supplementing with probiotics builds this healthy flora back up. Probiotics can be found in yogurt, fermented foods like sauerkraut and pickles, and in supplemental form.



Including these foods in your daily diet will enhance your immunity and protect you from colds and flu. The swine flu is a very real problem in our society right now and it is important to protect ourselves in the best way possible. Good nutrition is always a win-win situation for our health and the health of our families.


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