How To Prevent Swine Flu - Part 1

This is the part 1 of a 2-series article dealing with how to prevent getting the swine flu. This first part will deal with how to keep the flu virus out of your system - the second part will deal with what to do just in case the virus has gotten in your system (strengthening your immune system)

Part 1: Keeping the Virus Out!

1. Hand Sanitization

All hands down - you can't wash your hands more than enough when there is a potentially lethal flu outbreak in the area.

Normal soap and water are not enough - you want to act in a more determined way in situations like this. This link will bring you to a list of hand sanitizers currently on sale on Amazon.com.

There will be times when you're unable to wash your hands or don't have your sanitizer nearby. Ever touch money? Banknotes and coins are among the dirtiest things you can ever find on Earth. They are dirtier than a toilet, because maybe hundreds of thousands of people have handled it - and they haven't been cleaned even for once. In those situations, I suggest you use alcohol sanitizing wipers. Amazon sells them here.

2. Protect Your Mouth and Nose

Mouth and nose are the places the virus enters your body - it's classified as a respiratory virus for a reason. Now, wearing surgical masks outdoors might look a bit "overkill", but if you do live in a place close to the outbreak, you don't want to leave your home without one. Amazon's safe mask list can be accessed here: Safe masks

3. Protect Your Hands

Much like the above, you might need to protect your hands also. Here is the Amazon list for latex gloves: Link

Some Swine Flu Facts

Because of the sudden outbreak of the great swine flu pandemic, the media is just as confused as the antibodies in our blood. There is a vast network of misinformation, incorrect myths and rumors. So here are some swine flu facts that are important:

1. PORK IS UNSAFE TO EAT: WRONG!!!

Because the name is "swine flu", most people think pork can carry the virus along with it; and incredibly those people are even supported by some branches of the media. Here is the fact: Swine flu can't be transmitted from foods. It is transmitted by the respiratory systems. We wish it was the other way around, though... that way, staying safe would be much less of a concern.

2. THIS IS JUST ANOTHER "MEDIA SCARE": WRONG!!!

This virus has learned to jump from animal-to-animal transmission to human-to-human transmission. This is a VERY RARE skill for a virus to have. And the human-to-human transmission of the virus is very easy.

Whatever the media says, one fact remains: Public health officials are very concerned about the virus. They are directing a vast proportion of their resources for the fighting of this virus.

Another interesting fact: Influenza itself is, in fact, deadly just like every other virus - it's our developed antibodies in our blood which makes it unimportant. Our antibodies know the influenza virus very well, and they effectively fight it off. However, this is a new strain and our bodies don't know how to fight it off - and this can prove to be lethal.

Why is it called Swine Flu?

Why at all?

Here's the answer from ksla.com:

"So why is it called "swine flu?" Viruses from those human cases have been sequenced and they appear to share sequences with viruses isolated from swine. Pigs are easily infected with all three types of flu, and can function as "mixing vessels" in which flu viruses exchange genetic material and emerge in new forms.

The A/H1N1 swine flu confirmed in the Mexican, U.S. and Canadian cases is actually a whole new combination of pig, human and avian flu viruses."

What is the Swine Flu?

Okay, you know everyone is concerned about the swine flu becoming a pandemic - but just what is the swine flu and how did it become a pandemic so fast?

To understand this, we need to know what the influenza is. The influenza virus which causes all influenza illnesses in humans, can be fought by the body with relevant antibodies. However, the antibodies need to know what they are fighting against - the very reason we have something called "vaccination". By injecting a small amount of the virus in your body, you can help your body build the antibodies needed to fight off the virus you have introduced.

But the influenza virus constantly changes form via different strains. Most of the time the changes are minor, and the antibodies created to fight off the original virus are still effective against the slightly modified virus.

However, every ten years or so, the virus undergoes a major change which makes your antibodies obsolete and makes your body effectively helpless - by the time your body is able to build the necessary antibodies, the virus could have already spread to every inch of your body, and after that you are helpless.

The H1N1 strain of the influenza virus is just that - it's a major change that caught us with "our pants down". Our bodies are unable to produce the necessary antibodies in time and we're caught offguard - and the virus is spreading incredibly fast.

There's no question you have to protect yourself from the deadly H1N1 strain. We will cover everything you need to protect yourself in this blog. However, you probably should get one of those from Amazon: Respirators Surgical, SWINE FLU & Dust Mask, 10/ pack.

Because the virus is now classified as a pandemic, you can contact anyone you know that bears the virus at any moment, and at those moments it's greatly important that you cover yourself with something. Those surgical respirators provide excellent cover for your mouth and nose - the place you can get the virus from.

Swine Flu Symptons

Swine flu has symptoms which are very similar to the normal influenza. Because of that, if you think you've gotten the flu you should be extra careful - that might not be just your "regular" flu.

Here are some of the symptoms for the swine flu:

Nasopharynx: Runny nose
Nasopharynx: Sore throat

General Systemic: High fever

Respiratory: None to heavy coughing

Gastric: Nausea
Gastric: Vomiting

Psychological: Lack of appetite

Intestinal: Diarrhea

As you can see, the symptoms are highly reminiscent of regular influenza symptoms. Because of this, none should overlook ANY of those symptoms as they might be indicating a swine flu case.

How is the Swine Flu Transmitted

How do you get swine flu? The swine flu, obviously from the name, originates from pigs. While there is no vaccination available for the H1N1 strain as of now, in some months a new vaccine will be developed. It's up to YOU to ensure protection from the strain until then.

Because the flu originates from pigs, there are two ways how is the swine flu transmitted:

1. From pigs to humans

Let's first dispel a myth: Swine flu CAN NOT be transmitted via pork products.

The basic way the flu is transmitted from pigs to humans happens in pig farms. Like all influenza, swine flu transmits by touch and one-on-one contact. Because of this, the most common place the transmit of the flu from pigs to humans occurs are the pig farms; where farm workers and pigs are in close contact.

2. From humans to humans

This is the reason you should be worrying. Most probably you don't live near to any pigs that you get personally involved with: But that's not the way this influenza became a pandemic in the first place. The pandemic spreads by human to human transmission.

Like all influenza, swine influenza spreads by touch. The human saliva will have the flu virus in it, so coughing and sneezing of a person with the flu will cause the people around him/her to catch it. You can easily catch the flu through nose or mouth and other orifices in your body. Even the small pores on your skin might let the virus through.

This article deals with how the swine flu is transmitted. We'll concentrate on methods for avoiding the flu in the coming posts; but this one is so important we have to include this in this post: THE BEST WAY TO AVOID THE FLU IS BY FREQUENTLY WASHING YOUR HANDS. Wash them. Wash them and then wash them a little more. You can get infected even by shaking hands. For this reason, normal soap and water might not be able to do the trick. To be extra safe, you HAVE to use hand sanitizers, some of which you can find on Amazon: Hand Sanitizers on Amazon