- Wash your hands often with soap and water thoroughly and often, especially after you cough or sneeze. Washing your hands is the number one way to avoid contracting the virus. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth as it can introduce the virus into your receptive passageways.
- Stay home if you get sick. It is recommended that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
- Avoid close contact with people who appear unwell and have fever and cough.
- Get your annual flu shot.
- Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.
- Take Echinacea to give your immune system a boost. Dr. Lissa Rankin from owningpink.com recommends Esberitox from Integrative Therapeutics.
- Eat immune boosting foods, and avoid sugar. Here are five suggestions that can help you:
Citrus
Packed with Vitamin C, citrus fruits are an excellent way to support your immune system. Try lemon water with cayenne pepper.
Red chilli peppers (cayenne)
Cayenne pepper has tremendous medicinal properties and can help your body during states of emergency.
Garlic
Garlic has an amazing effect on boosting the immune system. It has been used to treat everything from the common cold to the Plague.
Carrots
Carrots have an exceptional amount of beta-carotene, which helps your body fight infection. Sweet potatoes and spinach also contain a great deal of beta carotene.
Fish
Fish like salmon, mackerel, and tuna are packed with omega-3 fats, which support white blood cells in fighting infection.
- Blend an array of veggies in a juicer to help support and promote good health. Guzzle green juice instead. Green vegetables like kale, celery, cucumber, swiss chard, lemon and spinach are excellent. Ginger and garlic are great to add as well. In addition, avoid processed foods and eat a whole foods diet.
- Try not to drink after others, especially those who have recently traveled to Mexico.
- Keep hydrated. Drink plenty of pure, clean water. By doing this you help keep your mucous thin and it helps you mucous membranes resist infection.
- Take Vitamin C supplements. If you take extra, it gets excreted in your urine, so it does not hurt to have extra.
- Add probiotic bacteria to your daily routine. Probiotic bacteria alter the intestinal flora and help your body resist infection.
- Dr. Lissa Rankin also suggests taking Elderberry syrup: 1 tsp 3 times daily. Elderberry syrup is a natural anti-viral and can be particularly useful if the community runs out of Tamiflu and Relenza, which is quite likely to happen.
- Get plenty of exercise. Perhaps it is better to stay away from the gym during this epidemic, but you can go on a long nature hike which can do wonders for your immune system, your general health, and your peace of mind.
- If you have plans to go to Mexico, it is better to cancel them or reschedule once the epidemic is over. By doing this you will be protecting yourself and North Americans from contracting the virus and contain the virus.
- In order to boost your chances of keeping the virus at bay, consider meeting with an integrative medicine practitioner. Integrative medicine practitioners have a combination of conventional and alternative methods and approaches to dealing with prevention and treatment.
- Stay relaxed and don’t panic about the swine flu. Stress weakens your immune system and makes you less capable of creating an immune response. Try managing your stress by meditating, guided imagery, walking, deep breathing, yoga, or whatever helps you to relax.
How else can I avoid the virus?
- Stay informed. Check news channels and websites frequently to keep up to date with the latest information as it becomes available.
- Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.
- Develop a family emergency plan as a precaution. This should include storing a supply of food, medicines, facemasks, alcohol-based hand rubs and other essential supplies.
How do I care for an ill person at home?
- Isolate the ill person from others (at least 1 meter in distance from others).
- Cover your mouth and nose when caring for the ill person. Either commercial or homemade materials are fine, as long as they are disposed of or cleaned properly after use.
- Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the ill person.
- Improve the air flow where the ill person stays. Open doors and windows to allow breeze to enter and circulate air.
- Keep the environment clean with readily available household cleaning agents.
What should I do if I think I have the illness?
- Stay at home and keep away from work, school or crowds.
- Wash your hands with soap and water often and thoroughly, especially after coughing or sneezing.
- Get plenty of rest and take plenty of fluids.
- Cover your mouth and nose with disposable tissues when coughing and sneezing, and dispose of the used tissues properly.
- Inform family and friends of your illness and try to avoid contact with people.
What should I do if I need medical attention?
- Contact your doctor or healthcare provider and report your symptoms before travelling to a health facility. Follow their advice.
- If it is not possible to contact your healthcare provider in advance, communicate your suspicion of infection as soon as you arrive at the facility.
- Cover your nose and mouth during travel.
Noteworthy Technology:
There is a handy iPhone application waiting for approval from Apple before it is released into Apple Stores called IntuApps. IntuApps has a Swine Flu Tracker where you can see the current threat level of the disease, a map showing confirmed and suspected cases, a symptoms area to inform people, and an alert page for breaking news on Swine Flu. It is said that IntuApps will be giving the application away for free when it is available in the Apple Store.
Resources:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/faq_prevention/en/index.html
http://www.owningpink.com/2009/04/27/10-ways-to-avoid-swine-flu/
http://www.uhn.ca/news/Index.asp?crypt=%D3%EA%E1%B2%0BZ%26H%B1%0Es%1F%5C%E7E%E4%FF%3B%DE
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/30/want-to-avoid-swine-flu-theres-an-app-for-that-too/
http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/626639
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine-porcine/faq_rg_swine-eng.php#faq5
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/24/swine.flu/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/swine-flu
http://www.medicinenet.com/swine_flu/article.htm
