Back in 1918, a precursor of today’s dreaded avian flu virus wiped out over 20 million people worldwide. People tried everything to stop the onslaught. At least one folk remedy may have succeeded. The formula was handed down from generation to generation by a family in Stuttgart, Germany, who credit it with saving many lives.

Bird flu survivors credit astonishing fact

Why it really may have worked. The recipe calls for a quarter kilo of garlic and a quart of cognac. The cognac may act as a tincture, extracting powerful antiviral compounds that are known to exist in garlic. If you’ve got any type of flu, take 20 drops, 3 times a day. It was also used to prevent flu.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

CHICAGO, Oct. 4, 2010 (Reuters) — Newborn babies whose mothers got a flu shot while pregnant are less likely to get the flu or to be admitted to the hospital with a respiratory illness in the first six months of life, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

During most flu seasons, babies under six months tend to have fewer cases of flu-like illnesses than those who are 6 to 12 months old, most likely because they are protected by their mothers’ natural antibodies.

But in severe flu seasons, such as the 2009 swine flu pandemic, these youngest children, who are too young to get flu shots themselves, are more likely to be hospitalized and die from flu than older babies.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has for years recommended that pregnant women be vaccinated against seasonal flu, but the study adds to other research showing that newborn babies benefit, too.

Researcher Angelia Eick, formerly of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and now of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, wanted to see if giving pregnant women flu shots could increase protection for babies under 6 months old.

Eick and colleagues studied children on Navajo and White Mountain Apache Indian reservations. In these communities, children are more prone to severe respiratory infections than those in the general population.

The team studied 1,160 mother-infant pairs over three flu seasons. The mothers and babies gave blood samples before and after the flu season and they were monitored for flu symptoms.

In the flu season following the child’s birth, babies whose mother had been vaccinated were 41 percent less likely to have a lab-confirmed flu infection and 39 percent less likely to be hospitalized for a flu-like illness.

They also found babies whose mothers had been vaccinated had higher levels of flu antibodies at birth and at 2 to 3 months of age compared with babies whose mothers did not get a flu shot.

“Although influenza vaccination is recommended for pregnant women to reduce their risk of influenza complications, these findings provide support for the added benefit of protecting infants from influenza virus infection up to six months,” Eick and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The findings are particularly relevant with the 2009 H1N1 flu virus, which hit pregnant women and young babies especially hard, the team wrote.

Current flu vaccines protect against the H1N1 virus as well as two other strains of the flu.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

May Persist on Feathers

Fallen from Domestic Ducks

ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2010) — Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) may persist on feathers fallen from the bodies of infected domestic ducks and contribute to environmental contamination. Researchers from the National Institute of Animal Health, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan report their findings in the August 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Since the emergence of Asian avian influenza virus in 1997, it has spread to Europe, the Middle East and Africa causing significant mortality and economic loss in the poultry industry. Although the virus is mainly found in waterfowl and transmitted through fecal contamination in water, humans as well as other mammalian species have contracted the virus through close contact with infected birds.

A prior study showed that H5N1 could replicate in the skin cells of feathers and further suggested that those that drop off the body could potentially contaminate the environment. Here, researchers evaluated the environmental risk posed by contaminated feathers by inoculating domestic ducks with H5N1, collecting feathers, feces and drinking water three days following, and then storing them at 39 degrees and 68 degrees Fahrenheit for 360 days. Results showed that H5N1 persisted the longest in feathers at both temperatures.

“These results indicate that feathers detached from domestic ducks infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) can be a source of environmental contamination and may function as fomites with high viral loads in the environment,” say the researchers.

FAME Pharmaceutical, a local company based in Yangon, has successfully produced a A(H1N1) vaccine, Flower News reported on March 2.

The medicine was produced using Shikimic acid extracted from the Chinese star anise. The acid helps prevent the spread of the A(H1N1) virus, said U Tin Maung Aye, a director of Fame Pharmaceutical.

Roche, an international pharmaceutical company, produces the Tamiflu vaccine based on the Oseltamivir compound derived from the Chinese star anise.

“The [production] method will be different. But we are producing a similar formula to Tamiflu. It can be used even before A(H1N1) symptoms are diagnosed as a preventative measure,” U Tin Maung Aye said.

Can be fatal if not treated

It  is an extremely severe form of pneumonia. The cause of Legionnaires’ disease is a bacterium, specifically the bacterium called legionella. This is a disease that is difficult for people to transmit between each other.

Most people come down with this disease by inhaling bacteria out of the air. There are specific groups of people that are more at risk for coming down with this disease. The specific groups of people that are at a high risk for this disease are people that smoke, adults that are older, and people with weakened or damaged immune systems.

Legionella bacterium is also a type of bacterium that can result in a specific type of fever called Pontiac Fever. The Pontiac fever is a milder type of fever that resembles the common flu.

Has been found in commercial air conditioner units and potting mixes with a high level of stagnant moisture.

The good news is that this fever is usually an illness that clears up on its own without serious medical treatment. Most people do not realize that Legionnaires ’ disease can be fatal if it is not treated. The good news is that antibiotics can easily cure the disease, but catching the disease early on is the key to successful treatment.

There are several common symptoms that are related to this unusual disease. In most cases the first symptoms develop anywhere from a couple to fourteen days after taking in legionella bacterium.

Some of the symptoms that you can come down with include headaches, muscle pains, chills, and a fever of over 104 F. By the time you actually have the disease in your system you can also have symptoms of chest pain, fatigue, and loss of appetite. In very severe cases you can even come down with a symptom of mental confusion.

Knowing when to see a doctor can be difficult if you think you have this disease. If you have any of the symptoms you should monitor them extremely closely. If you think you have the disease because of symptoms that you have you should immediately seek medical attention at the doctor’s office.

The key to stopping this disease in its tracks is catching it early in the piece. If you fail to catch this disease early on it will be more difficult to treat. By diagnosing it early you can stop it from spreading to other parts of your body.

If you do come down with the disease you should not panic.

Be aware that it is a disease that is completely treatable so just stay calm and take care of your body!

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th August 2009