Modern witch doctor's swine flu treatments

[Gilgamesh]

CBC

Beware of online swine-flu remedies: Health Canada

As flu activity picks up across the country, federal authorities are warning Canadians not to buy unauthorized products from the internet or other sources that claim to fight the H1N1 virus.

The Competition Bureau and Health Canada issued a statement Wednesday saying that only three products are authorized for use against the virus: the vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline called Arepanrix, which is available at flu clinics and doctors' offices, and the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.

However, a quick tour around the internet found lots of sites offering remedies and potions that promise to kill the swine flu virus or protect you from getting it in the first place.

Other websites attached incorrect messages and labels to otherwise legal products or homeopathic remedies that, on their own, did not claim to kill the H1N1 virus.

"These people look for opportunity and they look for anxiety and fear in the marketplace," said Lynda Pasacreta, head of the Better Business Bureau for mainland B.C.

For instance, herbalcureindia.com touted several swine-flu cures, as well as products for breast and penis enlargement.

It described one herbal product, Tinospora, as "a drug with bitter properties … which is again helpful in preventing swine flu."

Another website, squidoo.com, claimed the cure for swine flu could be found right in your kitchen. And so easy to make: Just mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon of honey, and one cup of warm water each morning. "This may prevent and kill microbes that are trying to infect your body," the description claims.

The website touted garlic, vitamin C and zinc lozenges as products that would ward off swine flu.

It also posted links to several homeopathic medicines, including Sprayology Cold + Flu, which could be purchased at Amazon.com for prices in the $20 US range. To be fair to the makers of Sprayology Cold + Flu, the product's own description made no swine-flu claim. It bills itself as a way to ease general cold and flu symptoms.

On many websites, the term swine flu was the clickable word to access product information, even if that product made no claim to cure swine flu.

For instance, a Google ad on squidoo.com was sponsored by Tylenol.ca. But to get to this product, the clickable term was "swine flu." Nowhere in the Tylenol description was there a mention of swine flu.

Other websites offer even more dubious advice. At homemademedicine.com, you can find recipes for potions to cure everything from swine flu and hair loss to snoring and stretch marks.

The mangled English description for its nine "remedies for Swine Flu" were the first tip-off that these remedies were of dubious value.

"Home remedies for Swine Flu #7: Take arsenicum album if thirsty but feel better drinking warm fluids, lack of appetite, body aches, and feel worse during the night," read one description.

Health Canada says it will monitor the internet and take action against websites selling unauthorized products for the treatment or prevention of the H1N1 flu virus or any other health condition.

The agency warned that vaccines should only come from a qualified health-care provider, and antivirals should only be purchased with a prescription from a health-care practitioner who has examined the patient.

While there are legitimate Canadian internet pharmacies, consumers were warned to be aware of the risks associated with buying drugs online.

Sadly we know some walking coma patient's are falling for these "remedies". Though I am glad to see that Health Canada is apparently committed to crushing these swindlers.

[Lagmonster]

What's particularly disgusting are the comments under that article; we ought to expect no better, but the sheer quantity of people defending the snake oil salesmen as 'naturopaths' who somehow have it out for all people's good health with herbs and wheat when all the government wants to do is make money and inject us with toxic chemicals.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Especially relevant since H1N1 is now the dominant strain of flu around the world.

WHO: Swine flu virus is top strain worldwide
By MARIA CHENG (AP) – 23 hours ago
LONDON — The World Health Organization's flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.
In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses being sampled, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's top flu official.
While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 — people who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.
"We remain quite concerned about the patterns that we're seeing," Fukuda said during a press briefing Thursday.
He said the swine flu virus appeared to be fairly stable, and that samples from around the world remained very similar to when the virus was first identified in April.
Regarding the recent surge of cases in the Ukraine — which has reported more than 250,000 cases and 70 deaths of people with flu-like illness in recent weeks — Fukuda said the virus appeared no different there than anywhere else.
"We just simply have to understand that influenza can cause outbreaks in very large numbers of people," he said. "Patterns can be quite different from country to country."
Fukuda said the agency was also monitoring the impact of the virus on particularly susceptible populations.
On Wednesday, Venezuelan officials reported that swine flu had hit the Yanomami Indians, killing seven people in a population of 28,000.
Fukuda said WHO had observed that aboriginals in Australia were disproportionately hit by swine flu, but could not say whether they were more genetically vulnerable to the virus or if that was due to underlying health problems.
With swine flu vaccination programs now under way in more than 20 countries, Fukuda said no rare or dangerous side effects had been reported, and the agency was convinced the vaccine was "highly safe."
Fukuda said WHO had been surprised that the vaccine appeared to work after just one dose, but was happy about it because that mean the world's vaccine supplies could be stretched.
Even in children under 10, Fukuda said WHO recommended that one dose could be effective. Some countries, including the U.S., are recommending that children get two doses of the swine flu shot.
"It is better to provide one dose to as many children as possible rather than two doses to fewer children," Fukuda said.
On the Net:
http://www.who.int
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[nageotha]

Can a person get the swine flu shot without having gotten the seasonal flu shot? I had heard earlier in the season that a person needed to first have their seasonal flu shot before they would allow the swine flu shot. Is this still valid? I can't find the seasonal flu shot anywhere, but my dd has an appointment Wednesday for the swine flu shot. I'd hate to get there only to hear that she can't get it.

[Sea Skimmer]

Can a person get the swine flu shot without having gotten the seasonal flu shot? I had heard earlier in the season that a person needed to first have their seasonal flu shot before they would allow the swine flu shot. Is this still valid? I can't find the seasonal flu shot anywhere, but my dd has an appointment Wednesday for the swine flu shot. I'd hate to get there only to hear that she can't get it.

What you heard was misinformation. Many reasons exist why it might have occurred, I wont waste time speculating.

The seasonal and H1N1 vaccines are completely separate things, though made in exactly the same way, only a tiny bit of DNA is different. You do not need to get one before the other, and neither will provide any protection against the virus targeted by the other. Additionally you can be given both vaccines at the same time, and both will work.

This is no different then getting two seasonal shots in two different years. It’s just that this season we have two major strains of flu active so two shots are around. So go get the shot. The seasonal flu shot is very hard to obtain because production has switched over to the H1N1 stuff which has become dominate as the article above mentions. They only make so much seasonal stuff each year to avoid waste and because in all reality, not everyone needs a seasonal flu shot. Seasonal flus are just not as dangerous as H1N1 unless you have a preexisting condition like lung damage.

As a last note, even getting both vaccines will not provide 100% utter immunity to any kind flu, because more then two strains of flu exist in the world. The seasonal flu shots are simply targeted on what research indicates will be a given years dominate flu strain. The other strains however are not much to worry about; if they were then researchers would have made a third or forth ect… vaccine to deal with them. This is exactly what happened this year, we chose one strain, made a seasonal shot against it, but then H1N1 showed up and a new vaccine was rushed out to counter it.

Official CDC page on the H1N1 Flu and Vaccine
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/ ... qa_pub.htm

[PeZook]

And over here, we still don't know if we'll even buy the damn vaccine, because the goddamned health minister claims it needs to go through "careful trials" to "make sure it has no side effects". Despite the head of the Polish Institute of Vaccinology going on records to say how this is fucking retarded, since the vaccine is made the exact same way as the seasonal flu one.

I have no idea what the hell our government's problem is. I can only surmise it has something to do with recent anti-vaccine scares (I've seen people claiming there's been hundreds of thousands of people crippled by H1N1 vaccinations).

I sometimes wonder why it's so damned easy to con people into buying those magical remedies or not getting beneficial treatment.

[Themightytom]

Humorous anectdote: last month one of my class mates asked the Master of our school "We think my son has swine flu because two of his class mates have it and he now has the symptoms, can we bring him in for a REIKI treatment?'"

Master who has his hands clasped in front of the AUDIBLY cracks them
"Are you Serious sir? Your son may have swine flu and you aren't giving him medicine? You know my family and I are not insured, the school isn't big enough. We use alternative healing and rely heavily on a healthy lifestyle Out Of neccesity. I absolutely believe Reiki offers health benefits [cue discrete coughing and throat clearing from myself and my sibling] but, let me put it this way, if you bring your son in for a treatment, I will be wearing gloves and a mask, moreover I don't expect your son in class until 24 hours after his fever has passed without any medical intervention, as the CDC suggests and I would appreciate it if you did not come to class until the same. I value you as a student but I really don't want to lose ALL of my students because you aren't taking care of yourself, and I would again ask you to remember, msyelf and your instructors (Mostly his family) do not have health insurance."

He followed with some jokes to ease the tension but he REALLY let the guy have it.