What treatment is available for swine flu (H1N1)?

The best treatment for influenza infections in humans is prevention by vaccination. Work by several laboratories has recently produced vaccines. The first vaccine released in early October 2009 was a nasal spray vaccine that was approved for use in healthy individuals ages 2 through 49. The injectable vaccine, made from killed H1N1, became available in the second week of October 2009. This vaccine was approved for use in ages 6 months to the elderly, including pregnant females. Both of these vaccines were approved by the CDC only after they had conducted clinical trials to prove that the vaccines were safe and effective. However, caregivers should be aware of the vaccine guidelines that come with the vaccines, as occasionally, the guidelines change. Please see the section below titled "Can novel H1N1 swine flu be prevented with a vaccine?"

Almost all vaccines have some side effects. Common side effects of H1N1 vaccines are typical of flu vaccines and are as follows:

Flu shot: Soreness, redness, minor swelling at the shot site, muscle aches, low grade fever, and nausea do not usually last more than about 24 hours.

Nasal spray: runny nose, low-grade fever, vomiting, headache, wheezing, cough, and sore throat

The flu shot is made from killed virus particles so a person cannot get the flu from a flu shot. However, the nasal spray vaccine contains live virus that have been altered to hinder its ability to replicate in human tissue. People with a suppressed immune system should not get vaccinated with the nasal spray. Also, most vaccines that contain flu viral particles are cultivated in eggs, so individuals with an allergy to eggs should not get the vaccine unless tested and advised by their doctor that they are cleared to obtain it. Like all vaccines, rare events may occur in some rare cases (for example, swelling, weakness, or shortness of breath). If any symptoms like these develop, the person should see a physician immediately.

Two antiviral agents have been reported to help prevent or reduce the effects of swine flu. They are zanamivir (Relenza) and oseltamivir (Tamiflu), both of which are also used to prevent or reduce influenza A and B symptoms. These drugs should not be used indiscriminately, because viral resistance to them can and has occurred. Also, they are not recommended if the flu symptoms already have been present for 48 hours or more, although hospitalized patients may still be treated past the 48-hour guideline. Severe infections in some patients may require additional supportive measures such as ventilation support and treatment of other infections like pneumonia that can occur in patients with a severe flu infection. The CDC has suggested in their interim guidelines that pregnant females can be treated with the two antiviral agents.

Treating H1N1 flu

Paracetamol

As with ordinary flu, people who have H1N1 flu should get lots of rest and use standard paracetamol-based cold remedies to reduce their temperature and help relieve symptoms.

Some over-the-counter treatments used by adults can be given to children for the relief of the symptoms. Follow the instructions that come with each medicine. However, children under 16 must not be given aspirin or ready-made flu remedies containing aspirin. Always read the label or check with the pharmacist that a medicine is suitable for children.

Antivirals

The antiviral medications oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) may be used to treat some people with H1N1 flu. Your GP will decide if these are necessary.

Antivirals are not a cure for H1N1 flu, but will help:

reduce the length of time you are ill by around one day

relieve some of the symptoms

reduce the potential for serious complications such as pneumonia

Tamiflu and Relenza are both medicines of the same type, but Relenza comes as an inhaler (rather than a pill) and is recommended for use in pregnancy.

If you are prescribed antivirals, you will need to pay a prescription charge (unless your prescriptions are normally free of charge).

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are used to treat H1N1 flu patients who develop complications. They help combat bacterial infections such as pneumonia.

In hospitals, antibiotics will be used to treat the most ill patients and may reduce the length of hospitalisation.

Nutrition and Health Diet

The basic foundation for a healthy individual starts from his foetal stage with proper and healthy nutrition derived from his or her mother. Hence, a pregnant woman's diet stands atop all diets.

Your food shall be your medicine. Ayurveda has postulated the role of food and especially nutritive foods for maintaining health as well as cure of diseases. Nutrients are necessary for the proper functioning of mental, physical, metabolic, chemical and hormonal activities. The body is like a machine that will repair and rebuild itself if proper nutrition is provided by way of food.


Sumptous nutrition is available in fruits and vegetables. Fruits have the capacity to give all that a body needs. How to consume? What to consume? Which fruit helps in which way? The answers to these questions can be found in our Nutrition and Healthy Diet Section

Do you know CarbLovers Diet?

"Carbophobia," or the fear of carbs, is rampant. Almost every woman has skipped the bread basket or a pasta dish at some point in her life. We’ve learned to fear carbs because we’ve been told for more than 25 years that foods filled with carbohydrates make us gain weight.

Well, we, the editors of Health magazine, have big news for you. There is new research—reliable, solid, groundbreaking research by the smartest minds in nutritional science right now—that reveals our old, beloved carb-filled foods will not make us fat. Instead, they will actually make us thin. We put all the research into our new CarbLovers Diet book.

Order the CarbLovers Diet book!

Scientists at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center for Human Nutrition, in Denver, along with a team of international researchers uncovered new evidence that revealed that eating the right carbs is the best way to get and stay slim. Other exciting new studies showed that certain carb-rich foods:

Shrink fat cells, especially in your belly

Boost fat burning

Increase muscle mass

Curb cravings

Keep you feeling full longer than other foods

Control blood sugar

Lower cholesterol and triglycerides

Perhaps the most surprising piece of research was a large-scale look into the eating patterns that determine whether people will be fat or skinny over the course of a lifetime. This multicenter study of 4,451 people found out something stunning: It concluded that the slimmest people ate the most carbs (in the form of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables), and the chubbiest people ate the fewest carbs.

Getting ready to lose weight on carbs

If you’ve been convinced for years that eating carbs will make you fat, it’s going to take time for you to adjust to the new reality that they are the best things that ever happened to your waistline.

However, being a CarbLover does not mean you get to stuff yourself with bagels and cookies all day. What you’ll be doing on this plan is increasing your total intake of carbs, and upping the percentage of a type of carb called Resistant Starch in your diet. Resistant Starch is a kind of carbohydrate getting lots of attention in scientific circles these days.

Studies show that adding a little Resistant Starch to your morning meal will shift your body into fat-melting mode, so that you burn nearly 25% more calories a day. Meanwhile, you’ll eat about 10% fewer calories—simply because you’re not as hungry (foods containing Resistant Starch are quite filling)—so you end up eating less overall.

Resistant Starch–filled foods aren’t those magic, super-expensive ingredients; they’re right there, at your local supermarket. They are bread, cereals, potatoes (even potato chips!), and bananas.

New Clues to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The brains of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome — an often misunderstood condition marked by unexplained, incapacitating exhaustion — don’t respond to rewards in the same way as the brains of healthy people do, a new study suggests.

Researchers performed functional MRI scans on the brains of 18 people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and 41 healthy volunteers, finding that those with chronic fatigue experienced significantly less change in blood flow to the basal ganglia in response to winning a simple card game meant to stimulate feelings of reward.

Previous research has shown that the basal ganglia, a region at the base of the brain associated with motor activity and motivation, is affected in diseases associated with fatigue. Participants with the most severe chronic fatigue had the smallest change in basal ganglia activity, the study showed.

“We don’t know if these changes are involved in causing CFS or are found as a result of CFS,” said study author Dr. Elizabeth Unger, chief of the chronic viral diseases branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Every carefully controlled scientific study on CFS helps raise the credibility of this very complex illness. Even though our findings are preliminary . . . they do support a biologic [theory] about this illness.”

The study is to be presented Tuesday in San Diego at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting, a conference sponsored by six scientific societies.

An estimated 1 million Americans suffer from CFS, also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS). The condition has no known cause, diagnostic test or universally effective treatment. More common in women, chronic fatigue symptoms last at least six months and can include sleep difficulties, memory and concentration problems, and joint and muscle pain.

During the experiment — which is considered preliminary since it hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed or published — Unger and her team told participants undergoing brain scans that they’d win a small amount of money if they correctly guessed whether a pre-selected card was red or black. After choosing, they were presented with the card while researchers measured blood flow to the basal ganglia during winning and losing hands.

Participants with chronic fatigue syndrome experienced significantly less change in blood flow to the basal ganglia between winning and losing hands than did the healthy volunteers. The results support prior research that also demonstrated biological differences among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, Unger said.

“This is what we need — validation of these biological underpinnings of CFS,” said Suzanne Vernon, scientific director of the CFIDS Association of America in Charlotte, N.C. “These imaging studies are tricky because they only show a correlation, which doesn’t necessarily translate to causation, but it’s nice to see validation and a number of different studies pointing [to this brain area].”

Unger said additional studies are needed, but she hoped the current results would entice other scientists to become interested in investigating chronic fatigue syndrome.

“A strength of the study is that we used some of the newest technology available to look at the function of regions of the brain that may be involved with CFS,” she said. “We hope the impact of our study will be to encourage further basic science investigation of CFS.”