Index
How Bad is the Swine Flu Outbreak?
What Do The Pandemic Flu Stages Mean?
Will Antibiotics Help To Combat This Flu?
If The Virus Isn't Alive, How Can It Make Me Sick?
Is There Any Help If I Do Contract The Swine Flu?
What Are The 'Normal' Symptoms Of The Swine Flu?
How Is This Flu Spread
How Long Are You Contagious For Once You've Contracted The Virus?
Swine Flu Protection
Why Should I Take Acai and Mangosteen Together?
How Can I Protect Myself If I Travel?
What Is WHO and Who Is The CDC?
What Is The WHO's Role With Regard To The Swine Flu?
Recommended Reading

First off, this new strain of flu is of the H1N1 class which means that flu vaccinations WILL NOT work against it (they are generally used for H3 influenza strains). The regular variant of influenza kills about 36,000 Americans and 4000 Canadians each year.  

Swine flu itself is not new and cases of people contracting the virus have been reported in the past. In pigs, the virus presents much like the flu does in humans: many become ill but few die. When the virus jumps to humans, however, the results are much more severe. In 1988, a pregnant woman who was, with the exception of contracting the flu, in good health, was hospitalized with pneumonia and died eight days later. Remember, this was a woman in otherwise good health! This should be regarded as a good indication of what a Swine Flu can do when it 'jumps' to people.

What's important to keep in mind here is that this new virus isn't Swine Flu; it's a mixture of North American Swine Flu, North American Avian Flu, Human Flu and Swine Flu. It is an entirely new subtype of the H1N1 strain which means that no one is naturally immune from it (no one has inherited the antibodies from their parents) and that there is no vaccination for the virus. Pigs themselves have been shown to be a mixing vessel for various types of viruses. All virus' spontaneously assemble themselves (they lack a cell with which to perform cellular division) and flu viruses in particular have a tendency to deconstruct and reassemble their 'segments' to form new variations of themselves. This new Swine Flu has presumably been 'helped along' by the 'mixing vessel' nature of pigs into the virus that has been recently identified as the Swine Flu.

How Bad Is The Swine Flu Outbreak?
Dr. Margaret Chan, the director of the World Health Organization has called this flu a “pubic health emergency of international concern” and WHO has declared that the Swine Flu is at stage 5 which means that there is sustained human to human infection. For upto the minutes details of this outbreak use the Google Swine Flu Tracker.

What Do The Pandemic Flu Stages Mean?

We Are Currently At Phase 5

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released a quarter of its antiviral drug stockpile along with protective equipment and respiratory protection devices. Clearly, the world is taking this flu very seriously and you should too. On top of all that, what really makes the Swine Flu a threat is that it seems to be affecting young, healthy adults aged 25-40 the hardest. This is atypical of the influenza virus which usually hits the very young and the very old the hardest. This has led to suspicion that the Swine Flu creates what's known as a cytokine storm. A cytokine storm happens when the system that regulates your body's' immune responses get out of control. It affects young adults the hardest because it actually uses a persons immune system against them, so they healthier a person is the harder they're hit. Under normal conditions, cytokines signal immune cells when a foreign invader is detected in the body. Immune cells then respond, do their job and either disperse or are destroyed/cleaned up by the body. In a cytokine storm, the regulatory process that would normally stop the aggregation of immune cells in one spot is turned off and immune cells swarm a particular area.

Doctors call this a positive feedback loop and it can result in severe illness and often times death via rupture or sever damage to the body's mucous membranes. For example, a cytokine storm in the lungs would result in edema (a pooling of fluid) which could result in death and would very likely become the site of a secondary infection. This is thought to be the reason that the SARS outbreak was so deadly. In short, the Swine flu can kill you in two distinct ways: by causing a cytokine storm that interferes with respiration and destroys mucous membranes (which means you drown in your own body fluids) or, you could potentially be killed by an opportunistic infection, like pneumonia. These infections are ones that wouldn't normally be able to take hold if you were healthy but they are able to slip by your body's defences once the flu weakens those defences sufficiently.

Even more frightening, the Swine flu has been compared to the 1918 flu pandemic (aka the Spanish Flu) that killed over 50 million people worldwide; keep in mind that this was a time before widespread world travel. It is estimated that the Spanish Flu affected roughly half of the world's population. It was so virulent that people died of mucous membrane ruptures—bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose and mouth. The virus was even hearty enough to survive in the Arctic, an environment usually too hostile for influenza to thrive. The genomes of both the Swine Flu and the Spanish Flu have been mapped but there is no word yet on how similar either of the genomes are.


Will Antibiotics Help To Combat This Flu?
The answer to that is a resounding no. Antibiotics cannot help combat this or any other type of flu. The reason for this is that flus are not caused by bacteria, they are caused by viruses and antibiotics are ONLY effective against bacteria. Why is this the case? Believe it or not, viruses (with two known exceptions) are not technically alive. They are more like a set of chemical instructions that 'activate' upon finding certain conditions. They have no cellular structure of their own, something that is usually regarded as required for the organism to be classified as alive. Antibiotics aren't effective against them because, put simply, you can't kill something that isn't alive.

If A Virus Isn't Alive, How Can It Make Me Sick?
When a virus invades a host body it seeks out certain cells depending on what type of virus it is and that's where it begins its plan of attack. A virus will 'break in' to a healthy cell and hijack it, in effect rewiring it so that it begins to propagate itself. The cell is worked until it literally explodes (dies) which sends millions of copies of the newly propagated virus into the blood stream to start propagating themselves all over again. This process is continually repeated until either you win (your immune system is able to suppress the virus) or it wins (you die). As I stated earlier, there is no way to kill a virus. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it can't kill you.

Is There Any Help If I Do Contract The Swine Flu?
If you do become infected with this particular flu, your body may be able to fight it off. However, it has been shown to be a very viral flu and you may require antivirals to help with recovery. Antivirals are drugs that stop or slow the replication of a virus in your body which allows your immune system to gain the upper hand and ultimately return you to a state of health. There are many different types of antivirals but the four 'main' antirvirals used to combat the influenza virus are: amantidine, rimantadine, oseltamivir (brand name Tamiful) and Zanamivir (brand name Relenza). The first two have been shown to be ineffective in treating the swine flu so that brings your choices down to Tamiflu and Relenza. Tamiflu can be taken as both a preventative measure and a treatment by people one year of age or older whereas Relenza can be used as a preventative measure in people 5 years of age or older and a treatment in people 7 years of age or older. That said, not everyone will need antivirals to fight off this flu but there are warning signs that you may require immediate medical attention:

What Are The 'Normal' Symptoms Of The Swine Flu? The Swine Flu presents like the regular flu virus and can worsen any underlying medical conditions. This is thought to be the reason why the flu claims more lives in underdeveloped countries and in places where people don't have access to regular healthcare. How Is This Flu Spread? The most common way is via respiratory droplets. That is, either coming in contact with the respiratory droplets of someone who is infected (which could be as simple as being around someone who's coughing and sneezing) or touching something that the virus is on and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth. These three areas are mucous membranes and are permeable. Unlike you skin, they provide an easy entry point into the body for both viruses and bacteria. The virus is NOT able to be spread via food which means you can NOT get it by eating pork products. How Long Are You Contagious For Once You've Contracted The Virus? The general rule is that you're contagious one day before symptoms start and up to 7 days after getting sick (unless you are still showing symptoms). Children may be contagious for longer than adults. If you do have a confirmed case of the virus, limit your contact with others as the less less people that are infected, the quicker the virus will die out. Swine Flu Protection The best thing you can do to stay healthy is to live a healthy lifestyle. Get plenty of rest, exercise, eat well and take supplements. In particular, because the Swine Flu is thought to cause the phenomena known as a cytokine storm, a supplement with both antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties is recommended. Natural Home Cures brand acai and mangosteen are both good choices. First off, in terms of supplements they are relatively low-cost. Natural Home Cures dries the outside of the fruit and sells it in capsule form (for both acai and mangosteen) as opposed to juicing the fruit and then adding other juices to the mix in order to get a pleasant tasting cocktail. Because all of the beneficial properties of the acai and mangosteen are in their rind, the juice from the fruit doesn't tend to taste very good. Imagine juicing an orange rind you'll get the picture. This keeps the Natural Home Cures product light which cuts down on shipping costs. As I mentioned above, acai and mangosteen supplements help in two ways. First off, they both have antiviral properties. You may not be able to get your hands on a preventative dose of Tamifu or Relenza but you can sure get your hands on some natural antivirals. Secondly, the anti-inflammatory properties of both acai and mangosteen are a huge boost to the immune system.

Most chronic diseases are caused by low-laying inflammation and as already mentioned, the flu can exhasterbate underlying medical conditions. Get your inflammation under control now, before you get sick, and your body has a much better chance at dealing with a nasty virus than it would if it had to divide its resources between fighting inflammation and fighting viral replication.

The xanthones in mangosteen are particularly potent anti-inflammatory agents. They work by blocking the inflammation pathways in the body, pathways that have to do with the regulation of cytokine cells. Cytokines, aside from provoking an immune response also send messages out to the tissues and, in turn, to the cells that control inflammation which is why controlling cytokines results in a lessening or cessation of inflammation. The key point to remember that xanthones are able to lessen the amount of cytokines in a given area of the body. This could GREATLY improve the chances of recovering from a cytokine storm if you do happen to contract the Swine Flu virus. The xanthones also have antioxidant properties which help to keep your mucous membranes intact.

As for acai, while it contains vitamins A, B and C only vitamin C has been shown to directly effect or bolster the immune system. Vitamin C is a key ingredient that regulates many immune system pathway responses. In plain English, that means that vitamin C helps to 'keep the roads clean' so your immune cells can get to where they need to go. Vitamin A helps indirectly by strengthening mucous membranes, which is a very good thing if you happen to be suffering from a cytokine storm! Vitamin B, while not helpful for combating the flu ensures the breakdown of your basic building blocks: protein, carbohydrates and fats. The phytochemicals in acai are the real big-guns in terms of combating the Swine Flu: these are the chemicals that have antiviral properties. In particular, a phytochemical called Beta-sitostero has been shown to be effective in larger quantities in slowing down or stopping the progression of the flu virus altogether.

Why Should I Take Acai and Mangosteen Together?
Acai and mangosteen bare complementary products. Although both have some vitamins, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral properties, it is acai that comes out the winner for vitamins and antiviral properties while mangosteen is the clear choice for anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Taken separately, you will get some of these benefits (depending on which supplement choose) but taken together you get the best of both worlds and you optimize the efficacy of the supplements.

Continuing on the vein of underlying conditions, there is evidence to suggest that most people carry around low-level infections and low-level parasites without ever knowing it. Even if there is a noticeable drop in energy and vitality due to these infections, if the drop is gradual enough the unfortunately afflicted individual will just think it's normal: how many people do you know who dismiss various aches, pains and fatigue as a part of 'getting old'. Losing vitality and experiencing painful symptoms are NOT a normal part of the aging process. Proper supplementation with both mangosteen and acai, can help to lessen or get rid of low-laying inflammation that may be causing you chronic illness and can also help to kill any harmful parasites or bacteria (the two supplements together have a much more potent antibacterial effect than either one alone). This will in turn boost your immune system as your body won't have to devote any resources to keeping any virus', bacteria or inflammation in check. Never forget that your body only has a finite amount of resources available to it, the more you 'free up' the more it can devote to a single task. Just like a computer that runs slowly when too many resource-draining applications are open, your body runs poorly when too many resource-draining infections and inflammations are present.

If you're thinking that just any mangosteen and/or acai supplement will be as effective as the Natural Home Cures Brand mangosteen and acai products, I'd urge you to reconsider especially when it comes to the juice form of these two fruits.

The big difference between using a part of a product as opposed to a whole product, at least when it comes to fruit, is thatwhole fruits need to be irradiated before leaving their country of origin while parts of a fruit do not.

Irradiation is the process of intentionally exposing something to radiation (specifically ionizing radiation) in order to sterilize it. The problem with that is that while it kills bacteria and virus' it leaves behind carcinogens on the fruit itself. Radiation kills by mutation: bacteria, for example, may still be alive after irradiation takes place but their genetic code is so badly damaged they are not able to reproduce. The same idea applies for virus'. Although, as previously mentioned, virus' are (for the most part) not regarded as alive, they may continue to function after being exposed to radiation albeit in such a reduced capacity that they are not able to infect host cells or reassemble themselves in such a way so as not to be deleterious to themselves . What all that means is that while irradiation does its job well it results in you having to eat a slightly mutated piece of fruit. Because radiation can't tell the difference between friend or foe, it scrambles the genetic code of everything it comes in contact with. The whole point of proper supplementation is to get and to stay healthy: ingesting a mutated, carcinogen-laced piece of fruit is very counterproductive to that goal.

In addition to the above, liquid acai and mangosteen health drinks are pasteurized (traditional or flash); to prevent the liquid deteriorating and becoming rancid before the bottle of product is opened and consumed.

Flash pasteurization is the process of heating the liquid for approximately 15–30 seconds and then immediately cooling.  By only briefly subjecting the liquid to high temperatures, most -- but not all -- taste and color changes are avoided. Flash pasteurization is preferred to other methods because it kills most but not all microbes and destroys only some of the beneficial phytonutrients found in acai.

When Natural Home Cures conducted studies through a independant research lab in Calgary Alberta; between the juice and dry powder form the following results were found for both the acai and mangosteen products.

Diabetics:  Acai and mangosteen  juice are very rich in natural and man-made added sugars.  These sugars can have an adverse reaction towards those who are diabetics and consuming diabetic medication.  Diabetics should use extreme caution when consuming the juice form where dry powder form had no adverse reactions found in our study.

Acai and mangosteen juice blocks the effects of the body’s naturally produced histamines. These are essential, because they increase blood flow to injured or externally invaded parts of the body. Suppression of histamines can cause a major disruption in essential metabolic responses and therefore caution should be used when consuming the juice form where the dry powder form had no adverse reactions found in our study.

In addition to the above noted problem, greedy suppliers, brokers, and manufacturers frequently stretch small amounts of genuine extract or powder to literally make dozens or even hundreds of liters of finished liquid drink: reaping substantial and often obscene profits. The taste of the juice or drink you experience could well be mainly due to other fruit juices, citric acid, sodium benzoate, and artificial flavors added during the manufacturing process of the drink.

Firstly, you should avoid the area which is hardest hit all together, that would be Mexico. You can also get a preventative dosage of antivirals to give your body a helping hand if you do encounter the virus. Respiratory protection such as masks equipped with hepa filters will also help limit exposure to the virus. As well, be sure to bring along your mangosteen and acai supplements as they act as natural antivirals and help to boost the immune system. When travelling it would be advantageous for you to bring along supplements in capsule form as trying to take the juice with you would be clumsy (all that extra weight in your suitcase) and may cause trouble with customs. Because the juice is made up of acai and mangosteen as well as other juices you are also lugging around something you don't really need. Although neither acai or mangosteen are medications, the bottom line is you don't want to bother with 'taking' a product that isn't going to benefit your health. When you're travelling, It is especially important to stay healthy is trips to the hospital or emergency room in another country can be very expensive. The antiviral, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of the acai and mangosteen supplements will boost stop or slow down virus' and bacteria while providing a boost to your immune system, respectively. This combination of effects means that you'll have a better chance of staying healthy even in areas of heavy disease outbreak and may very well stop infections in their before you get sick.


What is WHO and Who Is The CDC?
The WHO (World Health Organization) is an organization governed by the United Nations (UN). They were established on April. 7^Th 1948—April 7^th is now World Health Day— taking over the responsibilities of the League of Nations. Today, they are the “directing and co-ordinating authority for health within the United Nations”. They aim to provide “global leadership” and hope to “shape [the] health agenda” in terms of what is and isn't acceptable for worldwide public health. They typically deal with “combating disease, especially infectious disease” and some of their goals include eradicating polio within the next 10 years as well as launching health campaigns (such as their anti-smoking initiative). Although primarily a health-based organization, the WHO also deals with political/business issues as a means of 'building bridges' in order to better provide healthcare throughout the globe.

WHO's six-point agenda (as stated by themselves) is as follows:

(1) To Promote Development:This means that the WHO attempts to provide healthcare access to poor or economically disadvantaged regions of the world. Moreover, it is hoped that implementation of proper healthcare will lead to better local medical practices or put another way, the WHO try to build the 'base' of a good healthcare system in poorer parts of the world.

(2) Fostering Health Security: Through collective action with other countries, the WHO builds networks of information and distributes its findings both to WHO members and the public in general. “Health security” in this case means making sure that as many countries are on board with WHO disease containment and prevention protocols as possible to limit the spread of a disease or to stop it entirety.

(3) Strengthen The Health System:By making sure that United Nations countries have the proper staff to keep their healthcare afloat business-wise, WHO strengthens the underpinnings of many heath systems. Some examples of staff brought in to make things are running smoothly include extra nurses and care-aids as well as finance and administrative staff. It is easy to forget that medicine is a business and that accountants are required in adjunct with doctors in order to keep things rolling smoothly.

(4) Harnessing Research, Evidence And Information: As the title of this point would suggest, WHO uses research, evidence and information as it applies to global healthcare. WHO sets worldwide norms and benchmarks for patterns of disease as well as medicine stock and efficacy. Much time is also spent on the prevention of disease and minimizing disease outbreaks.

(5) Enhance Partnerships: WHO uses the evidence and information it collects to “strengthen its partnerships” around the world. In this way, they make sure (as best they can) that the world is 'on the same page' when it comes to healthcare in terms of what the basic requirements are, how accessible it should be and what to do in an emergency.

(6) Improving Performance: This last directive is aimed at creating a better workplace for WHO employees. “Improving performance” means improving how well WHO employees perform by providing them with as pleasant a workplace environment as possible. This includes making sure adequate staff are on hand to 'share the workload', adequate pay-rates, benefits and flexible schedules.

Which countries belong to the World Health Organization?
193 member states belong to the WHO. This includes all members of the United Nations except Liechtenstein. The two non-UN member states are Niue and the Cook Islands. The full list of members can be found at http://www.who.int/countries/en/.

To become a member of WHO you must meet two criteria:

• Be part of the UN

• Accept the WHO's constitution

A country outside the United Nations can apply to become a WHO member but they must be voted in via a majority. As well, there are levels of membership status which affect voting rights. Everyone, even non-WHO members, are given full access to WHO's health information. Full membership, such as that granted to United Nations members who have accepted the WHO's constitution, provides speaking and voting rights. Associate membership is granted to those member states who are voted in and it entails limited voting rights and the right to speak in front of the assembly. Observer status is granted to non-WHO members upon request and confers only the right to speak in front of the assembly.

What is the WHO's role with regard to the Swine Flu?
As noted above, the WHO focus most of their energy towards the containment and prevention of infectious diseases. As the flu is a infectious disease, WHO will set policies, procedures and guidelines for the world to follow as well as actively spread new information and encourage all countries to 'get on board' with approved plans in order to stop the spread of Swine Flu via an international effort.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

5:46 min Streaming Video - Swine Flu signs and symptoms, transmissions, treatment and steps to take if your infected.

The CDC evolved from the communicable disease centre which was established on July.1, 1946 and whose original purpose was to combat malaria. To that end, its headquarters were in Atlanta Georgia, the heart of the malaria outbreak in the US at the time. It was renamed the Centre for Disease Control in 1970 and the words “and prevention” were added to the title on October.27^th, 1992.

A much smaller organization than the WHO, the CDC concern themselves only with the health of the United States. Although they have impressive facilities including a level four bio-safety lab (the highest level) and one of only two official small-pox repositories in the world, their scope of research and resources pales in comparison to that of the WHO (because the WHO can draw upon a much larger international resource pool).

The CDC's role with regard to the Swine Flu is to concentrate more on the general health and occupational safety than the WHO. This means that their strength with regards to the Swine Flu lay not in their accumulated research but in the amount of anti-viral vaccine that they have stockpiled. While the US is under pressure to follow the guidelines of the WHO (and their is no reason for them not to) since the CDC limits itself to US healthcare its main contribution will probably be the sharing of its antiviral stock with UN countries. That said, given the sophistication of the CDC facilities, as the Swine Flu patterns become more established the CDC may yet emerge as a key player in the research department.

Recommended Reading

Swine Flu Protection: What You Need to Know To Protect Yourself Swine Flu Outbreak in America: What are the Symptoms and Risks Swine Flu Outbreak in America: Mangosteen Can Help Build a Stronger Immune Resistance Boost Your Immune System with Acai And Protect Yourself from the Latest Swine Flu Scare (A new browser/window will open when you click on any of the above links)