UK Swine Flu Info & Advice

Source

The situation in the UK is developing rapidly. It was reported in this morning's news that there was a single suspected case in Scotland, which didn't sound too alarming. Before the end of the same day three people are awaiting specialist test results.

We can only hope this dies down, but if it doesn't it would be good if folk can share the latest info and advice by posting it ASAP. Let's hope such info doesn't become the basis of life & death decisions in the near future relating to work and travel, etc.

The current advice (from the same source) is:

"People will wish to know whether they should wear facemasks. "Although we are aware that facemasks are being given out to the public in Mexico, the available scientific evidence does not support the general wearing of facemasks by those who are not ill, whilst going about their normal activities."

...Mr Johnson said preparations had been going on to cope with a flu pandemic for the last five years.

"We have established a stockpile of enough anti-virals to treat more than 33m people, that is to say half of the UK population," he said.

...Officials said the UK should expect to see an outbreak of the virus.

Detailed advice on diagnosis has also been issued:

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has a procedure for confirming whether or not a patient has swine flu.

• If a patient rings their GP or NHS Direct to report symptoms, they will be told to stay at home, not to visit a surgery or hospital

• The HPA has prepared an "algorithm" - in essence, a flow chart - for suspected cases. On the phone, or possibly even face to face depending on the circumstances, the patient's GP or NHS Direct will take the patient through the algorithm

• If the answers to the algorithm lead the questioner to believe the patient may have swine flu, a sample will be taken that will then be sent to one of the HPA's network of regional labs for testing

• If the sample is confirmed as influenza type A, it will then be sent to the HPA's Reference Lab at the Centre for Infections in Colindale, where they will carry out genetic typing on it and establish whether it is a confirmed case of swine flu

Source: as above





[edit on 27/4/09 by pause4thought]

I don't know of any updates from London yet , I am quite close to the hospital where the air stewardess was taken for possible infection. One minute it is far away in mexico, next it is a possible case right in my locality . Anyway, that was enough to get me ordering some supplies from amazon. Boxes and boxes of surgical masks. If you go to amazon and find there are no more on sale , then you can blame me

Yeah, I did some research on what Alternative medicine prescribes for flu. Take these solutions seriously because they could make the difference between life and death if you're infected:

Antiviral herbs

Andrographis, Astragalus, Cats Claw, Cloves, Echinacea, Elderberries, Garlic, Ginger, Lemon Balm, Licorice, Olive Leaf, Oregano, #ake and Reishi mushooms, St. Johns Wort.


Antiviral essential oils

Cloves, Frankincense, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Lemon Myrtle, Oregano, Thyme.

Antiviral foods

Aloe Vera, Apples, Berries, Chillies, Cloves, Carrot juice, Cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli, Ghee, Onions, Mushrooms, Pears, Seaweed.

Other antivirals

Vitamins A, C and E, Selenium, Zinc, Mycrohydrin, Chawanprash (Ayurvedic herbal jam), , Coconut oil, Green tea, DHEA.

www.mullumherbals.com...

ginger but also cinnamon, licorice, basil, and cloves. Take 1 to 4 grams of any of these herbs in powdered form. (Four grams equals about 2 to 3 teaspoons.) Add the herb to 1 cup of boiled water, stir, and let it cool before you drink it. Or, add herbs to foods of your liking. We recommend that you take the herb powder with honey.

Here is another recipe for ginger tea:

Add just under ½ teaspoon each of ginger powder, fennel seeds and cinnamon and a pinch of clove powder to one cup of hot water. Let the herbs steep for about ten minutes, then strain them out of the tea before drinking. Drink as much of the tea as you wish.

Because aspirin and ginger are both blood thinners, do not drink ginger tea within two hours of taking aspirin.

2. Diet

Ayurvedic medicine also advocates dietary changes to treat colds. Consume more whole grains and steamed vegetables and fewer meats, dairy products, oily foods, nuts, pastries, and sweet fruit juices until your symptoms subside.

Listed below are some known strategies to treat colds.

1. Add a teaspoon of cumin seeds to 1 glass of boiling water. Simmer for a few minutes, strain, and let it cool. Drink it 12 times a day. If sore throat is also present, add a few small pieces of dry ginger to the boiling water.

2. Take two garlic cloves crushed and boiled in water along with half a teaspoon turmeric powder. This is an excellent antidote for cold.

3. Grind six pepper corns. Mix it with a glass of warm water, sweetened with 56 batasha (a variation of sugar candy). Take this for a few nights.

4. Take a concoction of ginger juice and honey, a few times a day. This remedy gives instant relief from cough and cold.

5. Lemon is excellent for cold. The saying goes, "A lemon a day keeps the cold away." Mix the juice of two lemons in 2½ cups of boiling water sweetened with honey. Take this at bed time. It is a very effective remedy for bad cold.

6. For acute cold in the head, boil 1 tablespoon pepper powder in a cup of milk along with a pinch of turmeric. Drink this once daily for 3 days.

7. For severe cold: Take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for 3 days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold and clear the sinuses.

Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.

If you get repeated colds, take the Ayurvedic tonic, chyavanprash, to help build immunity.

In both ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine, ginger is considered the best home remedy for colds. Drink a cup of ginger tea several times a day. Boil a few thin slices of fresh ginger or use 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon of powdered ginger per cup.

www.holisticonline.com...

now 9 confirmed cases in scotland.

Press conferance live on Sky News now from Edinburgh.

This is my home patch. Lets see how Scotland reacts to it.

reply to post by Drexl


Keep us posted if anything comes up in the London press. From the current official advice it doesn't seem face masks will help much, unfortunately, though I can well imagine we'll all be sporting them soon enough.



The UK is already instigating its own tests:

UK lab tests

Not surprising in the light of the following:

The fear has been that a pandemic could cause tens of millions of deaths and official predictions here suggest the death toll in the UK could range between 50,000 and 750,000.

(Source as above)

Interestingly The Chief Medical Advisor in England says the cases in Mexico are responding to treatment:

Sir Liam Donaldson

This conflicts with first-hand reports published by the BBC yesterday:

1st-hand reports

(file down a little to the reports dated Saturday 25th April, which are particularly enlightening)

On balance it is still possible even a wide-scale epidemic could cause far more sickness than actual death. But even if a relatively small proportion of cases prove fatal you'd still hope there'd be an effective treatment. Just not Tamiflu...



[edit to add:]

Outstanding lateral thinking from Indigo_Child. Nice going. Well worth a second look, I'd say.

zeetroyman: keep us posted north of the border - we're in this together!





[edit on 27/4/09 by pause4thought]

Ten people reported as being tested in the East Midlands:

Acknowledgements to 'Infinite'

I wonder if East Midlands airport has flights to Mexico? Probably not, but connecting flights are always a possibility. A near certainty I suppose. Which means every airport is a potential source - and we're not even talking pure theory any more.

Just watching Sky news now - the two people who were being tested in Scotland have been confirmed as Positive for Swine Flu !!!!!!

reply to post by suziwong


Yes, it IS here, as zeetroyman mentioned a short while ago. Confirmed

There seem to be conflicting reports as to how many, though, with the BBC citing 2 cases:

Swine Flu Cases confirmed in UK

On Sky news (online) earlier this afternoon, there was an article about ONE suspected case of swine flu in Sale - Manchester

A Canadian woman taken ill whilst visiting friends in the area

I have tried to search for any updates on this (I live a few miles from Manchester) but I cannot even find the article now.

Originally posted by suziwong
On Sky news (online) earlier this afternoon, there was an article about ONE suspected case of swine flu in Sale - Manchester

She tested negative

Thanks for that information

blupblup is right:



(Taken from that last article I posted.)

Please let us know of any other suspected cases that you hear about.

reply to post by Indigo_Child


H2O2
Get a bottle of food grade hydrogen peroxide. Use it in your OJ, coffee, water (about 6-8 drops per 8-16 oz.) and prevent infection from flu. I have been taking it for years and the benefits are too numerous to list here. One of the best kept secrets in medicine.

Tuesday - Cases awaiting diagnosis

2 people in Derbyshire

4 people in Ireland

Well the UK govt certainly sounds confident. ?Overconfident?

The UK is one of the best prepared countries to deal with swine flu and "all action necessary" will be taken to stop its spread, Gordon Brown has said.

Source

PLEASE give us Tamilflu. We want Tamiflu.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: "There are no more confirmed cases at this stage, although undoubtedly there will be"...

...He said the government proposed to use its stockpile of anti-viral drugs to treat patients showing symptoms of the disease, should the virus start spreading in the UK.
England's Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: "If a new pandemic does start as a result of this outbreak in Mexico and the United States, we can't make it go away, but what we can do through our plans, particularly our stockpiles of anti-virals, is mitigate its effect."

(Source as above)

Bring on the wonder-drug...

Wednesday 8:25am -

Still only 2 cases confirmed in the UK

23 suspected cases in Scotland

8 suspected cases in Wales

7 suspected in Wiltshire

LINK TO BBC NEWS

3 new cases of swine flu in the UK confirmed by Gordon Brown

1 Adult from Birmingham

1 Adult from London

1 12 year old girl from Devon (Paignton)
Her school has been shut and anti-virals are being offered to all pupils

All the above had recently travelled to Mexico

Trouble is that everyone with a slight cold will now be going to their doctor saying they have swine 'flu ....... Mind, it is a good excuse to have a week off work!

I'm just wondering how much non-swine 'flu there is in the country at the moment, how many are infected with non-swine 'flu and, indeed, how many have died of non-swine 'flu in the past few weeks?

And of course, with pollen season soon getting underway, we'll all be sneezing afore long!

Local health authorities have already given out advice and recommendations in the event of certain facilities being closed.

In the event of confirmation of human-to-human transmission, restricting civilian congregation will be implemented. Scotland has already started emergency procedures, if powers are needed, the Civil Contingency Act may be enforced.

LINK TO SKY NEWS ARTICLE

Thursday - 30th April

3 More cases for the UK - putting the total up to 8

2 in London - 1 in the North East

230 more cases are suspected - pending testing.

The Government is to issue leaflets to every houshold to provide swine flu advice.