Preventing Swine Flu

Confession:  all those mass forwards that well meaning friends and family send to my inbox?  About 90% of them get deleted before I even read them.

Something gave me pause in the subject line of one forward I received last week, though:  Preventing Swine Flu. I don’t know how this info and advice would stand up to medical opinion, but it made sense to me and I figure… what have we got to lose?  Here’s the gist of the email.

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple, natural  steps can be practiced.

1. Frequent hand-washing. (duh)
2. Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of your face.
3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms.  Simple gargling prevents proliferation.  In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one.
4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. If you can’t use a Neti Pot, blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton swabs dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.
5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. Drink as much warm liquid (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

As I sit here typing this I’m drinking my hot tea. It’s almost become a nightly habit.  Before I go to bed tonight I’ll also clean out my sinuses with my NasaFlo Neti Pot.  I’ve sung it’s praises before… you just can’t believe how clear your sinuses can be until you use something like this!  I highly recommend that one.  (Seriously, you have no idea the stuff in your nose until you flush it out this way.)

As for our children, they think it’s funny to have a wet cotton swab swiped around in their nostrils (yes, I’m very careful).  I’m also policing the constant hand washing and the lotion-doling for the resulting dry skin.  I’ve also been told that washing their sheets, or at least their pillowcases every day or two (I know, hassle…) will keep the germs at bay.  Considering all the nighttime drooling that goes on, makes sense to me.

I’ll keep you posted on whether these methods Work for Me to keep H1N1 at bay.

What do you think?  Do these preventative measures sound reasonable to you?  Are you already doing any of them?

Update:  FishMama found the source of info for the many-times-forwarded email I received.  Here it is.