Thursday, October 15, 2009

Swine Flu ( N1H1) -Good Advice

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of N1H1 infection some very simple steps can be practiced. Therefore:
1. Frequent hand-washing.
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach.Resist all temptations to touch any part of the 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 cavities 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.* Clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water.Blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds 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 or take Vitamin C tablets (make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption).
6. * Drink as much of warm liquids (tea,coffee,etc.) as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive.

This information comes from Dr. Vinay Goyal,MBBS,DRM,DNB(Intensivist and Thyroid specialist).