The Napa County Public Health Division wants to ensure that you have the information you need to keep yourself and your family healthy this flu season, not only from seasonal flu but also H1N1, which was declared a pandemic (worldwide illness) this summer and continues to spread throughout the United States, California and Napa County.

Consider both vaccines
Seasonal flu vaccine is especially recommended for senior citizens, children up to age 5, health care workers and those with underlying chronic illnesses that make their immune system less robust than most.

Seasonal flu vaccine is available at doctor’s offices, pharmacies such as CVS and Safeway, and at public clinics. People who do not have health insurance or cannot get a flu shot through a provider can get a free seasonal flu vaccination at Public Health’s Immunization Clinic, 2344 Old Sonoma Road. Call 253-4270 for more information
H1N1 vaccine is highly recommended for everyone. Pregnant women, children from age six months to age 24, caregivers and family members of infants up to age six months, health care workers and those with underlying chronic illnesses, especially respiratory illnesses such as asthma or chronic lung disease, are high on the priority list as vaccine becomes available.

The county is slowly receiving H1N1 vaccine doses from the state, and a few private and public health care facilities have small inventories available. The initial shipments of vaccine are reserved for those in the high-priority groups, including pregnant women and children.
To receive the H1N1 vaccine, call your health care provider to see if he or she will be dispensing the vaccine this season. If not, Napa County Public Health will consider large-scale vaccination clinics for all residents as more vaccine becomes available nationwide, probably in November.

Good hygiene, good manners

Practicing good hygiene and good social manners is almost as effective as getting vaccinated.

• Wash your hands with warm water and soap several times a day.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

• Cough and sneeze into your sleeve or into a tissue; dispose of the tissue immediately.

• Limit unnecessary physical contact with others, such as hand shaking.

• If you feel ill, especially if you have a fever and a cough or sore throat, stay home until 24 hours after your fever has resolved itself without the aid of medications such as Tylenol or ibuprofen.

To doc or not to doc?

Most cases of flu, whether seasonal flu or H1N1, will resolve without the need for medical intervention. That is, most people recover with rest and time.

One of greatest threats our community faces from the flu season is an overtaxing of our health care system, especially emergency departments and doctors’ offices, from people concerned that their symptoms are serious enough to warrant emergency care.

Of course, if you or a family member is seriously ill, you should call your doctor and discuss the situation with him or her.

Here are some guidelines.

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing

• Bluish or gray skin color

• Not drinking enough fluids

• Extreme vomiting or vomiting for a long time

• Not waking up or not interacting

• Being so upset that the child does not want to be held

• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen (stomach)

• Sudden dizziness

• Confusion

• Extreme vomiting or vomiting for a long time

• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Should you be worried about the H1N1 vaccine risk?

Every year as temperature drops, it is common to see a rise in people catching the flu. However, since the start of the H1N1 pandemic in May,  there is an increased and real worry that more people is going to be affected by the flu virus.  In American, the impending arrival of the first shipments of H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine, there are divided views about whether could be possible risk.

Why are there worries surrounding the H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine? One report indicated the many people feel that the flu vaccine was rushed through development and testing.  This may result in any potential side effect. There is also the fear that the vaccine could cause a rare condition called Guillian Bar Syndrome (though there is a 1 in a million chance of that happening) which affect the body.   To make matter worst, there are also reports that some health workers are reluctant to take the vaccine.

Between the possibility of getting swine flu and suffering from any side effect of the H1N1 flu vaccine, I would choose not to take the vaccine if I am healthy and well. I would however attempt to improve my immune system with proper nutrients, supplements like Vitamin C and take care of personal hygiene. However, if I am pregnant or have young children, it will be a difficult decision. Would I be irresponsible by not taking the vaccine since the risks in not proven or is it just as irresponsible to subject my children to any possible risk?

What would you do? Would you allow your children to receive the H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine? Give your vote below and get Free* $1000 of Walmart gift card.

We continue to be inundated with information about the flu season and the H1N1 swine flu virus.  We all ask ourselves the question, should I get the H1N1 flu shot?  Why is it such an issue?  Is there reason to suspect as many people have gotten sick as we are told?  These are very important questions to ask yourself.  You need to provide the answers provided here to your customers visiting your business internet money online opportunity web site.

Here are 3 things to consider before being vaccinated or panicking about the swine flu.

1.  The World Health Organization (WHO) did not declare the swine flu a pandemic because of the number of hospitalizations or deaths.  The WHO classified it as a pandemic based only upon the virus being present in multiple countries worldwide.  Even the mildest virus detected in enough places worldwide would receive the same classification.   Your business internet money online opportunity must provide this information on your H1N1 virus website to help people understand if there is a true risk associated with the virus.

2.  Experts say that the number of swine flu cases has been significantly overestimated mainly because the symptoms of swine flu are identical to that of the seasonal flu.  How are the differences determined?  Do you or I know the difference between the swine flu and seasonal flu when we call or see our doctor?  The latest figures as of September 2009 according to the WHO estimate only 300,000 laboratory confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus and 3,917 deaths worldwide.  The WHO’s latest calculations for regular influenza outbreaks estimate annually there are around 3-5 million cases of severe flu-related illness, and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths globally.  Is this an exaggeration to make you panic and get the flu shot?  Again make sure you business internet money online opportunity website explains the facts.

3. The swine flu epidemic has happened before and we must get vaccinated.  This claim dates back to 1976 when an Army recruit felt sick and weak and died during a training hike.  After the autopsy revealed the presence of the H1N1 virus, later named swine flu,  a swine flu vaccine was immediately created and administered to 46 million Americans.  At least 25 people died from the vaccine, more than 500 became paralyzed and the US government paid out over $3.5 billion in damages to those harmed by it.  It should be noted that not 1 person, vaccinated or not, died from the swine flu, including other soldiers at the base who became infected with the virus.

So will you put yourself and family at risk by taking the H1N1 swine flu shot and possibly even get the flu as has been the case in Canada or stay healthy and take precautions to avoid getting it?  This is your decision but in either case be sure and tell the facts to your customers at your business internet money online opportunity web site.

We continue to be inundated with information about the flu season and the H1N1 swine flu virus.  We all ask ourselves the question, should I get the H1N1 flu shot?  Is this virus more dangerous than the seasonal flu?  Who are the people at risk and even dying from the disease? What is in the inoculation? These are very important questions to ask yourself.  You need to provide the answers given here to your customers visiting your business internet money online opportunity web site.

Here are three questions and answers to consider before being vaccinated or panicking about the H1N1 swine flu.

1.  Is the H1N1 swine flu a strong virus and worse than the seasonal flu?  No.  In the vast majority of cases, both viruses are mild enough where the people are able to recover without hospitalization or medication.  Both the seasonal and swine flu produce identical symptoms.  This includes a fever exceeding 100 degrees, coughing, runny nose and/or sore throat, joint aches, headaches, vomiting and/or diarrhea, lethargy and lack of appetite.  You need to be aware that we all get sick and in this flu season be sure and provide the truth to you customers at your website for your business internet money online opportunity.

2.  Is it true only those people with severely compromised immune systems are dying or are susceptible to serious harm from either the seasonal flu or the swine flu?  The answer to this question is obvious.  The flu does not kill those in good health, it kills those whose immune systems have lost their ability to protect.  Those children who have died from H1N1 are those with a pre-existing disease.  It has been shown that Vitamin D is a main protector against the flu and many diseases.  Children or people with a Vitamin D deficiency are at risk.  The CDC reports that 36,000 people die annually from the flu but this statistic does not tell you that nearly 34,000 of these cases also had pneumonia caused from other complications and actually die from that.  Thus the actual figures are that out of hundreds of millions of people only about 1,800 actually die from the flu and we are not sure if they die from the seasonal or H1N1.  Again, report the facts on your business internet money online opportunity web site.

3. Are the ingredients in the swine flu inoculation dangerous?   Here is a list of some of the ingredients so you can decide.

- Squalene – an adjuvant, causes severe immune responses and is linked to auto-immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Gulf War Syndrome

- Thimerosal – mercury, linked to neurological disorders such as autism, the 25mcg within 1 vaccine is 250 times greater than the EPA’s level that is considered safe.  We are told not to eat more than 1 serving of fish per week due to mercury yet injecting a large amount into the blood stream is supposedly healthy?

- Aluminum — a neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s disease

- Triton X-100 — a detergent

- Phenol (carbolic acid)

- Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)

- Betapropiolactone – a disinfectant

- Nonoxynol – used to kill or stop growth of STDs

- Octoxinol 9 – a spermicide

- Sodium phosphate

So will you put yourself and family at risk by taking the H1N1 swine flu shot and possibly even get the flu as has been the case in Canada or stay healthy and take precautions to avoid getting it?  This is your decision but in either case be sure and tell the facts to your customers at your business internet money online opportunity web site.

The swine flu is a deadly disease that is killing several hundred people around the world every week.  The virus is a type of influenza that jumped from pigs to humans some time in April, 2009 and has been pandemic ever since.  The exact extent of the virus is unknown, but I recommend against taking case counts literally.  There are a few reasons for this, which I’ll detail below:

The first is that many states are only tested hospitalized people for H1N1.  That means only about 20% of people suspected of having H1N1 are tested.  With that in mind, it’s also important to note that only about 20% of those people end up testing positive.  What does that mean?  Well, there are a few things.  The first thing we have to note is that the rapid test is notoriously inaccurate – it can return false negatives more than 50% of the time.  So while the confirmed case count is useful, it’s something that should be taken with a grain of salt.

While the confirmed cases are probably inaccurate, I’d also like to note that the “estimated” cases are also probably incorrect.  Again, the CDC is reporting a very high ILI.  More than 20,000 people are coming in for flu-like illness each week.  Many times, people with these sort of symptoms are counted as having H1N1 through phone surveys.  They then extrapolate the data to fit the large area.  For example, if they do a phone survey of a certain area of New York that was hit hard by the flu in April, then extend that data to the rest of the city, rhey can come up with very high numbers like 800,000.  This is very far from accurate and is not a good indication of how far spread the flu is. 

Another thing I’d like to note is that estimates don’t take into the count that ~20% of people that are actually thought to have H1N1 end up testing negative.  Again, this could have to do with the false negatives but that doesn’t tell the whole story. 

If you want to figure out the full extent of the flu, I recommend multiplying the confirmed deaths by five or six.  With that in mind, deaths are reported with equal inaccuracy and should also be multiplied by the same amount.  With that in mind, you’ll probably find that the ratio of deaths to cases remains constant and is actually not as heavily affected by overstating or understating as thought.

Daily we hear about the flu season and the H1N1 swine flu virus.  We all ask ourselves the question, should I get the H1N1 flu shot?  If I am harmed by the vaccine, what legal recourse do I have?  What safety tests have been conducted on the vaccine?  These are very important questions to ask yourself.  You need to provide the answers given here to your customers visiting your business internet money online opportunity web site.

Here are 4 questions and answers to consider before being vaccinated or panicking about the H1N1 swine flu.

1.  If you are harmed by the vaccine do you have any legal recourse in the event of an adverse reaction?  In 2001 a law was passed granting those who develop and recommend vaccines during a “health emergency” immunity from any legal prosecution.   This law granted the pharmaceutical companies a free pass since without the potential to lose billions of dollars in lawsuits they have far less motivation to spend millions testing the H1N1 vaccine.

2.  What safety tests have been completed on the H1N1 vaccine before it will be administered?  Though the safety of vaccines in general can be questioned, it usually takes immunologists 18 months to create and test a vaccine, the H1N1 vaccine was developed for distribution in less than 5 months.  Testing thus far has included only 6,000 people.  Of these, not all have even received the same vaccine with the same ingredients.  Also, because testing is done on volunteers there is no way to accurately test the effect of the vaccine on certain age groups such as pregnant mothers, the elderly and those at higher risk.  One manufacturer of the H1N1 vaccine admitted to the Associated Press that the vaccine will be available to the public before trial testing is even completed.

3.  Which is the higher risk, taking the vaccine or getting the swine flu?  Except in those with a severely compromised immune system, the swine flu would likely result in no more than regular flu symptoms and a possible 1 or 2 days missed from work or school.   The effect of an adverse reaction to the vaccine can be very severe and possibly fatal. One type reaction is getting Guillian Barre Syndrome, a neurological disease that causes partial paralysis and is associated with many vaccines including the flu vaccine.  It was the most common form of injury from the swine flu vaccine administered in the 70’s.  Before any medicine or vaccine is taken one should weigh the risks versus the benefits.

4.  What can you do to protect yourself against the H1N1 flu and seasonal flu naturally?  You can answer this question yourself by reading the following facts.  Germs on their own do not make you sick, lowered body defenses do.  Keep your body strong physically, nutritionally and mentally and observe good hygiene and you will have protection against the swine flu.  Vitamin D is a powerful defender against viruses.  Your body derives Vitamin D from sunlight and thus as it gets colder and we get less and less our defenses against viruses can decrease – thus why we have a “flu season.”  Increasing your Vitamin D levels and/or using other different natural supplements can protect you naturally, without risk and more effectively than the vaccine.  Maintain a healthy nervous system.

So will you put yourself and family at risk by taking the H1N1 swine flu shot and possibly even get the flu as has been the case in Canada or stay healthy and take precautions to avoid getting it?  This is your decision but in either case be sure and tell the facts to your customers at your business internet money online opportunity web site.