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Medical report:
Unpublicized Tips on H1N1 Prevention-from a doctor
Friends,
Thanks to media hype about H1N1, several people who trust me have either approached or called me to advise. The hype in media about the utility of face masks and N95 respirators as a tool for general protection against H1N1 can't be deplored enough. Yesterday, a friend who listened wanted me to write down briefly what I advised so that he could tell others in similar words. Hence this short email to friends whom I have advised recently (and others whom I haven't yet). Please realize that this is not an official advice, especially the one about face masks or N95.
Most N95 respirators are designed to filter 95% particulates of 0.3µ, while the size of H1N1 virus is about 0.1µ. Hence, dependence on N95 to protect against H1N1 is like protecting against rain with an umbrella made of mosquito net.
Tamiflu does not kill but prevents H1N1 from further proliferation till the virus limits itself in about 1-2 weeks (its natural cycle). H1N1, like other Influenza A viruses, only infects the upper respiratory tract and proliferates (only) there. The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/ throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible not coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of 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 steps – not fully highlighted in most official communications - can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).
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. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but 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 (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 of warm liquids 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.
All these are simple ways to prevent, within means of most households, and certainly much less painful than to wait in long queues outside public hospitals.
Happy breathing!
Medical report: alcohol worse than ecstasy
Alcohol worse than ecstasy on shock new drug list
James Randerson, science correspondent
Friday March 23, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian .co.uk/drugs/ Story/0,, 2040886,00. html
VERSES FROM THE QUR'AN RELATING TO ALCOHOL:
Surah 5:90
O ye who believe ! Wine and the game of chance and idols and
divining arrows are only the abomination of Satan's handiwork. So
shun each one of them that you may prosper.
Surah 2:219
They ask you about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: In both of
them there is a great sin and means of profit for men, and their sin
is greater than their profit. And they ask you as to what they
should spend. Say: What you can spare. Thus does Allah make clear to
you the communications, that you may ponder.
Surah 4:43
O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated
until you know (well) what you say.....
RELATED ARTICLE: One glass too many...
The Prohibition of Alcohol
http://www.themoder nreligion. com/misc/ booze/alcohol_ glass.htm
Some of Britain's leading drug experts demand today that the
government's classification regime be scrapped and replaced by one
that more honestly reflects the harm caused by alcohol and tobacco.
They say the current ABC system is "arbitrary" and not based on
evidence.
The scientists, including members of the government's top advisory
committee on drug classification, have produced a rigorous
assessment of the social and individual harm caused by 20
substances, and believe this should form the basis of any future
ranking.
By their analysis, alcohol and tobacco are rated as more dangerous
than cannabis, LSD and ecstasy.
They say that if the current ABC system is retained, alcohol would
be rated a class A drug and tobacco class B.
"We face a huge problem," said Colin Blakemore, chief executive of
the Medical Research Council and an author of the report, which is
published in the Lancet medical journal. "Drugs ... have never been
more easily available, have never been cheaper, never been more
potent and never been more widely used.
"The policies we have had for the last 40 years ... clearly have not
worked in terms of reducing drug use. So I think it does deserve a
fresh look. The principal objective of this study was to bring a
dispassionate approach to what is a very passionate issue."
David Nutt, a psychopharmacologis t at Bristol University and member
of the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which advises
ministers on drug policy, added: "What we are trying to say is we
should review the penalties in the light of the harms and try to
have a more proportionate legal response.
"The point we are making is that all drugs are dangerous, even the
ones that people know and love and use regularly like alcohol."
Professor Nutt and his team analysed the evidence of harm caused by
20 drugs including heroin, cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy, LSD and
tobacco.
They asked a group of 29 consultant psychiatrists who specialise in
addiction to rate the drugs in nine categories. Three of these
related to physical harm, three to the likelihood of addiction and
three to social harms such as healthcare costs. The team also
extended the analysis to another group of 16 experts spanning
several fields including chemistry, pharmacology, psychiatry,
forensics, police and legal services.
The final rankings placed heroin and cocaine as the most dangerous
of the 20 drugs. Alcohol was fifth, the class C drug ketamine sixth
and tobacco was in ninth place, just behind amphetamine or "speed".
Cannabis was 11th, while LSD and ecstasy were 14th and 18th
respectively. The rankings do take into account new evidence that
specially cultivated "skunk" varieties of cannabis available now are
two to three times stronger than traditional cannabis resin.
Evan Harris MP, the Liberal Democrats' science spokesman, said the
paper undermines the government's claim that drug policy is evidence-
based. "This comes from the top echelons of the government's own
advisory committee on the misuse of drugs. It blows a hole in the
government's current classification system for drugs." He said the
ACMD should make recommendations to ministers on how to change drug
policy based on the findings.
But the shadow home secretary, David Davis, rejected any changes
that would confuse the public. "Drugs wreck lives, destroy
communities and fuel other sorts of crime - especially gun and knife
crime. Thanks to the government's chaotic and confused approach to
drugs policy, young people increasingly think it is OK to take
drugs," he said, adding that he was against downgrading of
ecstasy. "It is vital nothing else leads young people to believe
drugs are OK."
The position of ecstasy near the bottom of the list was defended by
Prof Nutt, who said that apart from some tragic isolated cases
ecstasy is relatively safe. Despite about a third of young people
having tried the drug and around half a million users every weekend,
it causes fewer than 10 deaths a year. One person a day is killed by
acute alcohol poisoning and thousands more from chronic use.
Prof Nutt said young people already know ecstasy is relatively safe,
so having it in class A makes a mockery of the entire classification
system for them. "The whole harm-reduction message disappears
because people say, 'They are lying.' Let's treat people as adults,
tell them the truth and hopefully work with them to minimise use."
Another advantage of the new system, according to Professor
Blakemore, is that it would be easy to tweak the rankings based on
new evidence.
The public furore over the downgrading of cannabis from B to C, he
said, showed how hard it is to change drug classifications once they
are fixed. "[Our system] would be easy to use on a rolling basis, to
reassess the harms of drugs as evidence developed," he said.
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