Swine Flu is actually a strand of a flu virus called H1N1. This H1N1 is a mutation of the swine flu virus. Pigs typically carry this strand of virus. This virus generally will not kill pigs. Humans rarely contract swine flu. Swine flu can not be caught by eating pork products. Swine flu is only contracted via air born. The current strand (2009) is assumed to have started near Mexico city at a pig farm owned by a US company. However, no pigs were have to been found in the H1N1 virus. Closed areas are places were swine flu can spread rapidly. Areas such as subways, buses, planes, office buildings are places where the H1N1 virus can spread since they are enclosed.
H1N1 virus effects people almost identically to the flu influenza. People that may contacted the H1N1 virus experience fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Allopathic solutions for the swine flu outbreak include Tamiflu (oseltamivir) or Relenza (zanamivir). These drugs can potentially shorten the duration of the swine flu by a day. The side effects of these drugs include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bronchitis, stomach pain, dizziness and headache. Most people make a full recovery from H1N1 without the use of any drugs at all.
Oscillococcinum is a very popular homeopathic drug that is used to shorten the duration of the regular flu virus. This drug has been proven in several trials to reduce the duration of the influenza virus by about 6 hours without any side effects. However, this drug has never been tested on H1N1 virus. Oscillococcinum also claims to prevent the flu but trials have shown no evidence of flu prevention with this drug.
Homeopathy was used effectively in the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918. The homeopathy mortatily rate was 1%. This was much lower than the rate of death used with conventionally medicine. The homeopathic remedies used to treat this flu outbreak were Byronia and Gelsemium. Most cases used Gelsemiun to treat the spanish flu. These remedies are also commonly used to treat the common flu.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no vaccine for the H1N1. There is really no way to prevent people from catching the swine flu other than avoiding contact with people that have caught the diesease. You can boost up your immune system by taking vitamin C, beta carotein, vitamin D and antioxidants. This help you better fight off the H1N1 virus.
For healthy individuals with strong immune systems, the swine flu is really nothing to worry about. Most people in the US that have contracted the swine flu have survived without any issues. The common flu has killed far more people than the swine flu has.
