Prevention of Viral Respiratory Infection; colds, flu, SARS, H5N1, v. pneumonia

[anthropositor]

It is worthwhile to note that whatever happens in the coming season, there will be an extreme shortfall of available vaccine when the pandemic heats up.  Bear in mind that these vaccines do not contain the live virus.  There is also a nasal "spray" which could also be used.  It is different.  It uses an attenuated live virus.

Two problems.  Using this spray means that you are actually infecting yourself with a milder form of the flu in the hope that it will confer immunity.  But with the large populations involved, we can expect that a certain number will have already contracted the flu, but are not yet symptomatic.  And the second problem is in the delivery system.  I have seen no details on it.  If it is a pressurized spray delivery system designed for a single use, the price may be prohibitive.  If it comes in a manual spray syringe, that too could be problematical from several perspectives.

Assuming that a safe, live, attenuated virus might be a good approach, why couldn't a cotton swab be used as the delivery device.  In the last twenty five years, using the procedure outlined at the top of this thread, no one has been harmed by swabbing vegetable oil into the nasal passage.  And if the patient is prepared to take a few minutes each day to do this for themselves, there is no need for any medical intervention at all.  You need not wait and hope that a vaccine will be available in a timely way. 

I certainly won't be indulging in shots or sprays to protect myself.  Therefore I am not at the mercy of a limited supply situation.  Nor will I be spending thirty or forty dollars for the three shots required.  (Two for the general flu protection, and one for the AH1N1 strain.

The daily cost is pennies.

[anthropositor]

According to one estimate, my county has something in the neighborhood of 300+ cases of this flu at the moment, mostly in the children and young adults.  Sad that it is precisely this demographic group that seems most resistant to using this simple procedure to prevent it.

[anthropositor]

In the next few days, I will be simplifying the procedure that begins this thread.  Although I personally have no interest in the vaccine, for several reasons, if you are in one of the several high risk groups, and can afford the admittedly high price that many have to pay, I encourage you to get the shot AND employ the procedure described at the top of this thread, because it protects against all the expected strains of the flue as well.  I will get back with more information as soon as I can.

[itchychick]

Really anthro?  What about the concerns over the adjuvant?  Here in Canada, we don't have the option of a non-adjuvented vaccine.... it's really giving me pause, even though both the H1N1 and the seasonal flu shot are "free".

[anthropositor]

I would not use them myself.  I don't believe they have been proven safe yet.  I'm not too enthusiastic about the attenuated live nasal vaccines either, but under some circumstances, like the current shortages of the dead vaccine, they really need to be used in the high risk groups. 

Of course I am in a rather enviable position.  I had a strain of H1N1 (which came closer to killing me than several assailants since) back in the 1957-58 season.  I'll try not to get too technical here, but really, although the name is the same, the strain is slightly different, though both are pretty serious for some victims.  The 1957-58 strain was actually an H1N1, and it might have killed roughly 2-3%.  I don't think there is hard data on this.  If there is, I haven't seen it.

This current strain, which is being referred to as Swine Flu in the vernacular, would best be referred to as AH1N1 in that it also has an avian component.  My opinion as a survivor of both that influenza and the medical system of that time is that this current strain is actually somewhat more dangerous than the 1957-58 variant.  That may sound like something of a contradiction, and perhaps it is.  But one of the treatments back then if the patient had an extremely elevated temperature was alcohol and ice cube baths.  When you have a temperature in excess of 105 or 106F I can't describe how cold that bath is.  Perhaps that was one of the things that saved me, but I doubt that such full body chilling is done today with any frequency.  The illusion in such a bath is that of being scorched, but I suppose the screaming is good for the lungs.  I don't know how much postural drainage is done these days either.  Nor can you get what is an excellent expectorant today without a great deal of trouble.  It is called SSKI (saturated solution potassium iodide).  I tried to get some last year.  The doctor really did not know what I was talking about.  Of course, it needs to be used with some care, but so do the tablets.  For me, the saturated solution would have been best since I am so familiar with it.  Absolutely essential to prevent thyroid cancer after a nuclear accident too. Anyone living within ten miles of a nuclear reactor should be able to get an ounce at will at any pharmacy without a prescription, just for nuclear emergencies.  10 drops per family member per day in juice or water while getting away from the reactor should be enough.  Discard if the clear fluid turns amber.

We also have some promising antivirals, which,like the vaccines are also in very short supply.  These did not exist in the fifties.  We could have been much further ahead than we are if we had started the research in making the caterpillar cell vaccines ten years ago, rather than continuing for so long with chicken egg production.  But there you are. 

Even so, these death rates need to be put into perspective.  Although in a pandemic like this, a lot of people are going to die, and the fatalities are likely to be in the many thousands, as a proportion of the infected, it is still going to be down in the 2 to 3% range.  Compare that to H5N1, in which we can expect two out of three victims to die.  Call it a 65% death rate.  In the aftermath of an H5N1 pandemic, the population could easily be reduced by nearly half.  So if you follow the extremely simplified instructions in the next post, you will still afford yourselves considerable protection against all airborne viruses.

[anthropositor]

Okay, I have been called away, which is cause for brevity.  Skip everything in the first post of this thread.  Before going out in public, dip some cotton swabs in cooking oil of whatever variety you like.  Lay on your back.  Swab the nasal passages as high as you comfortably can.  Sniff in sharply.  Wipe your nose of any excess.  Do all the other prudent things you should do.  That quick enough for you?  Bye.

[anthropositor]

In recent weeks a great many people have been waiting in long lines for hours in the hopes of getting the shots or the nasal blast for H1N1.  Often at the end of all this time, they are still being turned away.  It seems rather counter-productive to me, having all this public exposure, and still not attaining any level of protection.  If you intend to stand in line for the vaccine in any form, whether you are likely to actually get it or not, that would be an ideal time to engage in the short form of protection of the previous post, or the more complete procedure as outlined and explained at the beginning of this thread.