Everything you wanted to know about swine flu
TNN 10 August 2009, 05:30am IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4875349,prtpage-1.cms

The spread of swine flu is fast emerging as No 1 healthcare emergency not just in the country but the world over. Despite the issue being in the media for a long time, there continue to be ignorance and mis-information about the disease and how to handle it. Indian Medical Association, Nagpur Centre, has come up with a information dossier on the subject. We reproduce it here for the benefit of our readers.

What is H1N1 (swine) flu?
H1N1 (referred to as "swine flu" early on) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. This new virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. Other countries, including Mexico and Canada, have also reported people sick with this new virus. This virus is spreading from person-to-person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread.

In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas.

In the beginning it was difficult to predict the effect of this virus on general population. In seasonal flu, there are certain people who are at higher risk of serious flu-related complications. This includes people with 65 years of more age, children below five years, pregnant women, and people of any age with chronic medical conditions.

This virus is contagious but, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people. The symptoms of H1N1 swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhoea and vomiting associated with H1N1 swine flu. Severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and even deaths have been reported with H1N1 swine flu infection. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic diseases.

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

• Fast breathing or difficulty in breathing

• Bluish or gray skin colour

• Not drinking enough fluids

• Severe or persistent vomiting

• Not waking up or not interacting

• Being so irritable 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 in breathing or shortness of breath

• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen

• Sudden dizziness

• Confusion

• Severe or persistent vomiting

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

How do you catch H1N1 (swine) flu?
Spread of H1N1 (swine) flu can occur in two ways:

H1N1 virus appears to be transmitted the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How can someone with the flu infect someone else?

Infected people can infect others right from day one even before they themselves develop any symptoms up to seven or more days after becoming sick. That means that one can pass on the infection to someone else before he/she even knows that he/she is sick, as well as while one is sick.

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?

There is no vaccine available right now to protect against H1N1 (swine) flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza. Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.

• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

• If you get sick with influenza, you should stay at home and not go for work or school and limit contact with others to prevent them from getting infecting by you.

• Reduce the time spent in the crowded settings.

• Improve airflow in the living space by opening the windows and proper ventilation.

• Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.

How long can influenza virus remain viable on objects (such as books and doorknobs)?

Studies have shown that influenza virus can survive on environmental surfaces and can infect a person for up to 2-8 hours after being deposited on the surface.

Germs can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth. Droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air. Germs can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk, for example, and then touches his own eyes, mouth or nose before washing hands.

Are there medicines to treat H1N1 (swine) flu?

Yes, use of oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu?) or zanamivir (brand name Relenza ?) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these H1N1 (swine) influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within two days of symptoms).

Follow the advice of your local public health department regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other measures to reduce flu transmission. These measures will continue to be important after a novel H1N1 vaccine is available because they can prevent the spread of other viruses that cause respiratory infections.

What should I do if I get sick?

If you live in areas where people have been identified with new H1N1 flu and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhoea, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people, except to seek medical care. If you have severe illness or you are at high risk for flu complications, contact your health care provider or seek medical care. Your health care provider will determine whether flu testing or treatment is needed.

Antiviral drugs may reduce the symptoms and duration of illness, just as they do for seasonal influenza. They also may contribute to preventing severe disease and death. WHO is in touch with public health authorities and clinicians in affected countries and is gathering information about how effective the drugs are.

What about using a mask? What does WHO recommend?

If you are not sick you do not have to wear a mask. If you are caring for a sick person, you can wear a mask when you are in close contact with the ill person and dispose of it immediately after contact, and clean your hands thoroughly afterwards.

If you are sick and have to travel or be around others, cover your mouth and nose.

Using a mask correctly in all situations is essential. Incorrect use actually increases the chance of spreading infection.

How do I know if I have influenza A (H1N1)?

You will not be able to tell the difference between seasonal flu and influenza A (H1N1) without medical help. Typical symptoms to watch for are similar to seasonal viruses and include fever, cough, headache, body aches, sore throat and runny nose. Only your medical practitioner and local health authority can confirm a case of influenza A (H1N1). If they suspect any symptoms they will send your blood sample, throat swab and nasopharyngeal (nose to mouth) for testing to laboratories. Presently this facility is available only at certain specified government laboratories.

With a Broken Hip Comes Higher Risk for Dying
Expert warns that consequences of osteoporosis go far beyond weak bones
By Ed Edelson | HealthDay Reporter | Posted August 4, 2009

TUESDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Older people who break a hip have nearly a 25 percent chance of dying in the next five years, a Canadian study has found.

The five-year death rate for those who have a spinal fracture is 16 percent, according to the study, which is reported in the Aug. 4 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study, which included 7,753 people aged 50 and older from all parts of Canada, found that a hip fracture increases the risk of death 3.2-fold and a spinal fracture increases the risk 2.7-fold, said study author George Ioannidis, a health research methodologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

A number of previous studies have outlined the dangers of fractures for older people, Ioannidis said. "The big difference between this study and the others is design," he said. "We had a random selection of the Canadian people, looking at areas with 40 percent of the Canadian population. Other studies have looked at non-randomized samples, from hospitals or specific geographic regions."

Twenty different factors that could influence mortality, and many different fracture types, were considered in the study, Ioannidis said. The most significant relationships were found for hip and spine fractures. The research effort, called the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study, focused on the effects of the bone-weakening condition seen in one of every four women older than 50 and one in every eight men of that age.

"I don't think that individuals are completely aware of the consequences of osteoporosis," Ioannidis said. "It causes not only weakening but also death."

One of every six women over 50 will sustain a hip fracture, he said.

All estimates in the study appear to apply to U.S. residents as well as Canadians.

People should start thinking about the possible dangers of osteoporosis as early as age 50, Ioannidis said. "If you are worried about it, you definitely should consult your physician," he said. "We can act early. We have medications that are very effective, and a variety of non-medical interventions to reduce the incidence of falls that cause fractures."

Those non-medical interventions are a specialty of Maureen Ashe, co-author of a commentary accompanying the report, and an investigator at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver General Hospital and an assistant professor of family practice at the University of British Columbia. The toll taken by fractures might be greater than reported in the study, Ashe noted. Cognitive impairment and dementia are major risk factors for fall-related fractures, she said, and people with those conditions are difficult to recruit and thus might be under-represented in the study.

Other medical risk factors include worsening vision, decreased sense of balance and possible effects of the multiple medications taken by many older people, she said.

Bone health can be helped, she said, by adequate physical activity.

"But there are both internal and external factors" involved in fractures, she said. "A lot of preventive research has been done about improving a person's environment, such as making sure there is adequate lighting, fastening scatter rugs, providing handrails where necessary."

Back treatment for elderly with osteoporosis no better than fake one: studies reveal
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=063752027
06/08/2009  | Stephanie Nano, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - A common treatment that uses medical cement to fix cracks in the spinal bones of elderly people worked no better than a sham treatment, the first rigorous studies of the popular procedure reveal.

Pain and disability were virtually the same up to six months later, whether patients had a real treatment or a fake one.

Tens of thousands of Americans each year are treated with bone cement, especially older women with osteoporosis, some of them stooped and unable to stand up straight. The treatment is so widely believed to work that the researchers had a hard time getting patients to take part when it was explained that half of them would not get the real thing.

"All of us who do the procedure have seen apparently miraculous cures," said Dr. David F. Kallmes, a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic who led one of the studies. But he said there were also "miraculous cures" among those who got the fake treatments.

The researchers said it is yet another example of a medical procedure coming into wide use before good studies are done to show that it is safe and effective. Medicare pays $1,500 to $2,100 for the outpatient procedure.

Bone cement has long been approved for many medical uses, but this particular use had not been tested against a placebo procedure until now.

The findings, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, mean patients and doctors need to review the options together, wrote Dr. James N. Weinstein of Dartmouth Medical School in an accompanying editorial. "When best evidence suggests a toss up between treatment options and no benefit, informed patient choice is essential," he said.

About 750,000 Americans suffer painful compression fractures in the bones of the spine each year. Bone-thinning osteoporosis is the most common cause. The weakened bone collapses or cracks, sometimes causing debilitating pain, limiting mobility and resulting in a loss of height or a stooped posture.

Doctors usually try bed rest, painkillers and back braces before turning to vertebroplasty (pronounced vur-TEE-broh-plas-tee). During the procedure, hot bone cement is injected into the collapsed or cracked vertebra. The cement is thought to shore up or stabilize the compressed bone. There can be complications, including infection and leakage of the cement.

Bone cement was first used for spinal fractures in the U.S. in the 1990s, and Kallmes said it quickly became routine because there were few good options. The rate of Medicare-paid procedures nearly doubled from 2001 to 2005. Now there are about 80,000 procedures done in the United States each year, Kallmes said.

The Mayo-led study involved 131 patients at medical centres in the U.S., Britain and Australia. The second study enrolled 78 patients in Australia. The patients, mostly women with fractures from osteoporosis, were randomly assigned to get the cement injection or a fake treatment. On average, they were in their mid-70s.

Age Gaps Increase Recession Workplace Stresses
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-08-10-voa23.cfm?renderforprint=1
By Ted Landphair | 10 August 2009

A workplace generation gap is showing up in two ways at a most unfortunate time for older Americans during this prolonged recession.

On one hand, older workers by the millions who are getting laid off in struggling industries are finding it hard to get new ones when younger, cheaper workers are available. And as the Christian Science Monitor online newspaper points out, when employers DO hire skilled, older people who've had long, distinguished careers, these veteran workers show up and find they're reporting to foremen, supervisors, and even big bosses in the corner office who are young enough to be their children -- or even grandchildren.

Most older workers are savvy enough to know they have to keep their feelings to themselves, but many can't help grumbling about these snotty 30-somethings who are telling trusty old hands what to do and how to do it without having had the experience to know what they're talking about.

For their part, young supervisors, full of bright ideas, at ease with the latest technologies and eager to work whatever hours it takes to get the job done, face a stiff challenge. How does one motivate what young bosses see as stubborn old goats who are resistant to change and who seem more interested in putting in just enough effort to make it to retirement, rather than contributing fresh ideas to help the company reach its bottom line?

What's to be done about these generational tensions in the workplace? Human-relations experts advise young managers to respect and learn from the experience of seasoned hands, and to solicit their ideas. And they urge the Old Guard to view new ways as a chance to stay current and vital. They counsel respect and patience on both sides - a meeting of minds between the graybeards and the whippersnappers.

Reasons to drink tea
http://www.canadianliving.com/health/nutrition/8_reasons_to_drink_tea_2.php
By Cherie DeLory (canadianliving.com)
Improve your health with a daily cuppa -- here's the scoop.

Remember when your parents used to say that tea would stunt your growth? That couldn't be farther from the truth. Medicinal properties in tea are beneficial to your health and well-being. Tea contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. A cup of tea has less than half the caffeine of coffee and is gentler on the body. While tea may not give you the fast kick that you get with a cup of coffee, it will certainly boost your energy levels and your immune system.

Tea is anything that comes from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) -- varieties include green tea, black tea, white tea and oolong tea. "As long as the tea leaf is present, then you're going to have the benefits," says Shabnam Weber, owner of The Tea Emporium in Toronto. Throw in your favourite herbal or spice blend, such as orange blossom or chai, and you're in for a treat. Consider also the added health benefits of herbal blends, such as peppermint for reducing hot flashes, ginger for aiding digestion, or Rooibos, which is caffeine-free and very high in antioxidants.

If you're not convinced that a soothing cup of hot tea may be just what the doctor orders for a clean bill of heath, Shabnam serves up 8 reasons to indulge in teatime.

1. Strengthen your immune system and reduce your risk of cancer
   Tea contains catechins, an antioxidant that boosts the immune system. Vitamin H, also known as biotin, is present in teas and also assists with a healthy immune system. In addition, tea contains flavonoids, a type of antioxidant that assists in the prevention of cellular damage, cardiovascular disease, skin disease and UV-induced DNA damage.

2. Prevent tooth decay and fight bad breath
   The fluoride in tea assists in preventing cavities. The catechins, or antioxidants, help to prevent halitosis. Catechins kill bacteria in the mouth. Tea contains calcium and magnesium, which work together to form healthy bones and teeth.

3. Build stronger bones
   Tea contains vitamin D, which helps build bones. Also, the amino acids that are present in tea help form proteins in the body to build muscle, bone, skin and hair, as well as combat bacteria and viruses. Women who are experiencing menopause are usually told to eliminate caffeine because it causes bone loss; however, tea does not contain as much caffeine as coffee and may still be enjoyed. (Be sure to check with your doctor first.) Alternatively, try decaffeinated tea.

4. Protect your heart
   The antioxidant in green tea, EGCg, speeds up the recovery of heart cells and minimizes cell death after a heart attack or stroke. Green tea is also associated with a reduced risk of coronary artery disease because its high quantity of antioxidants, namely flavonoids, may reduce the amount of cholesterol in the artery wall. Tea acts as an anti-inflammatory and improves blood vessel function.

5. Prevent aging and cleanse your intestines
   Tea helps with the antioxidation of cells because it contains vitamin E and antioxidants, and is therefore beneficial in slowing down the aging process. Catechins kill bacteria in the intestine while maintaining a healthy immune system and preventing illnesses such as gastric ulcers and arteriosclerosis. Tannins in tea help to calm the stomach and cleanse the intestinal tract.

6. Reduce your risk of ovarian cancer
   A Swedish study published in December 2005 claims that drinking two or more cups of tea a day can reduce your risk of developing ovarian cancer by 46 per cent. The 15-year study involved just over 60,000 Swedish women.

7. Eliminate body fat
   Antioxidants called catechins are highest in green tea and found in low doses in black tea. Catechins act as "fat blockers," especially of abdominal fat. In the digestive tract, catechins reduce the absorption of dietary fats by inhibiting the body's ability to break them down. Catechins also act as "fat burners" by activating the enzymes in the body that metabolize stored fat.

8. Boost memory and reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease
   An antioxidant in green tea called EGCg may help to protect the brain against developing Alzheimer's disease. EGCg decreases the production of a protein called beta amyloid, which can form into insoluble plaque and degrade nerve cells in the brain.
   
   "There are studies that claim that the less processed the tea is, the less the caffeine and the greater the benefits," says Shabnam. "White teas are the least processed of the four teas. All teas come from the same plant. It is how they are processed that changes them."
   
   White tea has less caffeine than green tea (15 mg per serving compared to green tea's 20 mg per serving) and it has a higher concentration of antioxidants to boost a healthy immune system. It even has a lighter, sweeter flavour than green tea.

How do you take your tea?
A new study out of Germany may have you think twice about adding milk. The study, which appears online in the European Heart Journal, says that adding milk to black tea may dilute the health benefits. It seems that certain proteins in milk adhere to the catechins, preventing them from carrying out the benefits.

Now you can add a cup of tea to your list of guilty pleasures, along with dark chocolate and a glass of red wine. To your health!