Swine Flu H1N1

What is swine flu?
•Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by Type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs.
•Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.
Is the current swine flu virus contagious?
•Various international agencies (US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, World Health Organization) have determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human.
•WHO has escalated the world Pandemic Phase from Phase 3 to Phase 4 (in a 6-scale Phase), indicating that a worldwide pandemic due to swine flu H1N1 is possible.
What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
•The symptoms of 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 diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people.
•Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.
How does swine flu spread?
•Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads.
•Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza.
•Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with live flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
How are human infections with swine influenza diagnosed?
•To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus).
•However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 10 days or longer.
•Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to a hospital laboratory for testing.
How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
•Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick.
•That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.
How long can an infected person spread swine flu to others?
•People with swine influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic and possible for up to 7 days following illness onset.
•Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.
Is there a vaccine for Pandemic Flu?
•Because the virus is new, there will be no vaccine ready to protect against pandemic flu.
•Vaccine against Swine Flu virus H1N1 needs at least 6-12 months to be produced.
•Seasonal flu vaccine or past flu immunization will not provide protection.
Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
•Yes. The US CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) or zanamivir (Relenza®) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these 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 2 days of symptoms).
What surfaces are most likely to be sources of contamination?
•The virus can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with the virus and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
•Droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air. The virus can then be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk, doorknob, child’s toy or phone handset and then touches their own eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands.
How long can viruses live outside the body?
•We know that some viruses and bacteria can live 2 hours or longer on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks.
•Frequent handwashing will help you reduce the chance of getting contamination from these common surfaces.
What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
•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. The virus can spread this way.
•Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
•If you get sick with influenza, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?
•If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. Do not go to work or school if ill.
•Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Put your used tissue in the waste basket.
•Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.
What is the best technique for washing my hands to avoid getting the flu?
•Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. Wash with soap and water or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner.
•When you wash your hands -- with soap and warm water -- that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores.
•If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.
What should I do if I get sick?
•If you live in areas where swine influenza cases have been identified and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you may want to contact their health care provider, particularly if you are worried about your symptoms. Your health care provider will determine whether influenza testing or treatment is needed.
•If you are sick, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep from spreading your illness to others.
•If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs (next 2 slides), seek emergency medical care.
In children emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
•Fast breathing or trouble breathing
•Bluish skin color
•Not drinking enough fluids
•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
•Fever with a rash
In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
•No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe.
•Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F (72°C) kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.
Household Cleaning, Laundry, and Waste Disposal
•Throw away tissues and other disposable items used by the sick person in the trash. Wash your hands after touching used tissues and similar waste.
•Keep surfaces (esp bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom, children’s toys, phone handles, doorknobs) clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant according to directions on the product label.
•Linens, eating utensils, and dishes belonging to those who are sick do not need to be cleaned separately, but importantly these items should not be shared without washing thoroughly first.
•Wash linens (such as bed sheets and towels) by using household laundry soap and tumble dry on a hot setting. Avoid “hugging” laundry prior to washing it to prevent contaminating yourself. Clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub right after handling dirty laundry.
•Eating utensils should be washed either in a dishwasher or by hand with water and soap.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help,the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

DIABETES

Diabetes is a disease in which your blood glucose, or sugar, levels are too high. Glucose comes from the foods you eat. Insulin is a hormone that helps the glucose get into your cells to give them energy.

Types and Causes
1) This type of diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Your immune system turns on itself and destroys the insulin-producing cells in your pancreas. Although type 1 diabetes usually develops in childhood or teen years, it can appear later.

2) In this type, your pancreas makes some insulin, but not enough. Your cells also can become resistant to insulin's effects, keeping insulin from escorting enough glucose into your body's cells. Type 2 diabetes generally develops after age 40. However, doctors are seeing a rise in childhood type 2 diabetes that parallels the rise in obesity among youth. A form of type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, develops during 2 percent to 5 percent of pregnancies. In gestational diabetes, your body doesn't effectively use the insulin you produce. The cause may be metabolic changes that occur due to the effects of hormones in pregnancy. Gestational diabetes usually disappears after pregnancy, but more than half of women who experience it eventually develop apermanent type 2 diabetes.

Diet for Diabetes:
Diet plays a significant role in controlling the diabetes. The diabetic diet may be used alone or else in combination with insulin doses or with oral hypoglycemic drugs. Main objective of diabetic diet is to maintain ideal body weight, by providing adequate nutrition along with normal blood sugar levels in blood. The diet plan for a diabetic is based on height, weight, age, sex, physical activity and nature of diabetes. While planning diet, the dietician has to consider complications such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels.
Fiber should be at least 40 gm / day
Instead of 3 heavy meals, we should go for 4-5 small mid intervals
Replace bakery products and fast foods by simple whole cooked cereals, and don't eat carbohydrates 2 hours before bedtime.
Consume fresh fruit and vegetables

Objectives :
To maintain adequate nutrition.
To achieve and maintain desirable body weight.
To maintain normal blood sugar levels.
To prevent, delay or minimize the onset of chronic degenerative complications.

In case of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, the energy intake is based on needs for normal growth and development, physical activity and maintenance of desirable body weight.
In case of non insulin dependant diabetes mellitus, the majority of patients are overweight or obese. Therefore, calorie restriction is required to achieve a desired weight.
Type of carbohydrate and amount of fibre: More of carbohydrate must be given as complex starches rather than simple sugars as they breakdown more slowly to release glucose in blood. The presence of fibre in complex carbohydrate like grains, vegetables and other starches slows the glucose absorption. One should emphasise more on the high fibre foods instead of high fibre supplements available in the market.
Food groups High fibre foods Low fibre foods Cereals Whole cereals like whole wheat, dalia, whole wheat flour Refined cereals like rice, bread, maida, suji, noodles, macaroni, etc Milk and milk products - Milk and milk products Pulses Whole dals and dals with husk Washed dals Meat, fish and poultry - Eggs, chicken, fish Vegetables Vegetables like peas, beans, lotus stem etc. Vegetables like potato, lauki etc. Fruits Fruits like apple, cherries, pears, peaches, plums, guava etc. Fruit juices and fruits like banana and papaya Fats - Fats

Diet plan (for NIDDM)
Early morning Tea (preferably without sugar)
Breakfast Dalia (salted)/ Paneer on toast Tea without sugar Apple
Lunch 2 chapatti Channa curry / or any other whole dal Beans sabzi /
or any other sabzi (avoid potatoes) Curds / ghia raita Salad
Tea Tea Salty biscuits
Dinner Vegetable soup / tomato soup / chicken soup 2 chapatti / missi roti
(combining wheat flour with channa flour and soya flour)
Palak paneer sabzi / paneer bhurji(non oily) Curds

Diet plan (for IDDM)
Early morning Tea (without sugar)
Breakfast Corn flakesBoiled eggToast
Mid-morning Fruit chat
Lunch 2 chapatti (add extra chapatti if required)Lobia curry / or any
other whole dalCapsicum sabzi / karela / or any other sabziCurds
/raitaSalad
Tea Tea / milkVegetable sandwich
Dinner 2 chapattiDry dalCabbage sabzi / or any other sabziSalad


Foods to be avoided
Glucose, sugar, honey, all sweets, chocolates and candies.
Foods to be restricted
Potatoes, yam, arbi, sweet potatoes, mangoes, grapes, bananas, alcoholic beverages, fried foods, paranthas, poories, pakoras, mathris, deep fried foods, dry fruits,salad oils, cakes and pastries.
Foods to be used freely
Green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, cucumber. radish, soups, buttermilk, tea and coffee without sugar.

Health Tip - Apple Cure

Consuming flavonol-rich foods like apples and onions reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer,a new study conducted by a group of international researchers has revealed.

GOOD AND BAD FOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH
If we talk about some good food for health :
Black raspberries
Strawberries
Blueberries
Flax Seeds
Green Leafy Vegetables
Tomatoes
Broccoli sprouts
Butter
Cheese
Potato Chips and French Fries
Doughnuts
Salt
Sausage, hot dogs
Pickled, smoked or barbequed meat

TRY OUT THESE JUICES-THEY REALLY HELP

JUICE OF CARROT,TOMATO AND APPLE:
IMPROVES SKIN COMPLEXION AND BAD BREADTH

JUICE OF CARROT, GINGER AND APPLE:
BOOSTS AND CLEANSE OUR SYSTEM

JUICE OF APPLE, CUCUMBER AND CELERY:
PREVENTS CANCER,REDUCES CHOLESTEROL,IMPROVES STOMACH UPSET AND HEADACHE

JUICE OF BITTER GOURD,APPLE AND MILK:
REDUCES BAD BREADTH,ALSO REDUCES INTERNAL BODY HEAT

JUICE OF ORANGE,GINGER AND CUCUMBER:
IMPROVES SKIN TEXTURE,MOISTURIZER AND REDUCES INTERNAL BODY HEAT

JUICE OF PINEAPPLE,APPLE AND WATERMELON:
TO DISPEL EXCESS SALT,NOURISHES THE BLADDER AND KIDNEY

JUICE OF APPLE CUCUMBER AND KIWI:
TO IMPROVE SKIN COMPLEXION

JUICE OF PEAR AND BANANA:
REGULATES SUGAR CONTENT

JUICE OF CARROT,APPLE,PEAR AND MANGO :
CLEARS BODY HEAT, COUNTERACT TOXICITY,REDUCES BLOOD PRESSURE AND FIGHT OXIDIZATION

JUICE OF HONEYDEW,WATER MELON,GRAPE AND MILK:
RICH IN VITAMIN C AND B2,THAT INCREASES CELL ACTIVITY AND STRENGTHENS BODY IMMUNITY

JUICE OF PAPAYA,PINEAPPLE AND MILK:
RICH IN VITAMIN C,E,IRON.IMPROVES SKIN COMPLEXION AND METABOLISM

JUICE OF BANANA,PINEAPPLE AND MILK:
RICH IN VITAMIN WITH NUTRITIOUS AND PREVENTS CONSTIPATION

The Beauty Foods

7 ways to be Happy and Peaceful

Happiness is difficult to define and even harder to measure. We experience it as a combination of elements, in the same way that one wheel or spring inside a watch doesn't keep time — it is a result of the synchronicity of the whole. As a relative state, happiness is what psychologists call our "subjective well-being" and, fortunately for us, it is a state that we can actively change for the better.
These are a few ways which will make you feel happy:
1.Play with kids :according to psychologists playing with kids or just watching them has positive effects on your mind.

2.Mediatate: or Sit in a room for few minutes and think about the good things.Count your blessings once a week and this will make you happy.
3.Play a sport: Work out as hard as you can. Take a walk so your stress will take a hike. Moving your body releases endorphins, the quintessential feel-good chemicals found in your brain.
4.Be Happy and positive:Happiness can lead to success, rather than just the other way around. Happy individuals are predisposed to seek out new opportunities and set new goals.

5.Do new things or try to do old things in new ways :Learn new things like new game

6.Talk about the good and bad things with others :Talking about things makes your heart lighter and helps you overcome negative thoughts.Talking about a negative experience made the emotional intensity of that memory fade faster than if the event had not been recounted.

7.Be flexible and have balance between work and home :People who establish boundaries between work and home are more connected to their families and have less conflict than those who integrate the two.
Happiness is not rocket science,it is a state of mind.It all depends on you to make yourself happy.