Home Flu Cures: Bad Medicine?

• NOVEMBER 3, 2009

By MELINDA BECK

Heard the one about the raw onion?

With concerns over the H1N1 flu rising and supplies of vaccine running scarce, it's no surprise that alternative remedies are circulating on the Web.

During the flu epidemic of 1918 that killed 40 million people, one widely circulated email relates, a doctor visiting a farmhouse where everyone stayed healthy observed that the family kept an unpeeled onion in each room. He examined one under a microscope and saw that the onion had indeed absorbed flu virus.

Alan Witschonke

Folk remedies for the flu abound on the Web. They range from placing a raw onion in the room or garlic in the pocket to washing the ear out with hydrogen peroxide to drinking hot liquids with all kinds of additives, including honey and vinegar.

The same email mentions a modern-day hairdresser whose employees stopped getting the flu after she placed onions around the shop, and a pneumonia sufferer who put a raw onion in a jar by the bed and woke up feeling much better, though the onion was a rotting mess.

This and other folk remedies are sparking a volley of discussion on blogs and bulletin boards. Some posters are adding their own twists, such as chopping or boiling the onion and inhaling it with a towel over the head. "You sir are a saviour," wrote one on the Web site abovetopsecret.com. "Me and my 13 month old daughter have been sick for a week. Boiled some onions and left them on the coffee table for an hour, she is now walking around and I feel so much better. Thanks."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the officially sanctioned vaccine is the only proven way to prevent the H1N1 virus, and the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are among the few proven ways to shorten its duration. "There is no scientific evidence that any herbal, homeopathic or other folk remedies have any benefit against influenza," the CDC says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has adopted a "no tolerance" policy on bogus H1N1 claims, has sent 75 warning letters to marketers of products that claim to fight the virus, from air filters purporting to neutralize sneezes to counterfeit Tamiflu. "We feel these products pose a serious threat to the public health, not only because people can get a false sense of protection and not seek appropriate care, but because some may do actual harm," says Gary Coody, the FDA's national health fraud coordinator.

and much more here>>>

Hypocritic Oath

Posted 11/05/2009 07:33 PM ET

Public Option: Congressional Democratic leaders insist on a government health coverage option. But if it's so great, why won't they themselves be covered by it?

If you thought Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., caused a stir when he yelled, "You Lie!" during the State of the Union, just watch him expose the hypocrisy of liberal Democrats in Congress.

Democrats want a government-run health insurance scheme to "keep the insurance companies honest." But Blue Cross/Blue Shield warns of dire consequences:

• "Millions of people would lose their current private coverage they are happy with ..."

• The federal government "will underpay providers — even if negotiated rates are initially used — creating major access issues, including long waits for services with some providers closing their doors ..."

• Any "government-run plan will use its built-in advantages — no matter how it is initially structured — to take over the market" via "price-setting based on Medicare" or through the use of "existing government programs as leverage for negotiations."

If it's worth turning the private health care industry upside down like that, this must be a solid gold system Congress is establishing. Everyone will want it, right?

Wrong. Members of Congress certainly don't. They'd rather keep the "Cadillac" coverage they've enjoyed for years, with its hundreds of private insurance options and heavily taxpayer-subsidized premiums.

"If this government-run plan is so good,>>>

This About Sums It Up !

Let me get this straight...
We're going to pass a health care plan
Written by a committee

Whose head says he doesn't understand it,
Passed by a Congress that hasn't read it,

But exempts themselves from it,
Signed by a president that also hasn't read it

And who smokes,
With funding administered by a treasury chief,

Who didn't pay his taxes,
Overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

And financed by a country that's nearly broke.

What possibly could go wrong?

H1N1 Vaccinations To Be Offered To Guantanamo Bay Detainees

Posted: 6:07 PM Oct 30, 2009

The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

Reporter: Mike Mount, CNN Senior Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists.

"Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination," Haynie said.

"JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees. As such, we must provide detainees the medical care necessary to maintain their health," she said.

Base officials had not received the vaccinations>>>

• OCTOBER 27, 2009

By LAURA LANDRO

Health-care innovations come in many shapes and sizes. There's the stuff of headlines—new drugs, new surgical procedures, new cancer treatments—that hold out hope for miracle breakthroughs.

And then there's a whole different kind of health-care innovation. The kind that doesn't make one think of miracles, but that may have just as dramatic an impact on health care. The kind that can help reach the goal that continues to elude our policy makers: getting good care to the greatest number of people in the most cost-effective way.

In this report, we talk about six of those innovations in health-care delivery. They touch on a variety of areas—public policy and high technology, hospital procedures and market competition. But all of them in some way revisit the most important relationship in care—the one between doctor and patient.

You'll see, for instance, how with a growing shortage of intensive-care experts, more hospitals are using high-tech video command centers to monitor ICU patients remotely. Or how electronic-medical-records systems like the one the Veterans Health Administration has developed over the past two decades can help prevent medical errors and make sure doctors follow guidelines for delivering the best medical care to patients.

and more here>>>

Insuring Doom

Posted 06:49 PM ET

Health Care: Washington's latest target is America's "fat cat" health insurance companies. A closer look reveals a vital but vulnerable industry, not the greedy, profiteering image pushed by health reformers.

We've seen "Big Oil" dragged to Capitol Hill to be slandered by power-hungry senators and congressmen for finding, extracting and refining the lifeblood commodity of the global economy. We've seen the pharmaceutical industry drawn and quartered for doing what it takes to discover, make and market lifesaving and life-enhancing drugs.

The latest villain in the politicians' demagogic fantasyland is private health insurance. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused private insurers of making "immoral profits." And they're a prime target for taxes to pay for the health care revolution Congress and the White House have planned.

But in fact, as we pointed out recently in these pages, this is an industry that actually lags many others in the U.S. economy. Plenty of other sectors of private industry are doing far better.

And some of the things Washington has planned — in particular a "public option" — would leave private insurers bankrupt.

As the Associated Press recently reported,>>>

INFORMATION EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW........................

INFORMATION EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW........................ B lood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue I will continue to forward this every time it comes around! STROKE: Remember the 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R. My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously.. Please read: STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this... A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough. RECOGNIZING A STROKE Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions: S * Ask the individual to SMILE. T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)(i.e. It is sunny out today.) R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved. I have done my part. Will you?