Echinacea next big thing in fighting swine flu?

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One commercially available Echinacea purpurea extract preparation may be effective in preventing swine flu, a laboratory study published in the Nov 2009 issue of Virology suggests.

Vaccine is believed at least by the government and many medical organizations to be the best measure against swine flu even though many medical workers refused to receive the swine flu vaccine.  Medical workers were as likely as laymen to refuse swine flu early surveys found.

Vaccine has its limitations.  It takes time for researchers to develop a vaccine. meaning when a pandemic comes, many people could die before any effective vaccine could ever be developed.  The efficacy and safety are also of concern.

Pleschka S. and colleagues in Institute for Medical Virology, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen said in their study report that Echinacea extract when taken at the recommended dosage could be a useful, readily available and affordable addition to existing control options for flu virus replication and dissemination.

The authors reported that echicnacea extract inactivated all types of viruses tested in the laboratory including human H1N1-type influenza virus, highly pathogenic avian IV (HPAIV) of the H5- and H7-types, as well as swine origin influenza virus (S-OIV, H1N1).

The extract inhibited the receptor binding activity of the virus, suggesting that the extract prevents viral infections by interfering with the viral entry into cells, according to the researchers.

The herbal medicine did not lead to viral variants that were resistant to the treatment while Tamiflu, the common antiflu medicine, can cause resistance.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says vaccine is the best people can use to prevent swine flu, but some alternatives exist that may be also helpful.

Vitamin d is another potentially very effective preventative medicine against swine flu.

Two physicians, one in Wisconsin and the other in Georgia, observed in 2009 that patients who used high doses of vitamin D during the swine flu peak were rarely infected with the virus.

It has been well known that the sunshine vitamin helps produce antimicrobial peptides and boost innate immunity against viral infections.

Dr. John Cannell, one of the most knowledgeable vitamin d experts, director of vitamin D council, suggests that to have an preventative effect, 4000 to 6000 IUs may be needed.

With swine flu continuously disappearing in the United States and other developed countries, many of these countries have started to sell or donate swine flu vaccine to poor countries where swine flu may be even less active.

Canada was reportedly donating 5 millions doses to World Health Organizations.  French has been working on selling vaccines to developing countries for some time now.

In the U.S., the CDC is still pushing swine flu vaccination.  With the threat from swine flu vanishing, the government now says that getting the vaccine is a social responsibility.

Last year, The New York State tried to force health workers to receive the swine flu vaccine and the health care workers protested against the legislation that mandates the vaccination citing concerns about the safety, efficacy, and necessity for the vaccine.

By Jimmy Downs

Photp from wikipedia