Discrimination May Lead to Smoking in Boys
March 17, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · 1 Comment
FRIDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) — Minority teen boys smoke more when they suffer discrimination, but that’s not the case for minority teen girls, a U.S. study finds.
Perceived discrimination had no effect on smoking rates among minority girls aged 12 to 15 and was associated with lower rates of smoking among minority teen girls aged 16 to 19.
“Our findings in girls, especially in the older girls, really surprised us,” study first author Dr. Sarah Wiehe, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a news release from the school. “We do not know why older girls who perceived discrimination were less likely to smoke, but there may be a possibility that they perceived discrimination because they were pregnant and also that they did not smoke due to pregnancy.”
The study included 2,561 black and Hispanic teens, aged 12 to 19, living in low-income households in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. About 25% of the teens reported discrimination within the previous six months, and 12% said they’d smoked within the previous 30 days.
Increased smoking by boys who suffer higher levels of discrimination may be caused by increased stress from male-specific targeting by police and business, the study concluded.
“Boys and girls may experience discrimination differently due to where they spend their time and that may account for the differences in whether discrimination was associated with smoking,” Wiehe said. “In other words, the context of discrimination matters. We need to be aware that discrimination is a public health problem for adolescents — one related to major health issues like smoking — and need to actively work to reduce these occurrences.”
The study appears online and in the March print issue of the American Journal of Public Health
Who is at risk and why?
February 6, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
Allergies can develop at any age, possibly even in the womb. They commonly occur in children but may give rise to symptoms for the first time in adulthood. Asthma may persist in adults while nasal allergies tend to decline in old age.
Why, you may ask, are some people “sensitive” to certain allergens while most are not? Why do allergic persons produce more IgE than those who are non-allergic? The major distinguishing factor appears to be heredity. For some time, it has been known that allergic conditions tend to cluster in families. Your own risk of developing allergies is related to your parents’ allergy history. If neither parent is allergic, the chance that you will have allergies is about 15%. If one parent is allergic, your risk increases to 30% and if both are allergic, your risk is greater than 60%.
Although you may inherit the tendency to develop allergies, you may never actually have symptoms. You also do not necessarily inherit the same allergies or the same diseases as your parents. It is unclear what determines which substances will trigger a reaction in an allergic person. Additionally, which diseases might develop or how severe the symptoms might be is unknown.
Another major piece of the allergy puzzle is the environment. It is clear that you must have a genetic tendency and be exposed to an allergen in order to develop an allergy. Additionally, the more intense and repetitive the exposure to an allergen and the earlier in life it occurs, the more likely it is that an allergy will develop.
There are other important influences that may conspire to cause allergic conditions. Some of these include smoking, pollution, infection, and hormones.
What are common allergic conditions and their symptoms and signs?
The parts of the body that are prone to react to allergies include the eyes, nose, lungs, skin, and stomach. Although the various allergic diseases may appear different, they all result from an exaggerated immune response to foreign substances in sensitive people. The following brief descriptions will serve as an overview of common allergic disorders.
Acunpuncture needles out low back pain
February 2, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
Science Daily – Six months of acupuncture treatment appears to be more effective than conventional therapy in treating low back pain, according to a study in the Sept. 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, although the study suggests that both sham acupuncture and traditional Chinese verum acupuncture appear to be effective in treating low back pain.
“Low back pain is a common, impairing and disabling condition, often long-term, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 70 percent to 85 percent,” the authors write as background information in the article. “It is the second most common pain for which physician treatment is sought and a major reason for absenteeism and disability.” Acupuncture is increasingly used as an alternative therapy, but its value as a treatment for low back pain is still controversial.
Michael Haake, Ph.D., M.D., of the University of Regensburg, Bad Abbach, Germany, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 1,162 patients (average age 50) who had experienced chronic low back pain for an average of eight years.
Patients underwent ten 30-minute sessions (approximately two sessions per week) of verum acupuncture (387 patients), sham acupuncture (387 patients) or conventional therapy (388 patients). Verum acupunture consisted of needling fixed points and additional points to a depth of 5 millimeters to 40 millimeters based on traditional Chinese medicine, while sham acupuncture consisted of inserting needles superficially (1 millimeter to 3 millimeters) into the lower back avoiding all known verum points or meridians.
Conventional therapy consisted of a combination of medication, physical therapy and exercise. Five additional sessions were offered to those who had a partial response to treatment (10% to 50% pain reduction).
“A total of 13,475 treatment sessions were conducted (verum acupuncture, 4,821; sham acupuncture, 4,590; conventional therapy, 4,064),” the authors write. Patients receiving the additional five sessions were 232 (59.9%) in the verum group, 209 (54.3%) in the sham group and 192 (52.5%) in the conventional group.
Response rate was defined as a 33% improvement in pain or a 12 percent improvement in functional ability. “At six months, response rate was 47.6% in the verum acupuncture group, 44.2% in the sham acupuncture group and 27.4% in the conventional therapy group,” the authors note. “Differences among groups were as follows: verum vs. sham, 3.4%; verum vs. conventional therapy, 20.2%; and sham vs. conventional therapy, 16.8%.”
“The superiority of both forms of acupuncture suggests a common underlying mechanism that may act on pain generation, transmission of pain signals or processing of pain signals by the central nervous system and that is stronger than the action mechanism of conventional therapy,” the authors conclude. “Acupuncture gives physicians a promising and effective treatment option for chronic low back pain, with few adverse effects or contraindications. The improvements in all primary and secondary outcome measures were significant and lasted long after completion of treatment.”
Red yeast rice promotes bone formation
January 25, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
CM NEWS – Red yeast rice, rice fermented with a special purple-red mold, has been known for its abilities to lower cholesterol and blood lipid levels. A recent study opens up the possible use of red yeast rice to stimulate bone formation, which might be good news for patients with osteoporosis.
Rice yeast rice is fermented with a mold called Monascus purpureus (hongqu, 紅曲) and has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. Scientists have long established that red yeast rice contains a natural form of statin.
What are statins? Statins are a group of drugs that are commonly used to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood. They include atorvastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin. They each have different brand names. Statins work by blocking the action of a certain enzyme (chemical) in the liver which is needed to make cholesterol.
Statins, which control the first step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol, have been shown to stimulate bone formation in rodents both in vitro and in vivo. The effect is associated with an increased expression of the bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) gene in bone cells.
What are bone morphogenetic proteins? One of the most critical components of building, healing and remodeling bone in humans is a process called osteoinduction. Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs), found in human blood and bones, are a group of growth factors and cytokines known for their ability to induce the formation of bone and cartilage.
BMPs have been used to stimulate the production of bone in animals and humans with great success.
FDA has approved the use of BMPs for anterior spinal fusion in the lumbar spine, and many other clinical trials have found these proteins to be effective in generating bone in other areas of the spine.
The spine research community is encouraged by BMPs and hopes they may someday be the standard for fusion procedures, reducing postsurgical pain and improve the effectiveness of spinal surgeries.
In the present study done at the University of Hong Kong, rabbits with bone defects created to their parietal bones were grafted with collagen matrix mixed with red yeast rice extract. In the control animal, two defects were grafted with collagen matrix alone.
In the control group, cells were cultured for three durations (24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours) without any intervention. In the red yeast rice group, cells were cultured for the same durations with various concentrations of red yeast rice extract. Total protein, mitochondrial activity and bone cell formation were measured.
As a result, the test animal showed more formation of new bone in the defects than the control animal. The red yeast rice extract stimulated new bone formation in bone defects on the animals and increased bone cell formation in vitro.
The researchers explained that red yeast rice contains monacolins which are a family of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Moreover, monacolin K is equivalent to the statin known as mevinolin or lovastatin. It is the function of the statin in red yeast rice that promotes bone formation.
Other active ingredients in red yeast rice include sterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, sapogenin), isoflavones and monounsaturated fatty acids.
The researchers induced that red yeast rice is a natural product with potential in treating bone defects and probably also osteoporosis.
Common herb has flavonoids that fight flu virus
January 21, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
CM NEWS – A commonly used Chinese herb for cold and fever contains ingredients that can fight influenza viruses, a study in China suggests.
Elsholtzia rugulosa (野拔子 ye ba zi), a common Chinese herb, is widely used in the treatment of cold and fever. A group of researchers of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, as well as University of Macau investigated the anti-flu functions of the ingredients of this plant.
In order to elucidate the action mechanism and the active principles from the plant against anti-influenza virus, the influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) activity assay and in vitro antiviral activity assay were established, and the isolation of the active principles was guided by NA activity.
Their study established that five active constituents were found in ye ba zi and they are all flavonoids.
What are flavonoids? Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids) are a class of plant secondary metabolites fulfilling many functions including producing yellow or red/blue pigmentation in flowers and protection from attack by microbes and insects. The widespread distribution offlavonoids , their variety and their relatively low toxicity compared to other active plant compounds (for instance alkaloids) mean that many animals, including humans, ingest significant quantities in their diet.Flavonoids have been referred to as “nature’s biological response modifiers” because of strong experimental evidence of their inherent ability to modify the body’s reaction to allergens, viruses, and carcinogens. They show anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-canceractivity.
Consumers and food manufacturers have become interested in flavonoids for their medicinal properties, especially their potential role in the prevention of cancers and cardiovascular disease. The beneficial effects of fruit, vegetables, and tea or even red wine have been attributed to flavonoid compounds rather than to known nutrients and vitamins.
The five constituents are:
1. apigenin
2. luteolin
3. apiin
4. galuteolin
5. luteolin 3′-glucuronyl acid methyl ester
According to the researchers, these constituents all possessed anti-influenza virus activity. Among them, apigenin and luteolin exhibited the highest activities against influenza virus (H3N2).
What is apigenin? Apigenin is described as a nonmutagenic bioflavonoid which is presented in leafy plants and vegetables (e.g., parsley, artichoke, basil, celery) and has significant chemopreventiveactivity against UV-radiation. Current research trials indicate that it may reduce DNA oxidative damage; inhibit the growth of human leukemia cells and induced these cells to differentiate; inhibit cancer cell signal transduction and induce apoptosis (cell death); act as an anti-inflammatory; and as an anti-spasmodic or spasmolytic.
Apigenin is also reported to be useful in fighting against antiestrogen-resistant breast cancer.
Apigenin is a bioflavone, considered to have a bioactive effect on human health as antioxidant, radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory, carbohydrate metabolism promoter, immunity system modulater.
What is luteolin? Luteolin is a flavonoid thought to play an important role in the human body as an antioxidant, a free radical scavenger, an agent in the prevention of inflammation, a promoter of carbohydrate metabolism, and an immune system modulator. These characteristics of luteolin are also believed to play an important part in the prevention of cancer. Multiple research experiments describe luteolin as a biochemical agent that can dramatically reduce inflammation.
Luteolin inhibited the excess production of TNF-alpha, which directly causes inflammation and apoptosis. Luteolin also offers hope to develop a novel type of anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic drugs.
Luteolin is most often found in leaves, but it is also seen in rinds, barks, clover blossom and ragweed pollen. It has also been isolated from Salvia tomentosa. Dietary sources include celery, green pepper, perilla and camomile tea.
Nutrient ‘Cocktail’ Appears to Improve Dementia Symptoms
January 20, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
FRIDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) — A combination of three nutrients might help improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients by stimulating the growth of new brain connections (synapses), a new study shows.
Uridine, choline and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (all found in breast milk) are precursors to the fatty molecules that make up brain cell membranes, which form synapses.
“If you can increase the number of synapses by enhancing their production, you might to some extent avoid that loss of cognitive ability” that occurs in Alzheimer’s patients, Richard Wurtman, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, said in a news release. He conducted the basic research that led to this investigational treatment.
In a clinical trial, 225 Alzheimer’s patients were given a cocktail of the three nutrients, along with B vitamins, phosopholipids and antioxidants. Patients with mild Alzheimer’s showed improvements in verbal memory.
The study was published Jan. 8 in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Three additional clinical trials are underway in the United States and Europe. Results are expected within a few years.
Loss of Smell Could Be Early Sign of Alzheimer’s
January 20, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
TUESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — New research in mice suggests that loss of smell could serve as an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.
People with Alzheimer’s are already known to suffer from loss of smell. But the new research pinpoints a direct link between development of amyloid plaques — the bits of gunk in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease — and a worsening sense of smell.
The findings are reported in the Jan. 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Researchers found that the plaques first develop in the part of the mouse brain that’s devoted to the sense of smell. When tested, the mice with the plaques had to spend more time sniffing odors to remember them, and they had a hard time telling the difference between odors.
“What was striking in our study was that performance of the mouse in the olfactory behavior test was sensitive to even the smallest amount of amyloid presence in the brain as early as 3 months of age (equivalent to a young adult),” study co-author Daniel W. Wesson, of New York University School of Medicine and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, N.Y., said in a university news release.
“This is a revealing finding because, unlike a brain scan, a laboratory-designed olfactory test may be an inexpensive alternative to early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s,” Wesson said.
– Randy Dotinga
Frequent Mental Lapses May Precede Alzheimer’s
January 20, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Latest Alzheimers News
* Mental Lapses May Precede Alzheimer’s
* ‘Longevity’ Gene May Cut Dementia Risk
* Hypertension Drugs May Cut Alzheimer’s Risk
* Alzheimer’s Could Be Signaled by Loss of Smell
* Nutrient ‘Cocktail’ Appears to Improve Dementia
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MONDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) — Mental lapses among older adults occur more often among those developing Alzheimer’s disease than healthy elders, new research finds.
Excessive daytime sleepiness, staring into space and disorganized or illogical thinking are other mental fluctuations that often precede Alzheimer’s, say researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“For many years, people have jokingly attributed mental lapses, or incidents when the train of thought temporarily seems to jump its tracks, as ‘senior moments,’” said lead researcher Dr. James Galvin, an associate professor of neurology. “It has never been clear as to whether these lapses could lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“We demonstrate clearly, for the first time, that such episodes are more likely to occur in persons who are developing Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
But this doesn’t mean that everyone who has a “senior moment” is on the verge of dementia, Galvin stressed.
“While these lapses or fluctuations don’t by themselves mean that you have Alzheimer’s disease, our results suggest that they are something your doctor needs to consider if he or she is evaluating you for problems with thinking and memory,” he said.
The study is published in the Jan. 19 issue of Neurology.
For the study, Galvin’s team collected data on 511 seniors, average age 78, with memory problems. The researchers tested these adults with standard thinking and memory tests and also interviewed family members about their relative’s daytime sleepiness, disorganized or illogical thinking, or episodes of staring into space for long periods. Three or four symptoms were seen in 12% of participants, indicating cognitive fluctuations.
People with those symptoms were 4.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and to have more severe Alzheimer’s symptoms, Galvin’s group found. They also performed worse on thinking and memory tests than people without these lapses.
Among 216 people diagnosed with very mild or mild dementia, 25 had mental lapses, while only two of the 295 without dementia had the fluctuations.
These mental lapses are common in a type of dementia called dementia with Lewy bodies — the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, Galvin said. “But until recently we really did not know how frequently they occurred in people with Alzheimer’s disease or what effect fluctuations might have on their thinking abilities,” he said.
Cognitive fluctuations occur in Alzheimer’s disease and can significantly affect clinical rating of the severity of dementia and performance on memory and thinking tests. Assessing these fluctuations should be considered in evaluating patients for cognitive disorders, Galvin said.
Experts had mixed views on the significance of the findings.
“It is commonly observed that some Alzheimer’s disease patients can go through stages where they have apparent episodes of lucidity, when they can perform at much higher levels on ‘good days,’” said Greg M. Cole, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System.
This suggests that the cellular and molecular machinery required for higher performance has not been entirely lost but is frequently suboptimal, he said. “I find this quite hopeful as it suggests therapeutics might evoke more of these good days or moments,” said Cole, who is also associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine.
But another expert said the finding adds nothing new to the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Once many of these fluctuations start happening, “you are well on your way to dementia,” said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
The hope for improving the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s hinges on finding physical markers that indicate disease progression and the effectiveness of treatment, another expert said.
“The finding is a terrific ad for the need for biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease,” said William Thies, vice president for medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer’s Association.
These mental fluctuations may be common, but are not an exact measurement of whether Alzheimer’s disease is present or how far it has progressed, he said.
“We would like something better, something that has more precision, less variation,” Thies said.
CDC on Swine Flu (H1N1) – What is the swine flu?
January 13, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
The swine influenza A (H1N1) virus that has infected humans in the U.S. and Mexico is a novel influenza A virus that has not previously been identified in North America. This virus is resistant to the antiviral medications amantadine (Symmetrel) and rimantadine (Flumadine), but is sensitive to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). Investigations of these cases suggest that on-going human-to-human swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is occurring.
Can H1N1 be prevented if the H1N1 flu vaccine is not readily available?
January 10, 2010 by MedicineNewsReporter · Leave a Comment
Although vaccination is the best way to “prevent” H1N1, currently (November 2009), there is not enough available for everyone who wants or needs H1N1 vaccination. Until H1N1 vaccine supplies meet demand, there are some things people can do to try and prevent infection. Without vaccination, the best strategy is to not allow H1N1 virus to contact a person’s mucus membranes because if the virus does not reach cells in which it can grow, it cannot cause infection. Quarantining H1N1-infected people is an extreme measure that may work in some instances (for example, China uses this method), but even with quarantining, the virus may still spread by people who have minimal or no symptoms.
The next step that is easier to be implemented by individuals is for people with the disease to self-quarantine until they become noninfectious (about seven to 10 days after flu symptoms abate). Infected people can wear surgical masks to reduce the amount of droplet spray from coughs and sneezes and throw away contaminated tissues. Unfortunately, these approaches depend on the compliance of many other people, and the likelihood that such methods will be highly successful in preventing H1N1 infections, at best, is only fair. Such methods have not stopped the current pandemic. Yet there are still some other methods available to individuals. Perhaps the best way for individuals to try to prevent H1N1 infection is a combination of methods that are aimed at fulfilling the very basic principle that if H1N1 doesn’t reach an individual’s mucus membrane cells, infection will be prevented. The methods are as follows:
1. Kill or inactivate the virus before it reaches a human cell by using soap and water to clean your hands; washing clothing and taking a shower will do the same for the rest of your body.
2. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available.
3. Use sanitizers on objects that many people may touch (for example, doorknobs, computer keyboards, handrails, phones).
4. Do not touch your mouth, eyes, nose, unless you first do items 1 or 2 above.
5. Avoid crowds, parties, and especially people who are coughing and sneezing (most virus-containing droplets do not travel more than 4 feet, so experts suggest 6 feet away is a good distance to stay). If you cannot avoid crowds (or parties), try to remain aware of people around you and use the 6-foot rule with anyone coughing or sneezing. Do not reach for or eat snacks out of canisters or other containers at parties.
6. Avoid touching anything within about 6 feet of an uncovered cough/sneeze, because the droplets that contain virus fall and land on anything usually within that range.
7. Studies show that individuals who wear surgical or N95 particle masks may prevent inhalation of some H1N1 virus, but the masks may prevent only about 50% of airborne exposures and offer no protection against surface droplets. However, masks on H1N1 infected people can markedly reduce the spread of infected droplets.
These seven steps can help prevent individuals from getting H1N1 infection, but for many people, adherence to them may be difficult at best. However, there are some additional strategies that may also help prevent H1N1 infections in unvaccinated people according to some investigators. Saline nasal washes and gargling with saline (or a commercial product) as a way to reduce or eliminate H1N1 virus from mucus membranes has been suggested. Proponents of these methods base their rationale on the fact that flu viruses usually take about two to three days to proliferate in nasal/throat cells. While nasal washes and gargling may be soothing to some people, there are no studies that indicate H1N1 is killed, inactivated, or completely removed by these methods; conversely, there are no data suggesting these methods cannot have any effect on H1N1. However, with long-term nasal washes using Neti pots, sinus infection with other pathogens may be encouraged.
Other investigators and physicians have offered additional methods that may help reduce exposure to H1N1 virus. For example, Dr. Gerberding, a former CDC director, had several suggestions about how to avoid H1N1 infection on an airplane. She suggested the following:
1. If a person is next to you or near (within 6 feet) and is coughing/sneezing, ask the flight attendant to offer the person a mask.
2. If there are available seats 6 feet or more away from the coughing/sneezing person, ask to change your seat (planes are good means of travel because the air is recirculated through HEPA filters that can capture viruses, but even the filters will not help if people touch areas where droplets have landed; HEPA filters are usually not available in buses, cars, ships, or trains).
3. Turn away from the coughing/sneezing person and turn the air vent toward the person to blow the droplets away from yourself.
Variations of her suggestions may be applicable in many different social, work, or travel situations, but there are no data to prove these methods are effective. In addition, common-sense precautions such as not drinking or eating things touched by others, avoiding casual physical contacts (for example, handshakes, social hugs or kisses, public water fountains [these are OK if you touch nothing and lips only touch flowing water], banisters on stairways, and restroom door handles) will limit exposure to H1N1. Again, these common sense suggestions lack data substantiation.
Many investigators suggest that people stay well hydrated, take vitamins, and get plenty of rest, but these precautions will not prevent H1N1 infections although they may help reduce the effects of infection by strengthening the person’s immune system to fight infection. Similarly, current antiviral medications (described in the preceding section) act on H1N1 viruses that have already infected cells; they work by preventing or reducing viral particles from aggregating and being released from infected cells. Timing is important; if only a few cells are infected and the antiviral medications are administered quickly (usually before flu symptoms develop or within 48 hours), the viruses are reduced in number (they cannot easily bud out from the cell surface), so few, if any, other respiratory or mucus membrane cells become infected. This can result in either no flu symptoms or, if a larger number of cells were initially infected, less severe symptoms. The overall effect for the person is that the H1N1 infection was prevented (it was not; the symptoms were prevented from developing) or that symptoms were reduced.
In the strictest sense of the word prevention, even effective vaccines do not “prevent” infections. What they do accomplish is to alert the immune system to be on guard for certain antigens that are associated with a pathogen (for example, H1N1 virus, pneumococcal bacteria). When the pathogen first infects the host, its antigens are recognized, and these cause a rapid immunoprotective response to occur that prevents the pathogen from proliferating and developing symptoms in the host. People, including physicians and researchers, often term this complex response to vaccination as “prevention of infection” but what actually occurs is the prevention of further infection so well that symptoms do not develop or are minimal in the host.
In summary, if H1N1 viruses fail to contact cells they can infect, the disease will be prevented. As stated above, this is difficult, but not impossible, to do in almost all societies. Prevention of H1N1 symptoms of infection is possible with antiviral medications if these are given very early in the infection. There are many other methods that may reduce the chance of getting the virus on a person’s mucosal surface, but most methods have not been backed up with objective data. Most doctors and investigators suggest that items that help boost or allow the immune response to function well will help people resist H1N1 infections and reduce symptoms, but these also do not prevent infections. Consequently, while waiting for H1N1 vaccine, these are some ways individuals can improve their chances of preventing or reducing the symptoms of H1N1 infections.



