GoodnessDirect Blog – Health foods & healthy lifestyles for you & your planet

We were talking about the swine flue epidemic in the office this morning. 50 schools in my friend’s town have been effected by the disease (her friend works in one of the schools). In fact, the UK as a whole is now the country with the highest number of cases after the USA and Mexico.

Gosh, I’ve just realised that puts me possibly 4 steps away from someone with swine flu! I guess most people in the country find themselves in a similar position.

Everyone’s seen the government adverts ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’ and I guess most people know what the major symptoms might be: sudden fever, coughing or a shortness of breath. (Though personally I wonder at how short the time limit to be treated by antiviral drugs seems a to be – only 48 hours after the symptoms are first present. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t fly to the doctor at every sniffle that surely cuts down your time for treatment?)

Other symptoms might include headaches, sore throats, tiredness, aching muscles, chills, sneezing, a runny nose or loss of appetite.

But we got onto discussing ways of fighting the disease. The best advice is good hygiene practice to keep your family away from the germs. We’ve got a number of sanitising products which are environmentally friendly, in particular Aloe Vera & Tea Tree Hand Wash and Bio-D’s Concentrated Disinfectant.

And then there’s medication to boost your immune system like echinacea, vitamin C and combination supplements Sambucol or Immunace.

At the end of the day there’s a government helpline which you might like to know it’s 0800 1 513 513

I guess most people are reassured that it’s unlikely to have an effect unless you are infirm, but that’s all the more reason for us to keep looking out for one another.