Health Canada is stating that knowledge is your best defense against any apparent threat of the H1N1 flu virus this simply means that there are many effective ways to prevent or treat the flu that does not involve vaccination. This knowledge may be the treatment of choice, especially after new information suggests that having the seasonal flu shot will make you twice a likely to contract H1N1. That certainly raises many questions but I will leave that for another column.

In my last column I discussed the H1N1 Vaccine and such and this time as promised, I am going to discuss the treatment of “flu like” symptoms with homeopathic medicine. Looking back on the history of homeopathic medicine one will find successful management of serious acute infections with homeopathy, particularly the flu. Homeopathic medicine proved extremely effective in the management of the 1918 flu epidemic, and it will prove itself in any future flu pandemic, just as it does every winter in the treatment of that year's flu cases.

Homeopathy has proven to be very effective in the past the Spanish flu is a good example. The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than World War I, somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Compare this to the few reported deaths of Swine Flu. A report to the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1921 documented the dramatic success of homeopathy in the worst flu pandemic in history. The death rate of 24,000 flu cases under conventional medical care in that study was 28.2 percent, while the death rate of 26,000 cases treated with homeopathy was a nearly miraculous 1.05 percent. Similarly, homeopathic physicians reported treating thousands of patients with very few deaths.

The flu can be an uncomfortable inconvenience, or it can be deadly. There have been three serious flu epidemics over the past century: the Spanish Flu from 1918-20 The Asian flu of which 100,000 died in 1957 and the Hong Kong flu which killed 50,000 people in 1968. Fortunately, most flu seasons and epidemics fit a common homeopathic picture, so that the majority of people with the flu will benefit from the epidemic homeopathic medicine (Genus Epidemicus). For example, the Genus Epidemicus for the 1918 Spanish flu was Gelsemium (with Bryonia and Eupatorium as secondary prescriptions), which has also been the appropriate medicine for many other flu seasons.

If a worldwide pandemic of Swine Flu emerges, I am confident that the homeopathic community will be prepared with a Genus Epidemicus. In the mean time, do not buy into the fear-mongering, and turn off the TV. I do not want to make light of any potential pandemic I just want to make you aware that much of the information that we get from mainstream media regarding this matter is definitely one sided.

In the meantime, while you are researching your options there are many precautions you can take to avoid becoming sick. First off, wash your hands that may seem almost too simple but it is probably the single most effective thing you can do to avoid getting sick from a bacteria or virus.

Secondly, you should plan to stay home or keep your children home if any of you are not well. Even though this seems totally inconvenient, it will keep the spread of the germs down. Sneeze into your sleeve do not carry a reusable hanky for obvious reasons. Carry hand sanitizer and stock up on natural immune boosters and homeopathic remedies now to avoid the rush.