Prevention from Swine flu - Ayurvedic Treatment of Swine Flu

As Swine flu is finding its way into new places and involving more and more people, I thought of writing about how we can prevent swine flu from spreading further. I am writing this article while sitting at New Delhi domestic airport looking at few people who are doing their normal duties wearing the masks.

Stay at home if you have some symptoms

It is the responsibility of the person who is having symptoms like cough, cold, sore throat to think that he should contain himself rather than people who are not suffering should wear masks and roam around everywhere. The world looks weird with people wearing masks and doing their regular activities.

Do Not Panic

The key to stop further spread of flu is "DO NOT PANIC AT ALL" Swine flu can be contained and prevented easily.

Contact Your Doctor

You should contact your doctor direct rather than going yourself for the tests and putting the burden on authorities. You should do it especially if -

• You have a serious underlying illness
• You are pregnant
• You have a sick child under one year old
• Your condition suddenly gets much worse
• Your condition is still getting worse after seven days (five for a child)
• You have regular fever which is not getting down with conventional treatment

Antiviral Drugs

Swine flu is being treated with antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza. Antiviral drugs work by preventing the flu virus from reproducing - to be effective you need to take them within 48 hours of the symptoms beginning. This can reduce the risk of complications and possibly shorten the illness by a day.

If your GP confirms you have swine flu, you will be told from where you can get these drugs.

Herbal Remedies and other traditional Remedies

There are many tall claims by traditional practitioners that the Swine flu is curable and we can stop it. There are many people who may be advertising on their websites or everywhere else about their herbal formulations which are useful in treating Swine flu.

I believe there are many herbs which can be very useful in preventing Swine flu. I do not have any experience in treating the positive swine flu case yet. I however think that in Ayurveda, the Vata Shleshmik Jwara has the same symptomatology and the same herbs and other traditional regimes described will be useful in treating the swine flu. I am writing this article for preventing the Swine flu so that we do not have to face bigger emergency in future.

The following Herbs can be used for Swine Flu

1. Tulsi Capsules - Tulsi is a herb used in Ayurveda for various sore throat, cough, cold, viral infections. It is very effective in treating almost all of the viral fevers and other upper respiartory tract viral infections including influenza.

Dosage - 3 to 4 capsules thrice daily for 3 months can be used for prevention of Swine flu.

2. Curcumin - Curcumin is another Ayurvedic herbal remedy for Prevention of Swine flu and treating of allied sypmtoms. 2-3 capsules thrice daily are recommended for 3 months.
3. Amla and Bramhi Chawyanprash - Amla and Bramhi Chawyanprash are described as best anti-ageing, anti-oxidants herbs in Ayurveda. These improve the body's immunity to fight infections and other diseases if used regularly for about 2-3 months. I found the results much better than the regular vitamin pills.

Swine Flu and Ayurveda-, What is Swine Flu

Seasonal Flu (regular flu) infects millions of people every year. It's fair to say it's a common ailment, just like a cold. Regular flu also kills thousands of people each year...if one does not handle it in time... The regular flu can get complicated and attract more infections.

Study of such outbreaks of diseases is covered under Janapadodhvansa topic in ancient texts such as Charaka. Janapadodhvansa means destruction of population. Such diseases can catch anybody irrespective of his or her Dosha constitution, however, persons with good immunity are less affected by the disease with less severe symptoms. This is also known as epidemic.

Symptom complex of swine flu seems to be similar to that of kapha-vata jvara. Therefore, herbs such as guduchi, shunthi (ginger), kantakari can be good for this condition. All these herbs are very useful in Jvara (fever).
Further treatment includes use of Holy Basil leaves,(Tulsi) Turmeric capsules, Tribhuvan kirti ras, Kaisore guggul, Kachnaar guggul.
The treatment prescribed above does not mean that you should not go for tests and not go for check up at nearest hospital and get tests done for H1N1. This treatment is just an adjuvant treatment along with the regular Tamiflu treatment a

All these are very useful in all kinds of flu, to ease the symptoms.

VIRUS is nothing but ----- It's a tiny packet of only eight genes wrapped in a cloak of proteins, much smaller than a bacterium. Unlike bacteria, a virus is only half alive. It can't
eat or reproduce on its own, but must take over the genetic machinery of a
living cell. Most viruses are harmless; some are useful, but others, such as the
flu virus, can be deadly.
What makes this swine flu virus special is it’s novel combination of bird, pig and human viral genes never before found in the U.S. or elsewhere, so people have no immunity to it. It's a
descendant of the H1N1 virus that killed tens of millions of people worldwide in
the pandemic of 1918-1919, mixed in with recent strains of swine and bird flu
viruses. The 1918 virus originated in birds and then jumped to humans. This
year's virus apparently jumped from a pig to a 5-year-old boy in Veracruz ,
Mexico , who passed it on to other humans.

H1N1 stands for-- It's the initials of two sugar proteins (their scientific names are
hemagglutinin and neuramidinase) that sit on the surface of the virus and do its
dirty work.

The virus can be transmitted through the air - by a cough or a sneeze - or by
a handshake or by touching an infected surface, such as a doorknob. The virus
can live for up to two hours outside a cell. It can't be passed by eating pork.


There are no particular symptoms that distinguish swine flu from other types of flu. Symtoms like diarrhea and vomiting are also associated with swine flu. Those symptoms can also be caused by many other conditions, and that means that you and your doctor can't know, just based on your symptoms, The basic symptoms for swine flu are similar to the seasonal flu which may include:

* Fever of more than 100
* Coughing
* Runny nose and/or sore throat
* Joint aches
* Severe headache
* Vomiting and/or diarrhea
* Lethargy
* Lack of appetite

Diagnosis is the identification, by process of elimination, of the nature of anything. Diagnosis is used in many disciplines: medicine, science. Blood test is done to identify swine flu from normal flu.

As a general measure, following should help to build up one's immunity: Observing good diet according to your Agni, avoiding bad food combinations as advised by ayurveda, practicing ayurvedic dinacharya (daily routine), and ritucharya (routine according to season). Judicious use of herbs according to season and constitution would be a good idea.