CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Tea … will a cuppa see you through novel H1N1 influenza?

Still popularly known as swine flu here in the UK, the novel pandemic H1N1 influenza makes you feel really ill even if you experience the "mild" form. 

On a BBC radio 5 program in the first week of July, controversy arose over a recommendation to drink lots of fluids and to avoid tea… because it dehydrates. Many listeners called in to refute this, and the programme heard from a UK expert whose work had refuted this fallacy completely ¹. Yes, the caffeine in the tea will dehydrate you, but there is not enough caffeine in your average cup of tea to outweigh all that fluid you drink along with it. You also have the added bonus of flavanoids, which have protective effects for some heart disease and cancers, fluoride for teeth and components with antiviral activity.

So I have searched the Global Health database to pull out some useful information for you on the protective effects of tea flavanoids ^2-5 and tea antiviral activity ^6-7.

References

1. Black tea – helpful or harmful? A review of the evidence. Gardner, E. J. et al. Eur.J. Clinical Nutrition (2007) 61, 3–18.
2. Construction of a flavonoid database for assessing intake in a population-based sample of women on Long Island, New York. Fink, B. N. et al Nutrition and Cancer (2006) 56 1 57-66
3. Chemoprevention of human prostate cancer by oral administration of green tea catechins: a translational research story. Bettuzzi, S & Rizzi, F. Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Agriculture (2008) 65, 1, p.29. FULLTEXT available to Global Health subscribers   
    
4. Protective effect of green tea against prostate cancer: a case-control study in Southeast China.
   Jian Le et al. International Journal of Cancer (2004) 108, 1, 130-135
   
5. Possible protective effect of green tea intake on risk of adult leukaemia. Zhang, M. et al. British Journal of Cancer (2008) 98, 168–170. (Full abstract available to Global Health subscribers)
6. Antibacterial and antiviral effects of tea - from influenza to SARS. Book chapter. Jain, N. K et al in Protective effects of tea on human health, 2006. Editor: Leung PingChung
7. Gargling with tea catechin extracts for the prevention of influenza infection in elderly nursing home residents: a prospective clinical study.Yamada, H. et al. J. Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2006)12, 7, 669-672.

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Flu panic in Argentina

A CABI sales colleague now in Argentina reported on June 30th that meetings had been cancelled, ministers were resigning and hospitals & schools faced closure, all through the fear of the novel H1N1 influenza pandemic the entire world is now experiencing.

The Argentine Post points out that Argentina is now entering its winter, and that the “number of cases stand at 1587 and deaths at 26 (June 26)”. For June 29, the WHO states that laboratory confirmed cumulative cases and deaths are 1488 and 23, so I think the writer of the Post piece added cumulative numbers to the newly reported ones for June 26.

Be that as it may, the WHO figures put Argentina 7th in global rank of number of cases (USA and Mexico are 1 and 2) and 3rd in number of deaths (Colombia and Mexico are 1 and 2). Experts tell us that influenza is a virus that prefers the winter season in temperate regions… though it must be a considerably warmer winter in Argentina compared to the UK.

There are other figures in the Argentine Post piece - death rates calculated for Argentina, Chile and Mexico but they forgot to convert their figures correctly to get %. By my calculations, the true figure for death rate in Argentina is 1.6% (not 0.016%!), which means it is experiencing a similar death rate from this strain of flu to that of Mexico (1.4%). Only Colombia (2.7%) outdoes these two countries for death rate from this flu strain, though it has less than a hundred confirmed cases.

No wonder a health minister in Argentina, faced with figures like this and the general belief that the case numbers were actually far worse, resigned…

Flu - avoid the aspirin

I wouldn't usually visit a doctor for flu treatment I'd just suffer at home with the cold remedies and/or over-the-counter fever reducing drugs. I guess a lot of people will be doing that in the near future, but make sure you are using the right drugs....

Geophagy – eating soil for healing or health supplementation

As I screened a journal called Elements for the CAB Abstracts database the other day, I came across an interesting article entitled ‘Bentonite, bandaids and borborygmi’ (1), which is all about  the practice of eating clay for gastrointestinal ailments and applying clay topically as a dressing or bandaids for skin infections. Apparently it is a practice as old as mankind and has been observed in cultures worldwide (2). Could the vast surface area and chemical/physical properties of bentonites provide a natural pharmacy of antibacterial agents? Read on to find out!

H1N1 influenza research- free papers!

It is cheering to see that a growing list of publishers including CABI is making influenza related research papers and databases freely available to help the global anti-influenza effort. I'm gathering those I hear about on CABI's free H1N1 'dashboard'. Below is what I have found so far. The list will be growing I'm sure.....

Man Flu Really Exists, New Study Shows

Man flu is considered by large segments of society to be the psychological condition of men with colds. It is often said that when men have a cold they think it is a flu and as a consequence they moan more than women and stay longer in bed until they feel better.

Man flu is not to be confused with the current H1N1 pandemic flu which is affecting humans in some 40 countries. There has also been one swine case on a farm in Canada.

Pandemic influenza: the worst economic scenario

The threat of an influenza pandemic has disappeared from headlines again lately, at least in the UK where a political scandal around MPs expenses has driven everything else off the news. But that doesn't mean that the outbreak has died down yet. In fact, just over 1000 new cases have been confirmed worldwide in the last 24 hours. Similarly, although travel warnings that had been in place for Mexico have now been lifted by some countries (including the UK), and cruise lines are planning their return to Mexico's ports, the possible cost to the global travel economy of a full-blown pandemic has recently been released.

'Swine flu' travel response: pandering to stupidity?

We have been featuring H1N1 influenza heavily here on 'Hand picked' lately, in line with the worldwide headlines the virus has been making since the emergence of an outbreak in Mexico. From the daily travel news alerts which hit my inbox, the virus has not only hit tourism in Mexico severely, but has also raised worldwide fears for possible effects on travel and tourism should the outbreak worsen. But how real is the threat to travellers?

Masks or Handwashing?

In Mexico and South East Asia, face mask wearing  to prevent spread of respiratory diseases SARS and swine flu is popular with the public and encouraged but the World Health Organisation and national health agencies seem to be recommending masks for healthcare settings only. Whats the evidence that they work?

Health systems: fuzzy or not?

Despite swine influenza calling world experts home to advise their governments, it was business as usual here on Tuesday April 28 at the World Congress for Public Health in Istanbul. Tuesday was the first full day with 9 concurrent sessions. I sought out those which addressed health systems, as this is an area finally recognised as vital if developing countries are to reach MDG targets by 2015, and equally relevant to the expanded EU. No longer does health have to follow economic growth: improved population health is seen as a driver for wealth, its an expectation & a human right. What exactly is a health system? To get a clear definition I had to wait for later talks. One speaker even described it as a fuzzy concept and actually thought this could prove to be an advantage! Meanwhile…

The Brazilian Minister for Health delivered a detailed description of the programmes and restructuring they have successfully delivered…and then dashed back home to deal with the swine fever threat. The Assistant Regional Director WHO Africa pointed out that though her region has benefited from increased resources for health (Global Forum, GAVI etc), they are focussed on a narrow range of diseases…HIV, TB, malaria…and in the past these programmes & donor governments have discouraged reallocation to build-up inadequate health systems.  Recently Global Forum and GAVI have changed their minds recognising that scale up of successful interventions is constrained by inadequate health systems. Apparently, WHO reports concentrated minds wonderfully.