There is a lot of information out there about the plague but we forget that during this time of year other flus exist as well. There are so many types that it can get confusing. I thought you moms out there might appreciate this primer on the flu bug itself.
In terms of classification of the various different types of virus that we have so far isolated, influenza is what is known as an RNA virus, meaning that the virus itself is primarily made up of different variations of ribonucleic acid. Because there are different forms of RNA at the ‘core’ of the influenza virus, there are three different classifications:
• Influenza virus A;
• Influenza virus B;
• Influenza virus C.
Influenza virus A is the one that causes the most severe disease as it is an extremely virulent human pathogen. A huge variety of influenza virus A strains are naturally hosted by wild aquatic birds, and the genus is subdivided into many different individual strains, with all known flu pandemics having been caused by a variation of the influenza virus A genus.
Each variation of the virus A genus is identified by its reaction to antibodies, and many variations are seen more than once in a slightly modified form.
For example, the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ variety that was first identified in early 2009 was in fact a variation of the same strain as that which caused the infamous Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 that was notable for killing millions of otherwise healthy young adults all over the world. The Asian flu pandemic that originated in China in 1956 was H2N2, whereas the Hong Kong flu pandemic of the late 1960s was the H3N2 strain of the virus A genus.
Unlike the virus A genus, influenza virus B is almost exclusively limited to humans, meaning that there is no relationship between the infection and birds and pigs as there is with the virus A genus. Because there is little inter-reaction between the flu viruses carried by humans and other creatures, virus B influenza very rarely evolves or mutates, meaning that most people develop a degree of immunity to this particular form of influenza at a relatively young age.
Influenza virus C does however have the ability to cross from humans to animals (and vice versa), specifically to and from dogs and pigs. Consequently, virus C variants can cause serious illness and also local epidemics, although the only influenza genus that is known to have the ability to become a pandemic are variations of the A genus.
For reasons that are not fully understood, the most common forms of flu tend to be seasonal, with most people suffering ‘ordinary’ seasonal influenza during the winter months. Despite what you may have heard this type of flu is actually more virulent than other forms, including the bird flu!!!

There are many factors that dictate whether you more susceptible to skin cancer than others. If you fall under any of the following categories, it is believed that your skin cancer risk is elevated:
• Those who have fair skin that is easily burned and prone to freckles or other common skin markings.
• People who have suffered at least one case of severe sunburn earlier in life.
• Those who have fair hair and/or blue or green eyes.
• People with naturally depleted skin pigmentation caused by other medical conditions such as albinism.
• Those who have many moles on their skin, especially unusually shaped or colored moles, or large ones that they have had from birth.
• People who have suffered skin cancer before, or have family members who have suffered in the past.
It is important to note that these causative factors can work in combination. If for example you are a fair skinned, red haired, blue-eyed individual with several unusual moles who suffered really bad sunburn a couple of times as a youngster (which with this physical make up is extremely likely), the chances of continued or repeated exposure to the sun causing cancer are a great deal higher.
This highlights one of the main reasons why it is so important to know how to prevent sunburn and how to treat it if it unfortunately happens. Anything that increases your melanoma risk levels is something to be taken extremely seriously. Managing the risk of sunburn before the event is by far and away the best way of treating this risk with the respect that it so obviously deserves.
Having been presented with both sides of the ‘is sunshine good for you’ argument, I would suggest one thing should be abundantly clear.
Whilst too much exposure to the sun is clearly potentially dangerous, particularly for certain types of people, a lack of exposure to the sun can be equally harmful. Consequently, the only sensible conclusion that can be drawn from this is that a balance needs to be struck between exposing your body to sunlight and keeping covered up at other times
You might be wondering why I am writing about this topic in the middle of winter but the truth is that “snowburn” is as bad as “sunburn”. Also many families go south for a holiday in the winter and the kids are often so much in a rush to get out in the sun and warm up that really bad sunburns tend to occur within minutes!

Do you have a child with chronic vertigo or dizziness? If so then try the following maneovers which you can do manually with your child. You can sometimes cure the dizziness almost immediately.
This s a simple physical activity known as canalith repositioning or the Epley maneuver. You move your child’s body through a series of head and body positions that are designed to dislodge the crystals in the inner ear that are supposed to cause dizziness…
Although this procedure is initially carried out under expert supervision by your doctor, it is nevertheless something that is relatively easy to learn, so it is quite likely that he or she will be able to teach you how to do this in the comfort of your own home.
This procedure is remarkably simple, with the underlying principle being that by following the step by step procedure, you dislodge the crystals in your own or your child’s ears that are the root cause of the dizziness and move them to a position where they are no longer going to irritate the nerve hairs in your ears to cause vertigo.
Since this simple physical procedure was first identified as being a non-invasive treatment for BPPV by Dr John Epley in 1980, there has been an increasingly persuasive body of supporting scientific research for this particular strategy built up.
If you suffer from BPPV and you have never attempted this particular procedure, this really is all that there is to it:
1. Sit on the floor in an upright position;
2. Turn your child’s head to a 45° angle towards the side where you have a BPPV problem before reclining the child onto his or her back
3. Stay in this position for up to 5 minutes;
4. Swivel the child’s head through 90° so that it is now at the same angle facing in the opposite direction;
5. Stay like that for up to 5 minutes once again;
6. Roll your child in the same direction as you are already facing with your head still at an angle to his or her body so that the nose is now facing the floor, and stay here for the final five minutes;
7. Return to the sitting position, take a break for 30 seconds to 1 minute before repeating the whole process two or three more times.
As you can see by this straightforward description of the procedure, there really is very little to the Epley maneuver, which is probably one of the reasons why it is as successful as it has so far proven to be.

Lately there has been a bout of labyrinthitis going around in our neighborhood which had me wondering about how the real difference between vertigo and dizziness. Real vertigo involves dizziness, but most medical professionals would tell you that it is a specific type of dizziness, something that is suggested by the root of the word vertigo, which is ‘vertere’, meaning ‘turn’ in Latin.
People who have vertigo as a noticeable shift in the sufferer’s relationship with their normal environment. It is often described by those who suffer vertigo as an uncontrollable feeling that the room is spinning, or that the world is whirling, dipping and turning around them. This is different than just be dizzy.
They often describe the condition as a thoroughly unpleasant sensation of moving in or through space whilst they are thoroughly conscious that they are in fact physically immobile or completely still. A good example of this is the child that gets dizzy when he or she merely moves his or her head one pillow.
The basic cause of vertigo is that something has caused a disturbance of the equilibrium or balance of the sufferer, so that in certain situations this imbalance causes them to feel dizziness. Real vertigo causes real suffering including nausea, rapid involuntary eye movements and often vomiting as well. The reason I mention this is because the first time I saw my kid have vertigo I practically thought she was dying.
Whilst they are suffering an attack of vertigo, the individual may interpret the dizziness in one of two different ways, sensing that either they are moving whereas everything else is stationary (known as subjective vertigo), or they may see everything else is moving whilst they are still, which is objective vertigo.
On the one hand, you may feel that you are tilting, rocking or falling through space and that you have no grip on reality, which can often lead to nausea and vomiting, whilst on the other side of the coin, you may feel perfectly still whilst everything hurtles around uncontrollably, in which case, exactly the same ‘end result’ may occur!
For the majority of children and adults who suffer vertigo, the condition is not grave or dangerous. Mostly it is just annoying! However it is recommended that if you or your kid suffers dizziness of any form, you should seek a professional medical evaluation of your condition as it may be indicative of something considerably more serious.