Community News
Guess what? No surprise! It is flu season! Time to take better care of YOU!
BY SIMONE J. SMITH
Oh no!
Sneeze!
Sniffle!
The Omicron variant is here to ruin our lives yet again. I bet some of you are already starting to feel anxiety. What does this mean? More lockdowns? Shortages? Deaths? Boosters? Fear?
Yep! Maybe all of the above; what I want to do in this article is really simplify something for all of our readers. Of course there is a variant; it is called FLU SEASON!
On November 26th, 2021, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). This decision was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes.
Now, with what we have all been through, just hearing this is raising your blood pressure, and you don’t even realize it. I want to help bring you back to homeostasis. What we are experiencing in the North has been part of our lives for years. The only difference is unlike now, the media has sensationalized this season, and made it out to be a dangerous part of our human experience. I want to share some things with you, and you can do with the information what you need to.
According to the CDC Website (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season.htm)
flu viruses are most common during the fall and winter. The exact timing and duration of flu season varies, but influenza activity often begins to increase in October. Most of the time flu activity peaks between December and February, although significant activity can last as late as May.
CDC goes ahead to mention that the “peak month of flu activity” is the month with the highest percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza virus infection during that influenza season. Does this sound familiar? So when you hear them talking about COVID-19 cases going up, they are right, because it is FLU SEASON. The overall health impact of flu season: infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, normal impacts of the flu that varies from season to season.
When you get some time, you have to check out a CDC report that they named FluView (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm). As of November 27th, 2021 CDC reports that seasonal influenza activity remains low, but in recent weeks, the number of influenza virus detections reported by clinical and public health laboratories has increased, and the per cent of outpatient visits for respiratory illness has trended upward. Well of course it has, because it is FLU SEASON.
So now what? It is time to start taking care of yourself, and there are some easy solutions, ones that won’t disrupt your life in any way. I am going to quickly focus on two quick things, supplements that you can add to your diet, that will help build your immune system, and keep you well throughout this season: Vitamin C and Vitamin D.
The scientific evidence is clear; vitamin C taken when infected can reduce COVID-19 symptoms and duration of illness. So why aren’t we being told to supplement with vitamin C?
There was a review of twelve studies, including five “gold standard” randomized controlled trials, showing that this simple vitamin saves lives when given in the right dose. Vitamin C can prevent a serious COVID-19 infection.
The review was carried out and funded by VitaminC4Covid, a consortium of vitamin C experts including Dr Marcela Vizcaychipi from the Faculty of Medicine at London’s Imperial College, Associate Professor Anitra Carr who heads the Nutrition in Medicine group at the University of Otago, and Dr Paul Marik, chief of the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Studies show that COVID-19 patients have depleted vitamin C levels, often to the level found in scurvy. In patients with serious pneumonia, a depleted vitamin C level greatly increases the risk of widespread internal organ damage and death. When it gets to this point, you need substantial doses of vitamin C to recover and survive.
Now, for Africans living in the Americas another very important part of building your immune system is the intake of Vitamin D.
There is a hypothesis that gives an explanation for seasonal influenza-like illness called the latitude hypothesis (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7441773/). It was by proposed (Davidson, 1897; Martin et al., 1978) and he hypothesized that latitude affects the occurrence and severity of respiratory disease. The possible mechanisms to explain the autumnal increase in illness include lower temperature and humidity supporting the lipid capsids of viri, decreased outdoor activity and limited fresh air concomitant with staying indoors, and falling vitamin D levels due to the shorter days and less direct sun exposure.
Why is Vitamin D important? It is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods, added to others (e.g. milk), and available as a dietary supplement. It is also produced endogenously, when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis.
Due to the amounts of pigment melanin in the epidermal layer of Black people, it reduces the skin’s ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight. Reports consistently show lower D levels in persons identified as black compared with those identified as white. This constitutes the vitamin D paradox in people with dark skin.
Studies have shown that D levels are lower in patients with positive PCR for SARS-CoV-2. It was also pointed out that the levels of vitamin D might impact mortality from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, and that vitamin D might play a role in the prevention of COVID-19 infection and mortality.
I want to end with this; please remember the importance of taking care of you. Yes, it is selfish. Very selfish, but extremely important; if you don’t take care of yourself, you will not be able to take care of others if and when they need you.
Remember that!