Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans.

The 2009 flu outbreak in humans is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that derives in part from human influenza, avian influenza, and two separate strains of swine influenza. The origins of this new strain are unknown. It passes with apparent ease from human to human, an ability attributed to an as-yet unidentified mutation. The strain in most cases causes only mild symptoms and the infected person makes a full recovery without requiring medical attention and without the use of antiviral medicines. From Hpathy - Tara's note - also consider Nux vomica for this season's flu!

In early April of 2005, after a particularly rainy spring, an influenza epidemic (epi: upon, demic: people) exploded through the maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane where I have worked for the last ten years. It was not the pandemic (pan: all, demic: people) we all fear, just an epidemic. The world is waiting and governments are preparing for the next pandemic. A severe influenza pandemic will kill many more Americans than died in the World Trade Centers, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War, and Hurricane Katrina combined, perhaps a million people in the USA alone. Such a disaster would tear the fabric of American society. Our entire country might resemble the Superdome or Bourbon Street after Hurricane Katrina. From Medical News Today

Lately I've been receiving many queries about which herbs can be used in the prevention and treatment of Avian Flu (a.k.a. The Bird Flu). There is no definitive answer to this question, nor am I able to locate any scientific research on this subject. However, as herbalists are always doing, we can look back in history for some possible answers.

During the pandemic of 1918-19 over 50-million people died worldwide from what was then know as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe." This was the most devastating epidemic in recorded history and infected one-fifth of the world's population. An estimated 28% of the American population was infected and 675,000 died during the pandemic. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe during World War I, half died from the influenza pandemic and not from the enemy. In the USA influenza had a mortality rate of 2.5%, with many people dying within hours of manifesting symptoms. by Ed Smith (Herbal Ed)

While artichokes are almost in season, I chose them as this month's vegetable because Spring according to the Chinese calendar is the season of the liver, and artichokes support the liver much in the way that milk thistle, its botanical relative does. Enjoy! But go easy on the butter!