By MELINDA BECK
Heard the one about the raw onion?
With concerns over the H1N1 flu rising and supplies of vaccine running scarce, it's no surprise that alternative remedies are circulating on the Web.
During the flu epidemic of 1918 that killed 40 million people, one widely circulated email relates, a doctor visiting a farmhouse where everyone stayed healthy observed that the family kept an unpeeled onion in each room. He examined one under a microscope and saw that the onion had indeed absorbed flu virus.
Alan Witschonke Folk remedies for the flu abound on the Web. They range from placing a raw onion in the room or garlic in the pocket to washing the ear out with hydrogen peroxide to drinking hot liquids with all kinds of additives, including honey and vinegar.
The same email mentions a modern-day hairdresser whose employees stopped getting the flu after she placed onions around the shop, and a pneumonia sufferer who put a raw onion in a jar by the bed and woke up feeling much better, though the onion was a rotting mess.
This and other folk remedies are sparking a volley of discussion on blogs and bulletin boards. Some posters are adding their own twists, such as chopping or boiling the onion and inhaling it with a towel over the head. "You sir are a saviour," wrote one on the Web site abovetopsecret.com. "Me and my 13 month old daughter have been sick for a week. Boiled some onions and left them on the coffee table for an hour, she is now walking around and I feel so much better. Thanks."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the officially sanctioned vaccine is the only proven way to prevent the H1N1 virus, and the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are among the few proven ways to shorten its duration. "There is no scientific evidence that any herbal, homeopathic or other folk remedies have any benefit against influenza," the CDC says.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has adopted a "no tolerance" policy on bogus H1N1 claims, has sent 75 warning letters to marketers of products that claim to fight the virus, from air filters purporting to neutralize sneezes to counterfeit Tamiflu. "We feel these products pose a serious threat to the public health, not only because people can get a false sense of protection and not seek appropriate care, but because some may do actual harm," says Gary Coody, the FDA's national health fraud coordinator.
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