With the advent of the SARS and West Nile viruses, the concept of preventative medicine has become increasingly important. These unpredictable and potentially life-threatening illnesses can not be prevented by the traditional method of vaccinations, nor can they be easily treated with any drugs. Mainstream medicine advices us to prevent SARS by avoiding possible carriers and West Nile by avoiding mosquito bites. Not bad advice. But unfortunately limited. How are you to know who has SARS or not? Does your best friend who’s coughing and seems a bit sick have it? While avoiding people who have been in Asia may reduce your contact with potential carriers, it by no means eliminates it. The same thing goes for mosquito bites. You can avoid them somewhat, but not entirely.
There are, however, other precautions that you can take. Vitamin C, the bane of all viruses, is easily available and can significantly reduce your chances of acquiring any disease and of helping you survive them if you do. Vitamin C and other antioxidants are what people should be taking before they get sick. Rather than merely reverse the symptoms of an illness, they help maintain health.
Vitamin C is not the only antioxidant that can help with viral infections. Vitamin E and vitamin A are also antioxidants that can be very helpful in staving off disease, though not as potent as vitamin C. It’s important to note though that vitamins work best in combination. Without sufficient quantities of one, the others won’t work to their full effectiveness.
Cough medicines and cold medications are after the fact treatments. They are there to relieve symptoms once they’ve started. How much better would it be not to get sick at all? Unlike colds, West Nile flares up in the summer and peters off in the fall. Now is the time to worry about prevention, and that means more than long sleeves. It also means keeping your body in top virus-fighting form. The solution? Take vitamins, before drugs and before you’re forced into quarantine.
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