Flu Policy, October 2009

Pandemic Policy

Particularly for H1N1


October 6, 2009

(Passed by the school board on October 6, 2009)

Fraser Valley Adventist Academy works with Fraser Health to ensure the best ways to deal with the threat of H1N1 in schools. FVAA is proactive in urging students to wash hands thoroughly and frequently and avoid unnecessary physical contact with others. Students are also cautioned to sneeze or cough into a tissue or the inside of their elbows. If students have a fever, they are told to remain at home until they have been free from fever and other symptoms for 24 hours. Students who become ill at school with a fever are separated from their classmates till a parent or guardian, or parent-appointed designate can pick them up from school and take them home. Students with a fever are not sent home on the bus.

Fraser Valley Adventist Academy has also installed a number of hand sanitizers around the school to help encourage students, staff, and visitors to reduce the transmission of germs and viruses.

If administration and staff become aware of a case of H1N1 associated with the school, the BC conference will be notified, and parents/guardians will be informed through OneCallNow. The school will not close unless advised to do so by Fraser Health. In order to protect the privacy of children and staff working at FVAA, we will be unable to release any details about who has H1N1.

It's interesting that you should focus on Vitamin E. There have been many studies done to find a toxicity level (overdose) for Vitamin E. No toxicity level has yet been found. Look carefully at the language of the quotes you posted. For example: "The researchers speculate high doses of Vitamin E may upset....or perhaps...." There is nothing definitive there.

Keep in mind that the pharmaceutical companies do not make money selling vitamins. Their goal (for the love of money) is to discredit vitamins, and make doctors into "unprofessional practitioners" if they recommend them.

But when one is sick, high-dose vitamins may be required to treat a vitamin deficiency and/or a condition for which the vitamin will be therapeutic. If someone gets scurvy, by all means, give them some large doses of Vitamin D.

Possible adverse effects
While being harmless in most typical quantities, as with all substances to which the human body is exposed, vitamin C can still cause harm under certain conditions. In the medical community, these are known as contraindications.

As vitamin C enhances iron absorption for iron deficiency, iron overload may become an issue to people with rare iron-overload conditions, such as Beta (β) thalassemias.
A genetic condition that results in inadequate levels of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), can cause sufferers to develop hemolytic anemia after ingesting specific oxidizing substances (favism), such as very large dosages of vitamin C. There are common, inexpensive tests for G6PD deficiency.
There is a longstanding belief among the mainstream medical community that vitamin C causes kidney stones, which seems based little on science.[36] Although some individual recent studies have found a relationship[37] there is no clear relationship between excess ascorbic acid intake and kidney stone formation.[38]
[edit] Side-effects
Although vitamin C can be well tolerated at doses well above the RDA recommendations, megadosing may cause side effects such as stomach upset and laxative effects such as diarrhea. The dose at which these effects may occur varies with the individual and health condition.

High quantities of any acid will raise the acidity of the stomach and potentially cause heartburn, but the pH of the acid can be simply neutralized with baking soda if mixed in ratio 1,000 mg L-ascorbic acid / 477 mg baking soda. Too much of baking soda makes the solution salty, too little will leave the solution tasting sour, just right will make it neutral with no taste. This process has no effect on vitamin C content, only on the pH of the solution and taste.
Relatively large doses of vitamin C may cause indigestion, particularly when taken on an empty stomach. This generally occurs at doses larger than 10,000 mg / day, but may occur at much higher doses if the patient is ill.[39]
When taken in large doses, vitamin C causes diarrhea. The minimum dose that brings about this laxation effect varies on the individual. This has been called the "bowel tolerance limit". It ranges from 5 to 25 grams per day in healthy individuals to 300 grams per day in severely ill patients, such as those with AIDS or cancer[citation needed].
It has been suggested that large doses of acidic vitamin C solution (ascorbic acid) swished around the mouth, rather than swallowed directly without a neutral rinse, may erode dentition.[40]
A 31-year-old Australian woman who had received a kidney transplant died soon afterward as a result of calcium oxalate deposits that destroyed her new kidney function. Doctors concluded that high-dose vitamin C therapy should be avoided in patients with kidney failure.[41] However, oxalate-induced kidney failure has been reported in people with no apparent kidney problem.[citation needed]
High dosage vitamin C ingestion may cause early onset of puberty in females. The source of the vitamin appears independent of the effect.[42][verification needed]
[edit] Chance of overdose
As discussed previously, vitamin C generally exhibits low toxicity. The LD50 (the dose that will kill 50% of a population) is generally accepted to be 11900 milligrams per kilogram in rat populations.[43] Vitamin C proponent Dr. Robert Cathcart M.D. reports that he has used intravenous doses of 60 grams, with simultaneous oral doses of unspecified amount, with no adverse effects.[7]

[edit] Conflicts with prescription drugs
Pharmaceuticals designed to reduce stomach acid, such as the proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), are among the most widely-sold drugs in the world. One PPI, omeprazole (Prilosec), has been found to lower the bioavailability of vitamin C by 12%, independent of dietary intake. The probable mechanism of vitamin C reduction, intragastric pH elevated into alkalinity, would apply to all other PPI drugs, though not necessarily to doses of PPIs low enough to keep the stomach slightly acidic.[44]

[edit] Potential harmful effects
Some test-tube experiments have interpreted that Vitamin C may have possible adverse effects on decomposition of lipid peroxides[45] in nonviable in vivo quantities and conditions[46] and inhibit caspase-8 dependent apoptosis.[47] In April 1998 the journal Nature reported pro-oxidant effects of excessive doses of vitamin C / ascorbic acid.[48] The effects were noted in test tube experiments and on only two of the 20 markers of free radical damage to DNA. They have not been supported by further evidence from living organisms.[46]
In June 2004, Duke University researchers reported an increased susceptibility to osteoarthritis in guinea pigs fed a diet high in vitamin C. However, a 2003 study at Umeå University in Sweden, found that "the plasma levels of vitamin C, retinol and uric acid were inversely correlated to variables related to rheumatoid arthritis disease activity."
A speculated increased risk of kidney stones may be a side effect of taking vitamin C in larger than normal amounts (more than 1 gram). The potential mechanism of action is through the metabolism of vitamin C to dehydroascorbic acid, which is then metabolized to oxalic acid,[49] a known constituent of kidney stones. However, this oxalate issue is still controversial, with evidence being presented for[50] and against[51] the possibility of this side effect.
"Rebound scurvy" is a theoretical, never observed, condition that could occur when daily intake of vitamin C is rapidly reduced from a very large amount to a relatively low amount. Advocates suggest this is an exaggeration of the rebound effect which occurs because ascorbate-dependent enzyme reactions continue for 24–48 hours after intake is lowered, and use up vitamin C which is not being replenished.
Some writers[52] have identified a risk of poor copper absorption from high doses of vitamin C. Ceruloplasmin levels seem specifically lowered by high vitamin C intake. In one study, 600 milligrams of vitamin C daily led to lower ceruloplasmin levels similar to those caused by copper deficiency.[53] In another, ceruloplasmin levels were significantly reduced.[54]
Some alternative medicine proponents suggest that doses of around 6-10 grams per day of vitamin C can induce an abortion in women under 4 weeks of pregnancy.[55] This is based on evidence that high-dose vitamin C increases estrogen levels that may contribute to abortion in early-stage pregnancy, and that these properties have been demonstrated in laboratory animals.[56] This theory however is in direct opposition to Dr. Klenner's claim that there were no miscarries in over 300 consecutive pregnant patients who received 3g to 6g per day of Vitamin C,[57] whereby Dr. Klenner concluded that failure to use this agent in sufficient amounts in pregnancy borders on malpractice.

As has been brought out earlier, Ellen White never advocated a zero-tolerance policy for medicines. It is important to be balanced, she said, so that "health reform" does not become "health deform."

By the use of poisonous drugs, many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing. The poisons contained in many so-called remedies create habits and appetites that mean ruin to both soul and body. Many of the popular nostrums called patent medicines, and even some of the drugs dispensed by physicians, act a part in laying the foundation of the liquor habit, the opium habit, the morphine habit, that are so terrible a curse to society. 152 {CCh 105.3}
Drug medication, as it is generally practiced, is a curse. Educate away from drugs. Use them less and less, and depend more upon hygienic agencies; then nature will respond to God's physicians—pure air, pure water, proper exercise, a clear conscience. Those who persist in the use of tea, coffee, and flesh meats will feel the need of drugs, but many might recover without one grain of medicine if they would obey the laws of health. Drugs need seldom be used. 153 {CCh 105.4}