Attempts to ward off H1N1 sent a local hair salon owner scrambling for onions.

Seven bags of onions.

Katie Hornung, owner of The Classic Cut Day Spa, 432 Prospect Ave., North Fond du Lac, said one of her employees saw the e-mail that has been circulating about the benefits of onions.

The story goes that a flu epidemic in 1919 killed 40 million people. When a doctor visited farmers to see if he could help, he learned that everyone was healthy at the home of one of the farmers.

“When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different (from the others), the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home…” according to the e-mail.

The doctor reportedly asked for one of the onions and when he placed a section of it under a microscope, he found the flu virus absorbed in the onion.

“We were all kind of laughing about it,” Hornung said. “(But) if it’s all in our head and it works — so what.”

Yellow onions are hidden around the salon, that is now decked out in Christmas décor.

There are two larger onions in a wicker basket under the receptionist desk.

Classic Cut employee Jane Barr said she brought the e-mail to work after her daughter, Mandy Galligan, received it.

Galligan’s 2½-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, received an H1N1 flu shot on the advice of a pediatrician who said she was in the high-risk group because she was born prematurely.

“I’m glad she got it,” said Barr, adding that Nevaeh’s baby sister, Maliyah, 3½ months, is too young for any vaccination.
Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Diane Cappozzo said she has not seen anything to substantiate the benefits of placing uncooked onions around a room, but she said it probably isn’t harmful.

The flu virus is spread through droplets.

“They’re (droplets) not suspended in the air for indefinite periods of time,” Cappozzo said.

Biologists say it’s highly unlikely that onions could attract flu virus, but Cappozzo said people shouldn’t discount the psychological boost from a purported alternative remedy such as onions or garlic.

“I always say, ‘If you think you’re going to get sick from the flu vaccine, you will,’” said Cappozzo, noting that there is “a lot to be said for the psyche.”

Classic Cut employee Nicole Zalewski, said she’s optimistic that onions will keep her and her family healthy.

She even brought one to her brother’s college dorm room. Never mind the strange looks from his roommate.

“Hey, if I don’t’ get sick,” Zalewski said, “I’m going to believe in the onion.”