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Pandemic Flu Prevention:
Simple steps you can take to help prevent sickness and passing flu to others. (Part 5)
PREVENTING viral infection spread - important tips
Downloads as PDF's are available on the left-hand side.
Prevention is the best cure and there are a few simple things you can do to protect yourself against viral attacks.
- Hand-washing is important as is staying out of the line of sneezes and covering your mouth if you do sneeze or cough.
- An annual flu shot (vaccine) doesn't protect against the swine flu or bird-flu strain, H1, but
can be protective against other strains that are more common and could help you
better fight H1 straines if you do catch them. You should also consider getting a pneumonia
shot (details on our Pneumonia page).
- Maintain good body resistance through balanced diet, regular exercise,
adequate rest, reducing stress and no smoking.
- Stay home if you get sick. This helps stop the spread of flu.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs are often spread when a
person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches their
eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs can live for a long time (some can live for 2 hours
or more) on surfaces like doorknobs, desks, and tables.
- Observe good personal and environmental hygiene. In other words, keep clean
and be clean.
- Some limits on travel to countries that have more serious outbreaks of
flu is recommended - for instance, visits to pig and poultry farms there are
discouraged.
- Have an emergency supply on hand of food, water, batteries, soap, toilet
paper, medications and other
necessities for your family to live in isolation in the
event of a serious outbreak of flu.
- Families also should develop a plan for who would be contacted through what
telephone numbers or e-mail if an outbreak did occur and where the family would
seek treatment. (More about this in our Family Planning
section.)
- Avoid touching live pigs, birds and poultry and their droppings. If you have been
in contact with live pigs, birds and poultry, wash your hands thoroughly with liquid
soap and water immediately.
- Pigs, poultry and eggs should be washed and cooked thoroughly before eating.
Health authorities say the H5N1 avian flu virus is very sensitive to heat.
- If you have a cough, cover your mouth. If you sneeze, cover your mouth. If you
have a cold, cover your mouth when close to people. In all cases, wash your hands
regularly and do not infect others.
- If you have a restaurant or farm, work directly with certified farmers and follow strict standards
set by government and the World Health Organization.
- If you have symptoms of influenza (fever plus a cough, sore throat or
trouble breathing), consult
a doctor.
- Tell your doctor the following: 1) your symptoms,
2) where you traveled, and 3) if you have had direct contact with animals or
close contact with a severely ill person.
- Do not travel while ill, unless you are seeking medical care. Limiting contact
with others as much as possible can help prevent the spread of an infectious
illness.
- When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes
or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and
drugstores. If using a gel, rub the gel in your hands until they are dry. The
gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in the gel kills germs that cause
colds and the flu.
- If you get the flu, get plenty of rest, drink a lot of liquids, and avoid using alcohol and tobacco. Also, you can take medications such as acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol?) to relieve the fever and muscle aches associated with the flu. Never give aspirin to children or teenagers who have flu-like symptoms, particularly fever.
Sources: WHO, Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC),
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Nature,
British Medical Journal (BMJ), The Lancet, EU Department of Health, news reports.
Poll Results: Our
Quick Poll for June asked, "Would you allow yourself to be a human trial
of a bird flu vaccine?"
Yes : 13.3%
No : 86.7%
Some 1400 votes from various countries.
Next: » Definitions for H1, swine and avian or bird influenza (page 7)
All Articles in this series:
» 1) Pandemic Flu and me - facts, risks, can I get it and can I stop it?
» 2) Basics on Pandemic Flu - What it is, history, what is a pandemic?
» 3) How is human influenza A (H1) and Pneumonia treated?
» 4) Pets and Animals - Can my dog or cat get H5N1, symptoms?
» 5) Summary - what are the plans, costs and what can I do?
» 6) Preventing viral infection spread - important tips.
» 7) Definitions for H1, swine and avian or bird influenza.
Video Presentation:
(via YouTube) (7 min)
Symptoms Of
Swine Flu,
CBS interview with a family and Dr.
Jennifer Ashton outlining the symptoms of swine flu. (Opens in a new window.)