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Help! We are all going to die (or how to prevent catching Swine Flu)
It is becoming quite clear that the recent outbreaks of Swine Flu are a bit more problematic than the average winter flu epidemics. Before you go to an online Canadian pharmacy to stock up on illegally imported (and often expired) Tamiflu, there are a couple of things you can do to prevent catching this nasty disease.
The most important thing is the most logical - wash your hands. It sounds so simple, but especially for those of us that travel, it is now more important than ever to keep your hands clean. Thankfully, the TSA rules for liquids means you can find travel size bottles of hand sanitizer at every drug store.
The CDC has published an article with some basic information with the hilariously 50's PSA name "Swine Flu and you".
The article describes the symptoms, what to do when you are infected and their own tips for preventing catching the disease:
- First and most important: wash your hands.
- Try to stay in good general health (Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress)
- Drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.
- Try not to touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick (and use it as an excuse to stay away from annoying co-workers).
View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map
Map legend:
- Pink markers are suspect
- Purple markers are confirmed
- Deaths lack a dot in marker
- Yellow markers are negative
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hal Apr 27th 2009 12:01PM
I read this morning that some think the strain shows a weaponized aspect to the virus. I don't know how true it is but you can read it here: http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4631.shtml
I thought it interesting this morning how the markets around the world have been reacting to the news by selling off. Though the financial markets don’t seem to be to concerned by it now. DOW opened down but is up now by 33 points and gold and silver are holding steady judging by the widget ( http://www.learcapital.com/exactprice ).
Of course if this flu does start popping up all over the place this week though, you can expect the markets to get real scared. So people, wash your hands and carry around some of that antiseptic hand wash stuff.
pmurray Apr 30th 2009 2:06PM
Hand sanitizers are indeed effective. And teaching proper hand hygiene to schoolchildren is one of the most sensible, practical things to do right now.
That's why we'll be giving out over 400,000 free samples of Sani-Hands for Kids tomorrow at various locations throughout NYC. Our hand wipes kill 99.99% of germs and have been proven more effective than gels.