7 Effective Steps to Ward off Swine Flu

In today`s time we all have been listening to the news of recession, bad news about economy and much more. The recent news in the air is about the swine flu. It was reported that Mexican residents wore masks in order to prevent them from being getting infected of this Flu. The Health Department of Mexico stated that more than 1,600 cases were reported suffering from swine flu. Not only Mexico, but swine flu has spread in many other countries as well, and the fear of this Flu is cropping up in the mind of almost everybody.

What is swine flu?

Swine flu is a respiratory disease which affects pigs. This flu crops up due to type A influenza virus. It is normally found in pigs and outbreaks occur in pigs, year-round but deaths are rare. A very few cases gets worse or fatal. This flu does not always infect humans. Very rare cases were found before and even they were only caused due to the direct contact with the pigs. If the flu spreads from person-to-person then it can go on mutating. This makes it really hard to fight against the flu.

Swine flu`s symptoms are same as that of any other common flu like lack of appetite, fever, sore throat, lethargy, headaches, diarrhea, chills, coughing, nausea etc.
Swine can turn out to be a great danger to health as there are no human vaccines available for it. With the use of some common sense can lessen its risk. You should keep in mind the following steps to prevent yourself from this infection.

1. Wear masks - masks are the first and foremost safety measure. If you are living in a surrounding where this flu is or has already taken place then wearing masks will be the smartest thing to do. These masks protect you from the airborne pathogens both ways, that is, it not only protects you from in taking the spread but also covers your mouth at the time when you cough or sneeze.

2. Use Hand Sanitizer - it is inexpensive and most easy way to kill germs that might be sticking on to your hands. We are talking about hands as whatever we do, hands play an important role in that. We greet people and shake hands with them; this may make us more exposed to this flu.

3. Washing you hands - hands should be washed with good anti bacterial soap regularly. It is the most obvious method, but the more it is obvious the more it is missed by people.

4. Personal hygiene - Maintain your personal hygiene by every possible way. Use tissue promptly while you cough or sneeze. This avoids spreading the germs from you or avoids you in taking the germs from the environment. Wash your clothes regularly.

5. Crowded area should be avoided - you will catch swine flu from other human beings. Going out in the crowd will increase your chances of getting caught by this flu because who knows the next person standing to you might be infected by this swine flu.

6. Avoid going to hospitals for visiting patients - A hospital is an area where all the treatments are done. If someone is infected with this swine flu, he will be brought to hospital increasing the chances of spreading the flu at the hospital. So, you should avoid going to hospitals to visit someone there.

7. Check body temperature - check your body temperature regularly as fever is one of the symptoms of swine flu.

Following a good and healthy routine you can prevent yourself from getting infected from this Flu.

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for Polomercantil.