Red Cross Blogs

That snot the way to avoid swine flu

By Mark Cox
July 16, 2009 at 10:23 am

Despite swine flu recently reaching pandemic status, it strikes me that much of the great British public still isn’t very well informed about the virus. (For the record: yes, it can make you very ill and even prove fatal. No, you don’t grow a curly tail and get a sudden hankering to roll around in mud. Not yet, anyway.)

So, what should we all be doing to ensure we remain germ-free and safe? According to the Department of Health website: ‘preventing the spread of germs is the single most effective way to slow the spread of diseases such as swine flu’. Here’s some top tips for keeping clean and healthy:

1. Wash your hands
You know, regularly. With soap and everything. Also, think more along the lines of surgeon-having-vigorous-soapy-scrub-before-major-operation rather than the customary swishing your hands under the tap for three seconds.

2. Learn to sneeze properly
If you don’t have tissues on hand to cover your mouth and nose, always sneeze into the crease of your elbow. This apparent no-brainer, routinely taught even to primary schoolchildren nowadays, seemingly remains a mystery to much of the British public. Including, it would appear, the sniffling woman on my crowded train this morning who coughed a good lungful of phlegm into the palm of her hand before once more grabbing on to a hand rail with her damp, lurgy paw. Good going there, missus.

3. Place used tissues in a bin as soon as possible
You know that used-tissue pyramid you’ve been building? Not a good idea. Also, clean surfaces regularly to get rid of germs.

4. Get some ‘flu friends’
It’s a good idea to establish a network of friends and relatives who could step in and help – for example, collecting medicines and bringing round food – should you develop swine flu symptoms and become ill. Obviously, don’t encourage them to hang around your virus-strewn pad, touching all the surfaces and chewing used tissues, but having people on hand to drop stuff off at your sickbed could be very useful.

If you want to know a little more, the British Red Cross has also prepared some useful information regarding the bug.

It’s also worth remembering that, in the vast majority of cases, picking up the bug simply means spending an unproductive week or two feeling groggy and nauseous – much like someone on a Club 18-30 holiday, only with tissues. I know of four people in London – friends of friends – who have recently had the bug and recovered quickly. Does anyone out there in the great blogosphere have any swine flu tales or experiences to share?

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Tags: children, disease, Emergencies, FACE, logo, london, People, public, red cross, surgeon, swine flu, swishing, UK, UN

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under Emergencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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