Prevention Is Preferred To Treatment. Cover Coughs And Sneezes And Throw Away Any Soiled Tissues. Avoid Touching Others And Touching Your Eyes, Nose, Mouth.
This is the season for getting back into winter boots and shoes and for taking extra care of your feet. You probably are familiar with common foot problems like athlete’s foot, corns and calluses, but taking care of your feet includes avoiding the use of contaminated manicure equipment in salons as well as at home. Next month we’ll give you some information that both men and women can use.
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You’ve certainly heard about H1N1 influenza and you know that you need to take precautions — cover sneezes and coughs, avoid close personal contact, stay home if ill, wash your hands routinely or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Commonly called “the flu,” influenza is caused by viruses which are classified as type A, B, or C depending upon their physical characteristics. The viruses are tiny spheres anywhere from 50 to 120 nanometres in size. To put this in perspective, a nanometre is a billionth of a metre, or a thousandth of a micron. A strand of your hair is about 50 microns in width, so if you divide a strand of your hair 50,000 times you would get one nanometre. Flu viruses are very, very tiny!
Type A viruses cause the most common and extensive
outbreaks of the flu. These viruses are further classified depending upon proteins found on their surface. Specifically, they are classified by the presence of hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).
H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 are types of influenza viruses that are present in people. Other types of type A influenza virus infect other animals including birds, pigs, horses and dogs.
H1N1 influenza can infect pigs as well as people and this is the type that is currently in the news. Bird flu or H5N1 is found in birds and doesn’t readily infect people, although cases have been reported among individuals who live closely with birds.
Not only do you need to pay attention to your personal exposure to infected people, but sometimes to infected animals.
Immunization or a flu shot is recommended for people at risk for flu complications. With the flu shot a small amount of the inactivated virus is injected into your body, prompting your immune system to manufacture antibodies to the flu virus.
Then, when you are exposed to the actual virus, the antibodies are able to neutralize the virus before it develops into an infection.
It takes about two weeks for the antibodies to develop and for the flu shot to become effective. Unfortunately, a flu shot is useful for one season only. Viruses are able to change so rapidly, last year’s flu shot isn’t effective against this year’s viruses.
Flu shots are manufactured in eggs, thus if you have an allergy to eggs, you may not be able to use the flu shot.
In most cases, the prime candidates for seasonal flu shots are people 50 or older, nursing home residents, individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes, and health-care workers.
H1N1 flu shots are being developed and because this type of influenza seems to affect younger people, you may see the H1N1 flu shot recommended for children along with the usual candidates. This would mean two flu shots for some people.
Prevention is preferred to treatment. Cover coughs and sneezes and throw away any soiled tissues. Avoid touching others and touching your eyes, nose, mouth.
Wash your hands often, especially after contact with an ill individual. If you do get the flu, stay home until at least 24 hours after your fever is gone.
Also be sure to follow any recommendations or warnings about influenza outbreaks and actions such as school closures. Be careful out there!
Marie Berry is a lawyer/pharmacist interested in health care and education.
