How to Protect Yourself and Your Family During the Swine Flu (A/H1N1virus) Season

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By rnmassage
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How to wash your hands

Swine Flu has been in the news since 1976 when an Army recruit at Fort Dix reported that he was ill and then 24 hours later had died. Swine Flu History
Since then swine flu has been feared as a global pandemic killing millions of people targeting mostly the young and older Americans.
Here we are now in 2009 with the scare of swine flu still facing us, and new vaccines are out that are supposed to help protect us. But how can we take a more active role in protecting ourselves and our families.
We should not travel to countries where there is an outbreak of the swine flu. Mexico is one country that is being hit hard with this strain of flu. There are many other countries also you should avoid, searching Countries with swine flu outbreaks on the internet will quickly show you the countries with the most cases and which ones to avoid.
Unfortunately the United States is also included in the list, and we can't avoid being in our own country as we go about our daily lives and routines.
So how can we best protect ourselves?

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Our best protection is common sense, which is something our mothers tried to instill into us as we were growing up.
The number one thing you can do is wash your hands. Wash your hands often, and wash your hands well. I have included a resource below to show you how to wash your hands effectively.
Washing your hands will not only help protect you from the swine flu, it is also the number one recommended thing you can do to protect yourself against the common cold and many other illnesses.
You should wash your hands with warm soapy water, making sure to wash in between your fingers and your wrists. A good way to time yourself is to sing Happy Birthday or Row Row Row your boat while you are washing.
Antibacterial soaps have become popular in recent years, but studies show that they are no more effective than just plain old soap and warm water.
Step 2

Alcohol based hand sanitizers are also very good at killing germs on our hands. Keep a bottle in your car or purse for quick sanitizing after a trip to the store or library. Most of the new alcohol based sanitizers have added ingredients to prevent your skin from drying out. The CDC recommends that the sanitizer be at least 60% alcohol to be effective.
Step 3

Sneezing and coughing are great ways to spread lots of germs. When you sneeze or cough, you should do so in the crook of your arm keeping the germs away from your hands. The flu and colds are very easily spread from person to person through the air, and keeping them covered in your arm helps keep others around you healthy.
Step 4

Shaking hands is a common show of greeting throughout this country and world. Go to church on Sunday and you will find hands held out to you from all sides. We meet a colleague at work and the first thing held out is a handshake of greeting. All of this contact of hands is the perfect way to spread germs. It's time at least for now during the flu season, to come up with alternative ways of greeting friends and colleagues. Perhaps a pat on the back or if you need to touch hands, bumping your fists together is a viable alternative.
My personal thoughts are that we should remove handshaking as an accepted form of greeting to history and come up with a good alternative, maybe just a smile and a genuine "hello" should be sufficient. After all we face the flu season every year and the common cold never goes away.
Step 5

Other ways to protect ourselves is to avoid crowds and don't touch your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands. Germs are spread very easily this way.
When sick avoid contact with others as much as possible.
Follow the advice of public health officials regarding school closings.
Get a flu vaccination on a regular basis, this may or may not protect you 100% but it can help reduce the effects of flu on your body if you do get sick.
Step 6

If we all would practice good hygiene, washing hands, sneezing and coughing into our arms and minimizing our personal contact with others, we will be a healthier nation and perhaps we can avoid swine flu in our homes during this major outbreak of the swine flu in this country.