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There has been a (so far small) outbreak of the swine flu virus in the Brisbane, Gold Coast region of Australia. As a concerned citizen of this beautiful area, I would like to know how to avoid catching it, and what local authorities are doing to prevent it from spreading further...

9 comments:

genious said...

The symptoms of swine flu
Symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of seasonal flu and typically include a feverish illness, cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite and muscle aches. Some people have reported diarrhoea and vomiting. In young children, warning signs include fast or troubled breathing, a bluish skin tone and irritability.
Testing has shown that it can be treated with the anti-viral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zamanivir (Relenza), which stop the virus from replicating inside your body. To be most effective, they should be taken less than two days after you first develop symptoms.
• Avoid contact with other people as much as possible
• Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, using a tissue when possible
• Dispose of dirty tissues promptly and carefully
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water to reduce the spread of the virus from your hands to your face or to other people
• Clean hard surfaces, such as door handles or telephones, regularly using a normal cleaning product
make sure your children follow the same advice.
If you’ve developed symptoms, wearing a mask can help prevent you passing the infection onto others. If you’re healthy, however, there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that wearing one will prevent you from catching the virus. If you do decide to wear a face mask, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly when you take it off and dispose of it straight away. Reusing a face mask can increase the risk of self-contamination.
Monitor your health for seven days, but you don’t need to be isolated from other people. If you develop a feverish illness during that time, along with any of the other symptoms listed above, contact your doctor
If your doctor decides further investigation is needed, he or she will advise you on what to do. You may have to go to hospital for tests, but most people are well enough to stay at home. Make sure you avoid contact with other people as much as possible until the results of your tests are back. People who live with you should also monitor their health and follow the above advice if they start to develop symptoms.

Zelda Hunter said...

US citizen here, so I can only answer the first half of your question.
Most precautions are common sense:
Avoid crowded public places if you can. Wash your hands frequently. Do not put your hands in your mouth or nose. Cover up when you sneeze. Keep yourself healthy and your immune system in good shape. Taking some zinc lozenges and Vitamin C to help boost it. If you travel abroad, get a prescription for some anti-viral medicine and take it with you. If you get sick, stay home, get well and avoid contact with other people. If you get any kind of flu this time of year, take your anti-viral meds or go to the doctor to get some. Hopefully the doctor can phone it in.

desireen said...

wash your hands.....its the same thing you do to not catch the regular flu which is the same as the swine flu but a different form of the virus no more dangerous than the regular flu...believe me no reason to freak in the US 36,000 people die of the flu each year (mostly the very young very old or very immune suppressed such as those with HIV or those on immune suppressing drugs) the "swine" flu will add no more to the regular number. Just treat it like the regular flu with rest lots of fluids and if you are throwing up a lot or having a lot of diarrhea you should go to the hospital...that's it no big deal take care

Shorty said...

FLU IS FLU!!!
H1N1 swine flu is one more strain of flu. It sounds really scary because it originally came from pigs, and that creates some mystery around it. It also sounds scary because we don't have any vaccine to protect those who are most vulnerable.
But it behaves like other flus. We catch it the same way, and we can protect ourselves the same ways. We can make choices to protect ourselves and our families.
Do you fear the seasonal flu? Probably not. And this flu is really no more frightening than seasonal flu. Seasonal flu takes tens of thousands of lives each year. Deaths from H1N1 swine flu have not approached those of seasonal flu.
BUT this strain of influenza is susceptible to antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), which are both FDA-approved drugs that reduce the duration of disease.

Peter C said...

the swine flu is getting a hold of all australia at the moment.You can avoid catching it by keeping hands clean a bottle of that detol hand gel is good, a mask will stop you getting swine flu but they look a bit silly, the site below has heaps of information pertaining to the swine flu outbreak in australia
pc

Just Be said...

Hand washing is the best protection but many not in health care do not know how to really wash their hands to be truly safe. Below I posted a video that show the proper technique. Yet, even with hand washing the flu is an airborne virus. Any one coughing or sneezing will spread the virus thru the air.
The deaths from the flu in 1918 where not as much from the flu itself as from the secondary infections as a result of the flu. Antibiotics were not widely available then, so when people came down with pneumonia as a result of the flu they were already weakened & succumbed. Today, antibiotics are much more available so I encourage everyone to not panic or see a repeat of history in the making.
Many Blessings!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzmYGifo5...

essentia said...

not catching it is up to the individual, the local authorities have no control over viruses. To avoid it, wash your hands frequently, do not touch your face without first washing your hands and avoid crowds.

Val said...

Take lots and lots of vitamin C. http://www.ash-info.com/ASH%20RESEARCH%2...
Read all of it. It's pretty damning. Keep well. :)
Practicing Shaman... quantum physics rocks.

Smartphone Software said...

Avoid other people. Just get your flue injection each year and hope for the best.

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