Toronto Health

Many of you have heard about the Swine Flu that has been going around, and you are wondering about how to protect yourself and your family against the Swine Flu Pandemic.  Many of you may not know exactly what the Swine Flu is, or even how it originated. Right now we will go over some of the basics about Swine Flu.

The scientific name for Swine Flu is the H1N1. This virus began in 2009 where it first began to infect people with this illness. It started in April 2009. The virus was spreading world wide exactly the same way that the influenza would have spread. Since the H1N1 is considered to be a variation of the influenza. On June 11, 2009 the WHO, World Health Organization, put up the red flag signaling that the Swine Flu is now known as an epidemic.

You may be wondering why the H1N1 virus is often referred to as the Swine Flu. This is quite simple to explain. They did several laboratory tests that showed that this influenza showed similar genes to influenza that commonly affects the swine, pigs, of North America. They did some further laboratory studies and they have found that this virus has both genes from two different influenza’s combined. The influenza was found to be from the swine in North America, and has also been found in the avis, which means bird, from Asia. We have heard of the bird flu before right.

Scientists call this virus a Quadruple Reassortant due to the fact that there are multiple variations of the virus that are combined together.

Now we will go over some of the ways that you can protect yourself, and your family, from the swine flu.

The first tip which is possibly the most important tip you can get to prevent from any illness would be to wash your hands constantly. Wash them after you have touched something that several other people have touched.

You should also cover your mouth when coughing, not with your hands, but with the crook of your arm since you will be touching things. That way if you might have happen to have it then you will not spread it to any one else on purpose.

If any way possible try to avoid touching your eyes, your mouth, or your nose since this is the way that virus’s are spread. Also another obvious tip I can give you is to try to stay away from sick people, because you can sometimes get it from them if they have it plus it would be an extra precaution for you to observe.

If you are running a fever the CDC recommends that you take it easy, and stay at home until your fever is gone. Unless you are going outside to seek some form of medical assistance. Since this would be very inconsiderate of you to do during this time of epidemic.

You should follow some of the public health advice in trying to avoid places with lots of people in that area. This would mean that someone in the vicinity of you might have the virus.

You should be prepared just in case that you do get sick since you will have to be isolated for about a week or so. Plan ahead by always having a week plus amount of food and amenities located in your home. Don’t forget to bulk up on that toilet paper because you might be in for a surprise then. You should have a supply of over the counter medications, hand sanitizers but make sure that these are alcohol based, and even tissues. If you think about it there should a whole list of things that you should locate and purchase for that just in case situation.

Now you know a little bit more on how to protect yourself from the swine flu, and even what to do if you were to get the swine flu yourself. Just remember that your health is the number one priority so take precaution wherever possible.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Diseases, Health. 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.