Hygiene is still the best defense against viruses and experts are again raising the alarm for simple yet effective precautionary measures that minimizes the chances of infection, especially for us social creatures who enjoy company of others that can carry such nasty surprises. Hand washing especially in public places where physical contact is assured is indeed a good way to protect yourself. Face masks are effective only if they are worn at all times and if everybody uses them. In the home, proper sanitation of all surfaces that are touched frequently is also a key to preventing the disease form spreading. Once a proper vaccine has been developed, they will allow us to deal better with the disease to train our immune system with a weakened form of the virus that lets it know how to deal with it best and shrug it off as a known invader. Continue reading “Hygiene – Best Flu Defense”
The rash of flu outbreaks that has been the topic of warnings by scientists ad other health workers for some time has become more of a truth with the developments that are now sweeping the world in terms of pandemic proportions. The scourge the bird-flu is exacting on the population of this earth continues to ravage people’s lives then in comes the new Swine flu epidemic that has seemingly met forecasts/predictions in the speed at which it started to spread all over the world in the span of a few months. It started with a boy who got sick from a small Mexican town, seemingly form a rare form of flu that was unknowingly obtained from pigs that in poor countries shared close proximity in terms of living spaces to their owners. He gets sick, taken to the local clinic and then infects everybody there spreading the disease to the capital of Mexico then to the whole world. Continue reading “The Common Flu – Not so Common at All!”
Washing your hands properly can help a lot in preventing diseases. Is there a proper way of washing one�s hands you ask? Apparently there is:
1. Wet hands under clean running and, if possible, warm water (i.e. faucet) and apply soap. Although regular hand soap will do, there are also anti-bacterial soaps in the market.
2. Make a lather by rubbing hands together and scrub all surfaces thoroughly. By this we mean from 15 to 20 seconds.
3. Rinse hands, again under running water. Make sure that they are squeaky clean.
4. Dry hands using a paper towel or a hand dryer.
5. There are alcohol based hand sanitizers also available in the market. You may use this instead if soap and clean water are not available. Just apply a few drops on the palm. Rub hands together until they feel dry.
Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention
