Working World

Swine flu is here, and it’s not going away soon. But why all the hoopla? After all, flu viruses are around every year. To begin, seasonal flu hasn’t gone away just because H1N1 is here. So there’s more confusion and more opportunity to be sick. Luckily, vaccines are available for both; they seem to be reasonably effective, even if immunity takes a few weeks to kick in. You can get both at the same time, so get to the doctor or clinic and get covered. While any flu can kill, H1N1 is hardest on groups that are usually safe: the young (from 6 months to 24 years) and pregnant and newly delivered women.

Remember some simple prevention ideas:

• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers and wipes are a good thing. Seventy percent alcohol is the minimum.

• Don’t frown when people cough into their elbows or shoulders instead of covering their mouths with their hands. Fewer viral particles escape to the surrounding air this way, since the fabric serves as a trap.

• The rule is one sneeze, one tissue. This is no time to be frugal.

• Forget hugs, kisses and handshakes, and, if you can, crowds.

• Yes, you can pick up the bug from doorknobs, telephones, elevator buttons and the like.
    
How do you know it’s a cold and not the flu? The common cold won’t usually cause a fever and is not accompanied by intestinal difficulties in adults. Both can make you feel like a wet noodle, but severe aches are a hallmark of influenza.  

Prior to writing on employment issues, Elizabeth Hanink worked as a telephone operator, library aide and as a nurse.