Three simple rules for flu prevention

The chance of getting ill with flu during the winter season is quite big. Whether the influenza vaccine can prevent the flu is really hard to tell. During the 2014/2015 flu season, it was proven that the flu vaccine is not able to provide us the necessary protection from flu. CDC and WHO officialy announced that the flu vaccine is not effective against the new strain of influenza virus H3N2. This led to a large number of patients with influenza during this flu season and s lot of deaths. The effectiveness of influenza vaccine according to CDC is only 23%.

On that statement, the influenza vaccine not being fective, the CDC recommend the use of influenza anti viral medications for prevention and treatment of influenza. Flu anti viral medications can be an extremely powerful weapon in the fight against the flu. They are at most effective, if you start taking them in the first 48 hours in the event of the fisrt flu symptoms. Often, however, the intake of influenza antiviral drugs is slowing.

There are several basic and simple rules that can help us to prevent flu and to stop it from spreading. Flu viruses are spread from person to person mainly through coughing and sneezing. Compliance with certain preventive measures can help us stay healthy.

Here are some simple but effective rules for flu prevention:

1. When coughing or sneezing, follow the “respiratory etiquette” cover your mouth and nose with your hand or better use a tissue that you can throw in the trash afterwards.

2. Avoid close contact with people who seem to have flu symptoms. Do not touch your eyes, mouth or nose before you wash your hands!

A person can be infected with influenza virus from contact with surfaces which have been coughed or sneezed on from already sick people.

3. Enhance your hygiene, by washing your hands more often with soap and warm water, or use hand wipes with disinfectant.

As with other contagious diseases, one of the most important preventive measures to prevent flu is enhanced hygiene, especially frequent hand washing with soap and water. If there are no conditions for washing, use wet tissues or Alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

These three simple rules for the prevention of influenza, can save you a lot of problems. If you know other tips and tricks that can protect people from infection with influenza, please share them in the comments box!

Do you use some of these tips in your daily life?