Stay Healthy - Limit the spread of germs and prevent infection
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and throw the tissue away immediately.
- Teach your children to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues, and be sure to model that behavior.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.
- Teach your children to wash hands frequently with soap and water, and model the behavior.
- If you get the flu, stay home from work, school, and social gatherings.
- Teach your children to stay away from others as much as possible if they are sick.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Try not to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs often spread this way.
- Regularly disinfect faucets, doorknobs, handles, counters, and common household items with bleach or other powerful disinfectant.
Vaccines and Antiviral Medications
(See http://www.panemicflu.gov/vaccine for the latest information)
Vaccines are used to protect people from contracting a virus once a particular threat is identified. After an individual has been infected by a virus, a vaccine generally cannot help fight it. Because viruses change over time, a specific pandemic influenza vaccine cannot be produced until a pandemic influenza virus emerges and is identified. Once a pandemic influenza virus has been identified, it will likely take four to six months to develop, test, and begin producing a vaccine.
A number of antiviral drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat and prevent seasonal influenza. Some of these antiviral medications may be effective in treating pandemic influenza symptoms. These drugs may help prevent infection in people at risk and shorten the duration of symptoms in those infected with pandemic influenza. However, it is unlikely that antiviral medications alone would effectively contain the spread of pandemic influenza. The federal government is stockpiling antiviral medications that would most likely be used in the early stages of an influenza pandemic and working to develop new antiviral medications. These drugs are available by prescription only.