Dear Parents,

Dr. Gouri Sastry,a std. 9 parent. , MD, MPH (PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT), and Consultant to Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, has sent us some more practical measures.

Nalini Sengupta

HOW TO BEST PROTECT YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY
AND OTHER FELLOW CITIZENS FROM THE SWINE FLU (H1N1)

Educated easy steps that you can take yourself to guard against swine flu (h1n1):

First of all, please know that the symptoms of influenza A (H1N1) are no different from that of the regular human ‘flu. This being the season of ‘flu in Pune, there may be many of us who might feel the symptoms of the ‘flu.

Therefore, PLEASE DO NOT PANIC! By panicking, you lose your sense of reason and any epidemic gets worse if people panic!

NOTE:

The H1NI1 strain of ‘flu, that is currently doing its rounds, is a mild variant and is usually NOT FATAL!

There is reason to believe that persons born before 1957 are relatively more protected to this disease, but still need to keep watch!

DO THE FOLLOWING:

Among household members (includes family, friends, relatives and those who visit your household (for work)

Keep a close watch for the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Nose block/stuffy nose
• Body aches
• Headache
• Chills and fatigue

Infants in the family (<1 year old)

in addition to all of the above symptoms

• irritability
• inability to feed,
• vomiting

Take Note of

• if any of member(s) of your family has travelled abroad within last 10 days.
• if you have had any visitors from outside of India in the last 10 days?
• if any of them had any of the symptoms of ‘flu?
• What happened to their symptoms afterwards?

If the answer is YES to any of the symptoms then

The affected person must:

• Stay home, take rest and try to be as isolated as possible.
• Drink plenty of fluids
• wear a mask.
• Keep a distance of 6 feet to reduce transmission of infection through coughing or sneezing
• Use disposable tissues if possible for cleaning nose and dispose used tissues in the trash
• Clean your hands each time you touch your nose/secretions from your mouth/nose.
• or use a hand sanitizer each time. Or else just wash your hands with soap and water. This has to be done meticulously EACH time!
• If you must use a hanky, put away the hanky each time in your pocket and clean your hands EACH time as above. Wash the clothes and hanky with detergent as usual.
• When you cough use a tissue or cough into your own sleeve while covering your mouth.
• Treat with Crocin for fever (>100⁰F) as and when required. This will help with the fever and body pain or headache.
• Treat cold and cough with antihistamines – ‘Crocin Cold and ‘Flu’ can treat all symptoms of ‘flu.

Do not use any aspirin for fever.

This is the general rule for ALL viral infections, not just in this era of H1NI1. It can lead to some dangerous complications.

For treatment of children

• try to talk to your paediatricians.
• It is better if you would do so on the phone. Remember that going to a crowded clinic/hospital facility also increases your exposure to any disease including H1N1.
• Clean toys, surfaces and articles of affected individuals with bleach or alcohol. Wash your hands with soap and water after doing this.
• It is well-known that an untreated cold last for 7 days while a treated one lasts a week! (No difference at all as you can see!)

But if symptoms last for more than 4 days or if you think symptoms are worsening do contact your doctor for ruling out further infection or H1NI1

NOTE:

• The affected family member and other members/contacts of the affected family member are ‘in quarantine’.
  
• They are obligated to stay at home and avoid contact with all other individuals for a period of 7 days – this is the duration of infectivity of the ‘flu.
  
• Even if the affected member in the family does not have the swine ‘flu, they should stay home for 7 days, counted from the day they started showing the symptoms.

If symptoms last longer than 7 days, they should stay home until they have been symptom-free for at least 24-hours.

IN GENERAL (during the epidemic)

• Stay at home as much as possible.
• Specifically, stay away from closed, overcrowded and indoor spaces such as cinemas, malls, enclosed shops, restaurants, classrooms and overcrowded places, wherever they might be e.g. overcrowded closed lifts etc. NOTE: Even with a mask it is not advisable to go to such places.
• Don’t visit friends, family or have any of them over to your house until the epidemic has subsided. Children should not be sent for tuitions/art/sport classes till the epidemic dies out.
• If you MUST to go out, please USE A MASK.
  

(A routine surgical mask is more than sufficient and will protect transmission of germs from an infected person (recent scientifically proven data) – it does NOT HAVE TO BE ONLY THE N95 masks that you are hearing about on TV!)

Doing all the above is our duty as human beings in the interest of public health. It is definitely in our own interest and that of our loved ones! Be a good citizen and do your duty by passing on this message to our less fortunate and less educated community members! Let us all cooperate in an educated and coordinated manner to put an end to this epidemic!