Ask Your Family Doctor
By: Stephanie Frisbie, MD - Sophia Meyer Family Medicine

Question: How can I protect myself against “swine flu”?
“Swine flu” or H1N1 is a viral infection that is currently very prevalent in our local area. The symptoms include fever, cough, nasal congestion, body aches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It is acquired like any other viral infection, by coming into contact with infected respiratory secretions. This can happen if someone sneezes on you, or you touch a shopping cart that was just used by an infected individual as examples. The best way to protect your self is to avoid coming in contact with infected individuals. This means avoiding obviously ill people and crowded places where you know you will come in contact with them like shopping centers at highly crowded times or schools. For most of us, this is not a practical approach since we have to work and live our lives. So the next best approach is to wash our hands often, use hand sanitizer and avoid touching our faces with our hands as much as possible. Should we all be wearing surgical masks like they did in Mexico during their outbreak? No, that is somewhat overkill. The other important thing to do is to keep your immune system at tip top condition by eating healthy, avoiding stress, getting adequate amounts of sleep and taking a multivitamin. And the last thing to do is to get your flu shot when it is available. This does not necessarily protect you from the swine flu, but it does protect you from the regular flu.

Question: Is there a cure for the swine flu if I do get it?
No, there is not a specific cure for the swine flu just like there is not a specific cure for the regular flu. These are viral infections that will have to run their course no matter what we do, lasting usually 7-10 days. Antibiotics do not have an affect on the flu or any other viral infection. There are some antiviral medications that are available that can decrease the severity and the duration of the illness if they are started early, i.e. within 24-48hours. After that time, they have very little affect. The main treatment is plenty of rest and fluids as well as symptomatic treatment including cough medications, nasal decongestants, anti-nausea medications and anti-inflammatories for the body aches. The antiviral medications are usually reserved for those people at high risk of secondary complications. If secondary complications occur from the flu, i.e. pneumonia, sinus infections, dehydration, respiratory failure, these can be treated with antibiotic, IV fluids and supportive care. Most healthy individuals will come through any flu infection without any problems, although they will definitely be uncomfortable during the illness. The most important thing that anyone who thinks they have the flu to do is to stay home and avoid contaminating their coworkers, family and classmates.

Question: Who is at high risk?
Anyone can get the swine flu or the regular flu but high risk individuals tend to develop more complications that can be quite serious. As with other viral infections, these include those individuals with poor immune systems. This means the very young, the very old, and those with other health problems that decrease their immune system, like cancer, diabetes, asthma, pregnancy and heart disease. Other people that are on the list include those that care for those at risk including health care workers and care givers of the very young, the elderly, and sick individuals. These are the people that should be treated with the antiviral medications at the first sign of illness. These are also the people that will be first on the list to receive the upcoming swine flu vaccine that is scheduled to be available in mid to late October. This vaccine with be distributed through the health departments, hospitals and some private clinics. This is a separate vaccine from the annual flu vaccine that is already available. The one does not protect against the other illness, so each individual should receive both vaccines, especially if at high risk.

Question: Should I be afraid or is this all media hype?
There is no reason to be afraid to go out of your house. At this point, the H1N1 flu is not the end all and there are not bodies lying in the streets! It is serious enough that people need to be smart and take these simple precautions. If you do this, then you and your family will come through the flu season just fine.