Teach your children to wash their hands frequently. They should wash their hands:

- After using the bathroom
- Before eating
- After touching things in a store
- After being on public transportation
- After touching objects at school

Here are some ways to make sure that you are hand washing correctly and keeping your hands clean and healthy:

1/ When washing hands, use soap and friction for 20 seconds, then rinse—most people don’t wash long enough!
2/ After washing, moisturize your hands with hand lotion to keep them from becoming dry and cracked—chapped or cracked skin can become a friendly home for bacteria or viruses.
3/Wash your hands after touching money, shopping carts, faucets, drinking fountain handles, door handles, children’s toys, the outside of a car.
4/  If you don’t have soap and water readily available, use an alcohol based hand cleaner. Keep some in your purse, in your desk at work and in the car. This is actually a very effective way to kill virus germs on your hands.
5/ The most common way to acquire the flu is by shaking hands with an infected person or by touching a surface contaminated with virus germs and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Don’t shake hands—or, if you must, wash your hands immediately afterward.

In addition to all the hand washing, keep your nails short and clean under your nails with a file and then scrape them on a bar of soap to get soap under the nails. Then, rinse your nails well.

While it may seem like an annoying activity to keep hand washing all day–don’t dismay!

Washing hands frequently to prevent flu viruses from infecting you is a very effective way to prevent infection. It will be well worth your efforts..

1. Locating the Treatment and Medication

It is important for parents to manage their child’s symptoms through medicines. First and foremost, it is vital to consult with your doctor on what are the best medications to give to your child. Usually, for fever and body aches, a doctor will prescribe over the counter medicines like paracetamol (Calpol), acetaminophen (Children’s Tylenol) or even ibuprofen (Children’s Motrin). These should be administered to the child in the proper doses and at the right times in order to prevent overdosing and any untoward drug reactions. You also pay attention to prevent over medicating your child, always make use of the medicine dropper or dispenser that comes with the medicine. Follow your doctor’s instructions to the letter.

2. Supplying the Essential Nutrients

The flu can drain a child of energy, so that they feel very weak and exhausted, and develop loss of appetite. Consider making fresh fruit and vegetable juice with a juicer. These food items contain all the essential nutrients that a child needs to keep his or her strength up, and help them in fighting the flu.

3. Adequate Rest

While some parents still send their kids to school even if they have the flu so they don’t miss important school days, they are only making their child’s condition worse. Plus, they are allowing the spread of the infection to their kid’s classmates. Instead, let your child stay at home for 2 to 3 days to rest. So that they won’t feel bored lying in bed, you can let them watch their favorite TV shows or movies, give them books or comics to read, or some puzzles and games to keep them entertained.

4. Observe Proper Hydration

Kids need to be hydrated with lots of clear fluids when they have the flu to prevent dehydration. You can give them water, fresh fruit juices, and broths. While some moms recommend giving a sick child popsicles and ice chips, the practice of giving them cold food items should be avoided as these would only irritate the child’s throat.

5. Protecting Family Members from the Flu Infection

If your child is sick with the flu, you need to prevent the infection from spreading to other members in your family. Keep your family away from your sick child or have them wear a face mask. Encourage your sick child to wash his or her hands frequently and wipe down any toys or items that they have handled. Throw away any used tissues in a covered trash can.

While taking care of a child sick with the flu seems like a full time job, just follow the flu tips mentioned above and you are sure to hasten your child’s recovery.

Identification

The most common symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting, although headaches, fever and abdominal cramps can also occur. Symptoms tend to begin one to two days after exposure, and they can last for one to 10 days, depending on which virus caused the illness. Most recover at home without needing treatment, states the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. However, individuals with severe symptoms and those at a higher risk of complications should always seek medical attention.

Water

Avoid fruit juices, soda, coffee and alcohol, all of which can make dehydration worse. If a patient has a dry or sticky mouth, is lethargic, has low blood pressure, low or no urine output, dark yellow urine, no tear production or sunken eyes, dehydration has set in and medical attention should be sought.

Bland Foods

MayoClinic.com recommends sticking to bland foods that are easy to digest so that the intestines can heal. Common choices include soda crackers, toast, gelatin, bananas, rice and chicken. Since each case is different, certain foods may not be right in all cases. Diary products are harder to digest and usually need to be avoided.

Fruits and Vegetables

The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends slowly adding healthy food choices. This includes a variety of vegetables, fresh apples, whole-grain cereals and breads, lean meats, plain yogurt and potatoes. Until symptoms resolve, avoid sugary foods and sweets, which can make diarrhea worse. The best bet is prevention, which means proper food handling and washing hands thoroughly after using the toilet.

Stay at home and take rest if you are infected. Take antiviral drugs, namely Tamiflu (oseltamivir) if you are diagnosed with the symptoms. It will prevent virus attack in full swing. Age is a major factor in the spread and severity of attack of the virus. Aged people are more prone to the virus attack. People with respiratory illness fall prey very easily.

It has been well recognized that Tamiflu is the best remedy available as of now to treat infected people. But unlimited use of this medicine may result in the virus developing resistance. So, the medicine may be rendered ineffective in future for treatment. It is evident that patients administered with Tamiflu recover 1.5 times faster than patients who were not given it.

But of late vaccines have been developed to prevent the infection of the virus. Get to know from your physician about it.

The disease spreads rapidly by physical contact and proximity to the infected person. So it is a big challenge to prevent transmission. It mostly spreads through cough and sneezing. Sanitation is very important in controlling the spread of the disease. Wash your hands with alcoholic sanitizers. In public places, wear a mask. These are some of the measures to control the spread and contain the disease.

However, there are also other illnesses that share these same symptoms so generalizations don’t always mean that you have the flu. Flu can also have serious side effects that can land you in the hospital and may even be fatal.

In fact, there are a lot of myths about influenza that I’d like to clear up for you so you can be aware of what the importance of preventing and treating flu is all about. Let’s look at a few of them:

Myths About Influenza

Flu Vaccines Give You The Flu: This is absolutely untrue. A flu vaccine is made from a killed virus meaning its active, disease producing component is not present in the vaccine. This idea likely came from the fact that, in the past, there were some side effects associated with a flu vaccine that may have felt like flu symptoms.

Some people may have been sensitive to the preservative, thimerosal, used in vaccines that prevents contamination by bacteria or fungi. Today, however, according to the CDC, in the 2010-2011 flu season, there are 74 million doses of thimerosal-free vaccine available. If you feel you may be sensitive to thimerosal, and/or just want to avoid it, make sure you specifically request a thimerosal-free vaccine. Flu vaccines are only good for one season. A new one is needed every year.

Antibiotics Kill The Flu: Many of my patients are surprised and disappointed when they come in asking for antibiotics for their flu symptoms and I tell them that antibiotics do not work on the flu. Influenza is caused by a virus which antibiotics have no effect on. Antibiotics only work on bacterial and some fungal infections. However, some people do get bacterial infections of the lungs and sometimes the sinuses with their flu.

Nothing Treats The Flu: While it’s true that nothing cures the flu, there are several prescription drugs as well as alternative supplements that can help lesson flu symptoms a great deal. Prescription drugs include Tamiflu, a pill, and Relenza, an inhaled medicine. Alternative helpers include “Os”, short for oscillococcinum, and Echinacea, which need to be taken at the very first symptoms of the flu within the first 24-36 hours. Elderberry (Sambucol) extract has also shown research promise in reducing flu symptoms by 56%. Andrographis (Indian Echinacea) taken within the first 24-48 hours stimulates the immune system to fight viruses. Homeopathics of ferrum phos, dulcamarra, nux vomica,gelsemium, arsenicum, bryona, Rhus tox and belladonna can give significant relief to flu symptoms.

In fact, homeopathic flu remedies were credited with 100% survival rates in patients who took them during the flu epidemic of 1918. See a practitioner skilled in the use of homeopaths as exact matches of remedy to symptoms must be done to obtain the best effect.

Flu Only Really Affects The Elderly: It is true that the elderly may be more susceptible to getting the flu and/or being more seriously affected by it because of lowered immunity and complications, like pneumonia, that can set in. However, people of all ages can and do get the flu and need to take the same precautions to prevent it. Children under 6 months are at highest risk for the illness because they are too young to get the vaccine. If you are around an infant this age, you should get vaccinated and keep the baby away from anyone who is ill.

Facts About The Flu

Hand Washing Best Prevention: If people washed their hands more, especially after being in public restrooms, grocery and retail stores, anywhere that other people are touching surfaces, objects, many cases of colds and flu could be prevented. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer with you and/or make use of the wipes that most stores provide to wipe down cart handles.

Nasal Washes/Irrigants: Keep a little bottle of aloe/saline nasal spray with you. After being out in public, squirt some into both nostrils, hold for a moment and then blow out into a tissue. This rinses out any inhaled viruses, bacteria, mold spores before they enter your lungs.

Boost Your Immune System: The best illness prevention strategy is to keep your immune system healthy and functioning at optimal level. This means eating nutritious food (add some raw, chopped garlic to your daily vegetables), getting enough rest (at least 7 hours a night), exercise (at least 30 minutes a day, 4-5 times a week) and supplementing with immune-system boosting vitamins and minerals like Vitamin C at least 1,000 mg a day, Vitamin D3 1-2,000 mg a day, Resveratrol 100-200 mg a day, Zinc 25 mg a day, Quercetin 100 mg a day, Beta Carotene 5,000 units a day. Replace only what’s missing and/or not adequate levels in your multivitamin.

Getting the flu is no picnic. It can make you feel terrible and can have serious complications. The best way to deal with influenza is to prevent it! Knowing the facts about influenza will help. In addition, get a yearly flu vaccine, keep your immune system healthy and remember to wash your hands whenever out in public places.

It should also be noted that a lot of people assume that they have the flu when a fever or sore throat is present but they have strep throat which is caused by bacteria, not a virus and requires antibiotics.

Scared to Vaccinate Your Child?

If you are a parent, you probably are experiencing a lot of fear, doubt and confusion over whether you should have your child vaccinated or not. After the huge scare that Australia has seen over flu shots in children, it is understandable why parents are skeptical.

A vaccine from Fluvax caused high fever and seizures in at least 100 Australian children at the beginning of the flu season for 2010. However, experts suggest that if those same children actually caught the flu without immunization there is a good chance that they could have been even worse off. So despite these negative reactions, parents are still encouraged to have their children vaccinated.

Allergic Reactions

It is very important to be aware that Flu Shot Symptoms do have the potential to be fatal in anyone who has egg allergies. Manufacturers of the flu vaccine grow the flu virus in eggs in their laboratories before it is destroyed. Therefore, immunization is not recommended in individuals with egg allergies and anyone who feels that they may be experiencing an allergic reaction should seek medical attention immediately.

If you need to contact with a person who is affected by swine flu, there are high chances that you may get infected as well. There is no guarantee that you may get infected after getting exposed to a person who has already been infected, but the chances of this happening increase considerably. Try your best to protect yourself from such exposures.

While millions of people have already been affected and more are getting affected as each day passes; some companies are trying to make a quick buck out of the whole situation by selling fake drugs, which hardly cure anything. They make false claims and offer huge discounts to cheat people. Most importantly, people are led to believe that only prescription medicines can help them get rid of this disease and the importance of dietary nutrients and amino acids in diet are unimportant for fast and efficient recovery. Stay away from such scams as they do more harm than good. Always consult a doctor before you take a medication.

People who are suffering from asthma, chronic lung conditions, kidney problems, liver problems and metabolic disorders are more susceptible to this disease. Pregnant women and children are also vulnerable to this viral condition. It has been noted that most people who have been affected by swine flu are obese and have underlying respiratory problems.

If you have to contact with a person who is affected by swine flu, there are high chances that you may get infected as well. There is no guarantee that you may get infected after getting exposed to a person who has already been infected, but the chances of this happening increase considerably. Try your best to protect yourself from such exposures.

While millions of people have already been affected and more are getting affected as each day passes; some unethical companies are trying to make a quick buck out of the whole situation by selling fake drugs, which hardly cure anything.

They make false claims and offer huge discounts to cheat people. Most importantly, people are led to believe that only prescription medicines can help them get rid of this disease and the importance of dietary nutrients and amino acids in diet are unimportant for fast and efficient recovery. Stay away from such scams as they do more harm than good. Always consult a doctor before you take a medication.

Oseltamivir is an antiviral drug, which slows down the spread of influenza in the body. It works by detaching the flu virus from its host cell, and its effects can be seen within 12 to 24 hours. It is marketed under the trade name Tamiflu. It has saved millions of lives by helping people overcome this illness.

If you wish to have a speedy recovery, you should try to stay at home as much as possible and drink a lot of water and juices to keep your body hydrated. Ensure that you take plenty of rest so that your body recovers well from stress and exhaustion and avoid smoking or consumption of alcohol. Always consult your doctor before you start taking this medication. Expert help is always better. Most experts prescribe Tamiflu only in the most serious cases.

Eat Nutritiously include: high-quality protein, such as fish, lean meats, and beans, needed to help you build white blood cells (the body’s defenders against viruses); brightly colored fruits and veggies, which provide immune-boosting antioxidants; and omega-3 fatty acids (good sources include fatty fish, walnuts, and flaxseed) to keep the immune system balanced.

Exercise can keep you from getting sick by stimulating the immune cells that target cold infections.You can walk or do other moderate activity for 30 minutes most days.

Lower humidity and temperatures help the flu virus spread. Humidity, on the other hand, kills the virus, so keep the air at home warm and moist. Use a humidifier to maintain around 50 percent humidity and set room temperatures to at least 69 degrees F.

According to a study published in 2009 in the Archives of Internal Medicine those who slept at least 8 or more hours of sleep a night were three times less likely to catch a cold then those who slept less. That’s because even minor sleep deprivation suppresses immune function.

Wash your hands can kills flu and cold viruses that can be picked up from heavily touched surfaces such as door knobs, telephones, money, etc.

Flu symptoms may commence two to three days after the exposure to the flu virus. The flu virus comes on rapidly and attacks the upper respiratory system.

Typical flu symptoms are high grade fever, chills, pain in the muscles, sore throat, head pain, dry cough, exhaustion, etc. These flu symptoms generally last for three to four days, but cough and weakness may continue for one to two weeks even after the fever has subsided.
In younger children, apart from the typical flu symptoms, they may experience other respiratory tract infections like bronchitis, croup, or pneumonia. Few other symptoms which are commonly observed in children are pain in abdomen, vomiting, and diarrhea. Vomiting is more significant as compared to diarrhea. Fever is generally high and irritability may be marked.
In infants, the signs and symptoms of flu are not marked and hence it may often go unrecognized. Influenza is less common in infants who are younger than 6 months, but in case the infant experiences the flu then the flu symptoms are weakness, poor eating, and poor circulation.

There are few complications of flu that occur in children. They are sinus infection, infection of the ear, or pneumonia.

In case you observe the above flu symptoms in your children, to confirm the diagnosis of flu, the diagnostic test for flu which is known as direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) should be performed. Secretions from the back of the nasopharynx, or the space at the back of the nose are to be obtained for this diagnostic test.

In cases where the diagnosis that your child suffers with flu occurs, you must ensure that the child consumes excessive amount of liquids and gets adequate rest. Aspirin should never be given to teenagers who suffer with flu-like symptoms, especially fever, without the advice of a physician. Administrating aspirin to children and teenagers with flu can lead to a rare but grave illness known as Reye syndrome. To relieve the flu symptoms children can be administered medicines which do not contain aspirin, as recommended by the physician. In cases where the flu symptoms of your child improves but then the child relapses back with fever and a worse cough, you need to consult your physician.