 Influenza A(H1N1) or the Swine flu has become a hot topic of conversation with news of more confirmed cases in both in Canada and across the world.
On April 29th, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the influenza pandemic alert from a phase 4 to phase 5, which alerts all countries to immediately activate their pandemic preparedness plans.
Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General stated that, "Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world.
On the positive side, the world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history." For the full story, visit the WHO website at http://www.who.int/en/
For Canadian information, the Government of Canada in collaboration with the provincial and territorial governments have created FightFlu.ca for information on
1. Symptoms and Information
2. How to protect yourself and others
3. Travel information.
There are also links to information on each of the Provincial and Territorial governments websites.
Here are the Top 4 tips from the Ministry of BC Swine Flu update site.
http://www.gov.bc.ca/govt/swine_flu.html
1) Stay home when you’re sick or have influenza symptoms. Get plenty of rest and check with a health care provider as needed.
2) Avoid close contact with people who are sick. If you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick.
3) Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, and throw the tissue away immediately. It may prevent those around you from getting sick.
4) Wash your hands. Washing your hands often will help protect you from getting sick. When soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers.
This colorized negative stained transmission electron micrograph (TEM) depicted some of the ultrastructural morphology of the A/CA/4/09 swine flu virus. It is image 11215 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Center for Disease Control |
