Take these everyday steps to protect your health:  Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective. Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth because germs can spread that way. 

 

Now, I will move on to discuss what you should do if you get sick. If you live in an area where swine flu infections have been reported, and if you become ill with influenza like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you may want to contact your health care provider, particularly if you're worried about your symptoms. Your health care provider will determine whether influenza testing or treatment is needed. If you're sick, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep from spreading your illness to others. 

 

If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care. In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include: fast breathing or trouble breathing, bluish skin color, not drinking enough fluids, not waking up or not interacting, being so irritable that the child does not want to be held, fever with a rash, or flu-like symptoms that improve but then return with a fever and worse cough. In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include: difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen, sudden dizziness, confusion, and severe or persistent vomiting. 

 

People don't need to worry about eating or preparing pork. Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.