Senior News Line: Avoiding the flu

There are some good tips out there for avoiding the flu this winter, and given the nature of the beast this time, it’s to our benefit to pay attention.

If you’ve listened on the news, you know that the flu this year is worse than usual, arriving a month early and launching like a rocket. This one is an influenza A virus, but not the one they were predicting.

The vaccine was created for H1N1, but surprise, surprise, what quickly emerged was the H3N2 mutation, also called subclade K, which the vaccine isn’t geared up to tackle because it was created for H1N1. Hence the higher than expected number of cases.

For the first time in years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling this a high severity for all age groups flu season. During December, in one week alone 19,000 people were admitted to the hospital.

Our job is to avoid the flu this year. Here is the advice from the CDC:

• Get your flu shot. Even though the vaccine isn’t aimed at the H3N2, it will still offer a bit of protection.

• Wash your hands — all the time. Scrub for 20 or more seconds or use a hand sanitizer that has at least 60% alcohol if there is no soap.

• Wear a good mask if you go out.

• Don’t touch your face. If there are germs on your hands, that’s how it will infect you.

• Eat right, drink fluids, get enough sleep.

• Get out those sanitizing wipes and disinfect the door knobs, kitchen cabinet handles and surfaces, everything that gets touched in your house.

• Run your air cleaner, if you have one.

• Stay away from sick people. Flu likely spreads via droplets in the air when sick people cough or sneeze or talk. On a scary note, people can have — and pass around — the flu a whole day before they even have symptoms.

Stay healthy!