Welcome to www.fluviruspandemic.info Health officials worldwide are concerned about the possibility of an outbreak of an influenza pandemic. This has happened before and would occur if the existing bird flu virus mixes with human flu virus to create a new strain that would be easily transmissible from human to human but unrecognizable by human immune systems. So far, about half of the people who have contracted bird flu have died. The flu can be spread by people for 24 hours before they have symptoms and it's unrealistic to expect that everybody who has symptoms will stay at home, so I'm going to take the following steps to try to protect myself if a flu pandemic occurs:
Buy a particulate respirator (will a mask protect me from the flu?):
This is a mask which keeps the flu virus from getting into your nose and throat. According to the CDC's website the flu virus is expelled from an infected person inside large droplets (larger than 5 micrometers or millionths of a meter) of mucus, and a surgical mask might stop them (although there is no study that proves that masks alone prevent the spread of flu - see below). You can find surgical masks for sale by "Googling" (going to www.google.com and entering the search phrase) "surgical masks" and looking at the right side of the page. Some of these masks will have an N95 rating, which means that they filter out 95% of particles sized 0.3 micrometers and above. There is also an N100 rating respirator (99.7% filtration) available from http://northerntool.com Enter 1719450 in the "Search" box (sometimes the website doesn't work right and you have to search for "mask" and then choose item number 1719450). You should order this before a flu pandemic breaks out - after that it will be hard to acquire these items. It is also critical that you follow exactly the instructions that come inside the package with this mask. I have seen another N100 mask that recommends replacement after 150 hours of use. If you work with oils read this.
The CDC's website doesn't recommend masks for use outside of healthcare settings, but I suspect that people in non healthcare settings might benefit the same way, so I will be wearing a mask if a pandemic comes to my area.
Wearing a gas mask might work even better, as they are designed to protect the wearer against biological agents.
Facial hair will cause a particulate respirator or gas mask not to work.
Information on donning and removing personal protective equipment can be found here:
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ppe/ppeposter148.pdf (Substitute 1322 for 148 for 13" X 22")
Wash your hands before preparing food, eating, or touching your face:
If you get the flu virus on your hands, and then touch your mouth, nose, or eyes, you can catch the flu. Wearing a mask will remind you not to touch your mouth and nose, but you'll have to remember not to touch your eyes. My doctor says he does this by imagining a pane of glass right below his chin. If that doesn't work for you, buy a pair of goggles to wear (for example: Northern Tool's item #174696).
When washing your hands, scrub for 30 seconds. You can measure 30 seconds by slowly singing the ABC song once or "Happy Birthday" twice. You should use warm water for hand washing. I divide my hand washing into different sectors to make sure that I scrub completely: inside of hands, outside of hands, in between fingers and outsides of fingers, fingertips, and thumbs. Rinse and dry thoroughly.
If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Purell makes one.
For even better protection, wear gloves. These can be found for sale on the web by Googling "medical gloves". If you wear gloves, you should still wash your hands after you take them off. Gloves should be worn once, and then discarded.
Change clothes when you go home:
This is to keep droplets of mucus from other people off of your hands after you get home. I'll be washing my clothes in hot water and using a hot dryer after each wearing. You should still wash your hands before preparing food, eating, or touching your face, even though you've changed clothes. You can wear the indoors clothes more than one day.
I will also be taking a shower before going to bed, to prevent any flu virus from getting onto the pillow and then onto my face.
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