Eat your veggies, wash your hands.
Mom's words were never truer than this flu season.
With the threat of an H1N1 pandemic, parents, teachers and employers should be prepared to battle what many fear may be a virulent and deadly illness. Now pharmacists are poised to help sort through the H1N1 hype to guide, reassure and help consumers choose their weapons.
"Pharmacists will be playing an important role," says Donnie Edwards, a past chair of the Ontario Pharmacist Association. To help, the province's 10,000 community pharmacists have prepared free information kits to share with their patients.
The kits include a preparation checklist, notes on handwashing and handrubbing, and a handout to understand common myths and facts. The kit is also available online at ontariocommunitypharmacies.ca.
The first task is educating people as to what a pandemic actually is. Though the World Health Organization has officially declared a pandemic, the word simply means that multiple countries are affected and that humans are easily spreading the virus to one another.
Pandemics can be mild, moderate and severe -- so far, this one is moderate.
Many people think it's easy to tell the difference between a cold, seasonal flu and H1N1. But it's challenging, says Edwards. Like regular flu, H1N1's symptoms are cough, fever, sore throat, runny nose, headache and body aches. The ordinary cold, however, is unlikely to include a fever.
Edwards says that in addition to knowing the H1N1 symptoms, people should be prepared to compare their symptoms to a kind of baseline of signs of former illnesses. "If you have had colds or flu before, you know what that feels like. If this new illness is anything worse than what you felt before or if you have a spike in fever, diarrhea or vomiting, you should definitely see a health-care provider."
Most people who have had H1N1 have had mild symptoms and fully recovered. Certain people will be at higher risk for H1N1, says Edwards: They include pregnant women (particularly those in the third trimester), adolescents, young adults and those with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or diabetes.
Some people have been asking their pharmacists for antiviral drugs to have on hand if they get the flu: Two drugs, Relenza and Tamiflu, are approved by Health Canada but are only available by prescription. These drugs may reduce the severity of the flu if taken within 48 hours.
"If you have had colds or flu before, you know what that feels like."
