Preventing the Flu

The flu has been a major cause of death over the last century, with over 50 million people losing their lives to the disease and hundreds of millions more being affected. During the Spanish Flu only (1918-1920), 4% of the total World population was afflicted with the virus and 25 million people were reported dead to the influenza within the first 6 months. Seeing these numbers, one could point out the importance of stopping such a flu pandemic from happening again, rather than treating the disease after it has infected someone. However, preventing the flu is not the easiest of tasks, for several reasons.

The first reason being the fact that the influenza virus is evolving with each new flu season into a newer, better form of itself. In some years, these changes are mild and they can easily be contained. However, every once in a while, the flu virus will hit a "genetic breakthrough" in which it will become immune or highly resistant to the medicine that would work with its earlier versions, it becomes easier to transmit itself and possibly deadlier. This is why the first step in preventing the flu is taken by the international health community, which deals out vaccines each year, the vaccines being modified specifically for combating the current year's strain of flu viruses.

So, taking a yearly flu vaccine is the first and most obvious choice in preventing the flu. However, you shouldn't rely solely on that, since even the vaccines are not 100% effective. This is caused by the fact that there are virtually thousands of flu virus strains each year, which share a common set of parameters and the vaccine cannot cover all of them at once. Still, even if you happen to come into contact with a virus strain that hasn't been covered by the virus specifically, there's a good chance that the virus will be combated easier by your body and it may never fully infect you after all.

A second and extremely important part of preventing the flu is personal hygiene. The virus may change the form in which it transmits itself from time to time, but in most cases it spreads from one carrier to another by direct or indirect contact. For this reason, it's very important that keeping good hygiene practices becomes a habit. For example, washing hands frequently and thoroughly (especially before meals) can reduce the chance of contracting the disease from an outside source. Also, try to make sure that you don't spread the disease yourself, even though you might not be aware that you're carrying the virus. Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing and throw the tissue away after 1 use. If possible, don't use a reusable handkerchief, they can be a catalyst for flu spread.

In addition to these specific ways of preventing the flu, it's also a good idea to have a balanced diet, exercise on a regular basis and generally have a healthy lifestyle. By having a healthy body, you also make it harder for the virus to infect it and reduce some of its potential risks.