It looks like despite constantly nagging my family to keep their fingers out of the holes on their faces and diligent usage of hand sanitizer when out and about, my youngest may have the flu. He's had a fever and cough for the last 2 days. Praise God he has no underlying medical conditions, so I am not going to panic. I am going to keep him hydrated and continue doing the things I was doing to help stop its spread.
My husband emailed this list to me a few weeks ago. I've seen other lists on other blogs, but thought perhaps it would serve as a good reminder to post this here. One thing I do not want to do is proliferate the already growing amount of panic as the TV news is making this their pet of the month. (oink,oink)
"Contact with the flu is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.
While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, can be practiced :"
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to
eat, bathe or slap).
3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). The flu takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, > gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't > underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti >but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6.* Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as
gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.
If you do get the flu, here is a very good link from theCDC.
So... with number 6 as my guide, I am off to make myself a little coffee! (Doctor's orders!) 
~Jenn
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