November 2004
Current Issue
Past Issues
About Us
Public Affairs
Baylor Home
A Matter of Health
The flu and you
Anyone who has had the flu - and most adults have - will tell you it is not a pleasant experience. As my mother once said, "For two days, I was afraid I would die. Then for two days, I was afraid I wouldn't."
With the current vaccine shortage, many people are facing the possibility that they may actually get the flu this year. Some of them are folks who usually take the vaccine; others are people who never considered it in the past but feel left out because they no longer have that option. We can hope that most of those most at risk - the elderly, the chronically ill and the very young - have gotten their shots, but it is probably a vain hope. There are medicines you can take if you think you are getting the flu, but you have to move quickly - which is not always possible in today's less than accessible health care environment.
Newspapers have been rife with stories about how to avoid the flu - wash your hands frequently, avoid sick people, cover your mouth when you cough. It's all the things you learned in health class and from your mother. These things are important.
I have another request. Do not go to work sick. In other words, don't spread the flu around.
How many of us have sat in our offices listening to the guy in the next cubicle blowing his nose, sniffling and coughing? First you feel sorry for him. Then you start to get mad.
You know that those germs have become airborne because he cannot keep them all in his own cubicle. You know they are traveling over to you, into your nasal passages and that you risk getting as sick as he is.
And you are not alone. The front desk receptionist, key to the office's smooth operations, is going to get sick too. The woman who processes payroll and trip requests will be out for a few days. Your co-worker with small children at home could get it and pass it around her family.
Infectious disease is a chain. Protecting others mean breaking that chain. Certainly, handwashing, covering your mouth and other measures help. But for the rest of us, please stay home when you are at your sickest.
| A Matter of Health | |
 |
The flu and you |