‘Catch it. Bin it. Kill it.’ How to deal with flu bugs

The NHS campaigns every year to help prevent the spread of flu. Vulnerable people are offered free flu jabs by the NHS, but what about the rest of us? The NHS says: ‘Catch it. Bin it. Kill it.’ Which makes sense as germs can be caught before they’re spread on to someone else.

It’s good to be aware

Most of us have experienced some level of flu at some time, and we know how miserable it is to feel so unwell. Flu can bring a healthy person down low. In vulnerable people, such as the young, the more elderly, or those with a lowered immune system, such as women who are pregnant, flu can be very serious. The NHS offers free vaccinations to people who are at risk.

If you do develop flu-like symptoms, then it’s important to take care. Flu symptoms are: a high temperature, chills, aching, feeling tired, perhaps a dry cough, a sore throat, or a headache and sometimes stomach pain or nausea. Flu is different from a cold, because it can come on very quickly.

‘Catch it. Bin it. Kill it.’

The NHs campaign says: “Our key objective for this campaign is to encourage people to adopt good respiratory and hand hygiene, such as using a tissue and washing hands thoroughly, as a line of defence against flu.”

Good hygiene can really help you to protect others against flu, which is a virus easily carried from one person to another. The campaign catch-phrase focuses our attention on the need to use a simple tissue to cover our mouth if we cough or sneeze, then dispose of it.

We can protect ourselves too, by being aware of how we handle surfaces other people have touched or breathed over. Think about, for example, smart-phone screens, shared work-place keyboards, grab-rails, door-handles and shopping trolley push bars…

If you wish to learn more about flu vaccinations, please follow this link to the NHS.

Note: If you are not entitled to a free flu vaccination, but you are concerned about catching flu, it is possible to pay privately.

We share this information about flu with you, because your over-all good health matters to us.

Do contact your surgery if you have any questions about your well-being that we can help with.

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