Swine flu

The big headline of the day is obviously swine flu. The outbreak is not currently being treated as a pandemic, but a close watch is being kept.

Regardless of whether it's bird flu, pig flu, or just the standard flu, and even just normal coughs and colds, I cannot stress the need for hand hygiene enough. Wash your hands after coughing or sneezing, and before handling food. Washing with soap and water is actually more effective at removing the infuenza virus from your hands than those hand sanitzers are -
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/595845?journalCode=cid

And don't go to school or work if you are sick!

Here are a collection of medial releases from the Ministry of Health
http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/mexican-swine-influenza-healh-alert-from-arphs-260409?Open

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/swine-flu-plus-advisory-of-media-conference-260409?Open

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/mexican-swine-influenza-update-three-270409?Open

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/mexican-swine-influenza-update-four-270409?Open

And here's the FAQ on swine flu from the Centre for Disease Control in the US - http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm