One Flu Over the Pig's Pen

I have been battered by fever, cold, headache and sore throat for over a week now, When I asked my sister about it, she said it must be swine flu. She was joking, of course ( or I hope she is). Anyway, because of the swine flu scare, people would probably be conscioutheir health again s of (much like when there was a SARS outbreak). In relation to this, Rina Jimenez-David has some rules of etiquette when coughing. And here I quote her unabashedly:

DO YOU know that there are "etiquette rules" to follow when coughing? Our most instinctive reaction when we cough or sneeze is to cover our mouth and nose with our bare hands. But, say health authorities, this only increases the spread of germs since hands, if left unwashed or sanitized after, could very easily transfer the microbes.

Some would sneeze into the sleeves, taking care to cover their mouth and nose, although this is not easy to achieve. If one doesn't have a handkerchief or tissue at hand, the "proper way" of coughing, say health authorities, is to cough into one's shirt, holding the neckline over one's face to prevent the spread of germs – carried in the air through droplets expelled by your mouth or nose – to other people.

Washing one's hands frequently, or using alcohol hand cleansers, are also practices we can adopt to prevent spreading not just swine flu virus but other germs as well.

Germs can spread by direct physical contact, or by holding items that an infected person has held before. Our mothers were right: wash hands before and after eating, after using the bathroom, and after sneezing or coughing.