What you need to know from your friendly pharmacy intern (soon to be pharmacist!!!):
1. No one here is dying. Why? We don't know. Theory has it that this strain already hit the US, meaning there is a certain level of immunity here already. Hmmm.
2. Tamiflu still works. There are very few drugs that actually treat any viral infections (and to date, we can't cure any viral infection medically, excluding some anecdotal reports of Hep C. Viruses can't be killed because they're not alive! Plus they mutate like a science fiction thingy. So treatments are hard to design).
Anyway, regular influenza is growing resistant to the current stand-by drug, Tamiflu. But swine flu still runs screaming, so that gives us a weapon at least.
Oh by the way the wholesalers already have it on allocation; last night we could only buy 4 boxes and everybody and their brother was in the ED with "flu" (our standard hypochondriacs always pop in with the latest news story illness).
3. It spreads by respiratory droplets, and we're not ruling out person to person as well. So -
WASH YOUR HANDS. Don't bother with antibacterial soap because it's a virus, not a bacteria. The rubbing motion is what displaces the virus from your skin.
Don't kiss. That's right, no sloppy kisses. Tell him to wait until the next date :)
Or you can just both wear masks, which might make kissing some people more pleasant anyway.
Cover your mouth and glare in disgust and indignation at those who don't.
Feel free to call in to work with suspected swine flu (this did not work for me).
4. Keep your immunity up.
So sleep well, stay hydrated, eat raw fruits and veggies, and it will not hurt my feelings if you take vitamins, even though it's so much better to get your vitamins in your food.
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