Back to School with Swine Flu: Preparing Your Kids

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people under the age of 25 are at a greater risk for developing swine flu. Children who attend public schools are at an even higher risk because of their exposure to numerous elements, including sick children and other adults who unknowingly may carry the virus.

Now that the World Health Organization (WHO) considers swine flu a pandemic, preparing your kids for school is extremely important. Kids can prevent catching-and spreading-the swine flu by following these procedures during school.

Back to School with Swine Flu: Preparing Your Kids

1. Get the swine flu shot, slated for availability in fall 2009. Even kids who do their best to prevent it end up catching the virus. But the new swine flu vaccine, slated for release in late 2009, further reduces this risk.

According to CBS News, it effectively protected 75 to 96 percent of people after the first shot.

Although it is not clear how effective it is on kids, many kids have not developed swine flu after receiving the vaccine.

The CDC strongly recommends parents get their kids vaccinated, even if they are already using methods to prevent transmission during school. Although preventative measures can help, the vaccine is more effective that these measures combined.

2. Show your kids how to wash their hands properly-and remind them to do it often. The swine flu is a contagious virus that spreads through skin or human contact, such as touching a door handle touched by a person with the virus. Human or skin contact is how it typically spreads.

But kids who wash their hands frequently can prevent catching the virus in school.

According to the Baltimore Sun, kids should wash their hands immediately after touching objects used by other people, such as desks or tables at school, to prevent getting the virus. Kids should also wash their hands after engaging in contact sports or group school activities.

This is especially important because the virus can survive on these objects for two to eight hours. Eighty percent of viruses and other infection-causing bacteria spread this way-by a child touching a contaminated objects and then the mouth, nose, or lips.

Kids can protect their health during school by doing the following:

- Lather up both hands with plenty of soap, soaping up the areas between the fingers. Continue lathering both hands for 20 seconds.

- Wash off the lather with lukewarm water. Kids need to use warm water, not cold. This helps remove any parasites on the skin.

- Thoroughly dry both hands with an automated drying device. If one is not available, use a paper towel. Avoid using rags or towels, which can carry harmful parasites.

Kids should do this after touching contaminated objects in school, preferably after class. Kids should also wash their hands before eating their school lunch.

3. Avoid other kids in school who are sick. One of the most common ways swine flu spreads is through close human contact, but avoiding people who are obviously sick-such as a child who constantly coughs or sneezes-helps prevent it.

Kids can avoid other sick kids during school by avoiding playing or hanging around sick kids. This doesn't mean Johnny should run away every time he sees a sick child. Staying a safe distance, especially when a child coughs is advisable, however.

Remember, the swine flu virus cannot spread if it is unable to reach a child's lips, eyes, or nose. And if kids use these preventative measures to prevent catching the swine flu virus in school, they should be swine flu-free for the entire season.

Sources:
"2009 H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and You", CDC.gov
"H1N1 Flu Vaccine Better Than Expected", cbsnews.com
Linda Shrieves, "How to Prevent the Spread of the Swine Flu", baltimoresun.com