Everyone should wash hands often, cover coughs and sneezes, avoid people who are sick, stay home when they are sick, and make a plan in case they need to stay home with a sick child.
 

• Get both a regular flu shot and a 2009 H1N1 flu shot when they are available in your community. People with diabetes or weakened immune systems should get flu shots; they should not get the nasal spray flu vaccine.
   
• If you haven’t already had one, you should also get a pneumonia shot (sometimes called pneumovax or pneumococcal vaccine) because, if you get influenza, it can protect you against some of the more serious pneumonia complications.
   
• If you have asthma, you are at high risk of serious flu complications.If you develop flu symptoms (including some or all of the following: fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, and tiredness), please call your health care provider or the nurse advice line at your health plan, clinic, or health department.
   
• Most people with flu symptoms do not require testing for 2009 H1N1 because the test results usually do not change how you are treated.
   
• For people with asthma or other high-risk conditions, early treatment with antiviral medicine is important and can make a big difference. (Treatment within 2 days of when symptoms start is best.)
   

Anyone with the following emergency warning signs needs urgent medical attention:

 

Children	Adults
Fever with a rash Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen Sudden dizziness Confusion Severe or persistent vomiting Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough	Fast breathing or trouble breathing Bluish skin color Not drinking enough fluids Not waking up or not interacting Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

 

Brought to you by Our Health ministry from the National Institutes of Health.

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