Five Ways to Prevent the Flu
Dr. Tim Johnson tells you the five best ways to avoid the flu.
Oct. 3, 2008 — -- As the leaves begin to fall this winter, so will the temperatures. But there is one thing that is usually on the rise: cases of the flu.
From offices to classrooms, flu-causing germs abound. Have no fear, though, because Dr. Tim Johnson stopped by "Good Morning America" today to share the five things you can do to protect yourself.
Basically, you should try to stay a good three feet away from everybody who could possibly be infected with the flu already. Obviously, the more you can stay away from people who are sick, the more you're cutting the chances that you'll become sick yourself.
Under ideal circumstances, you might just cut yourself off from everybody altogether, but that's nearly impossible, of course. It just goes to show how pervasive and inescapable the flu is during the winter months when we're all stuck indoors together.
In order to make sure that you spend enough time washing your hands, we recommend that you sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice. That way you can be sure you'll get the soap and water on there for a good 15 to 20 seconds.
Remember, it's always a good idea to wash your hands thoroughly after each time you do certain things like use the ATM or public transportation, or even after thumbing through magazines at the doctor's office. These are places where germs can fester and remain active for two to eight hours, just lying in wait for you to come along and pick them up.
We recommend that people use regular hand sanitizers, gels and wipes rather than the antibacterial gels, soaps and wipes. It's a good idea to keep alcohol wipes or alcohol-based cleaning gel handy because alcohol kills bacteria and the viruses that cause colds.
There's the potential with antibacterial and/or antimicrobial products that they have chemicals that can lead common bacteria to adapt and turn into superbugs.
Usually when you see people sneezing or coughing, they try to cover it up with their hands. That is the exact wrong thing to do because unless you wash your hands right away, everything you touch could end up with the flu germ on there.
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