H1N1 (Swine Flu): Listen to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Not Rush Limbaugh

Here’s the CDC’s recommendation regarding swine flu vaccination, as reported in the Washington Post:

The first swine flu precaution that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests for parents: As soon as a vaccine is available, try to get it for everyone in your family.

And here’s some of the CDC’s additional recommendations:

Anyone who becomes sick — flu symptoms include fever, sore throat, coughing, chills, fatigue and a runny nose — should stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever is gone. If symptoms worsen, children should extend their stay at home for seven more days, no matter how soon they feel better. This means home, not just out of school: “Children shouldn’t be . . . mixing in crowds or going to malls when they are sick,” said Lance Chilton, a member of the CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices. And once any member of a household gets sick, all school-age children should remain home for five days.

And at the CDC’s website, the number of swine flu cases that have already been seen are characterized as unusual:

Any reports of widespread influenza activity in September and October are very unusual.

We are not even into the traditional flu season, and already 76 children (and nearly a third of pregnant women hospitalized for swine flu) have died.

When it becomes available in the next few days or so, contact your doctor and get your H1N1 flu shot.