I was doomed the moment I settled into my seat. The lady across the aisle coughed violently, trying to catch the effluent from her lungs in the crook of her arm. For seven hours I was stuck in a chock-a-block 767 from Honolulu to Phoenix. The chances of me avoiding whatever ailed the woman were nil.
“That’s a classic ‘Are You That Guy?’ moment,” says Dr. Susan J. Rehm, medical director for the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases. ‘Are You That Guy?’ is NFID’s new campaign to curtail the spread of influenza.
Despite the fact the spluttering passenger was in the center section of seats, and I was huddled in a window seat, made scant difference. I was within range of her galloping micro-globules. “When somebody is coughing and sneezing the virus of whatever they’re carrying goes out in a radius of five to six feet,” says Rehm.
What to do to protect yourself before booking a flight? Try a three-step approach:
- “Number one is vaccination,” says Rehm. “This year, for the first time, [Centers for Disease Control] is recommending universal vaccination, meaning that everyone six months of age or older should get the influenza vaccine.” Despite the fact it’s early February, she insists it’s not too late to get a flu shot. “It’s going to take 10 to 14 days for the vaccine to take effect. But the sooner you get it, the better.”
- Number two, is personal health and personal responsibility. If you’ve got the flu, don’t travel. Easier said than done. I suspect, the lady across the aisle from me couldn’t afford another few days in Hawaii and had to get home. So, should she don a surgical mask? Might that help? “It probably would,” says the doctor.
- Number three, get “prescription anti-viral medication. If given within the first 24- 48 hours after onset of symptoms. It will help to lessen the symptoms. [It] will also—hopefully—help people feel better faster.”
Okay, but how do you tell if you’ve got the flu, or the common cold?
There’s a test, dubbed FACTS: Fever, Aches, Chills, Tiredness, and Sudden Onset.
Focus of fever and aches first – and specifically how fast they hit you. “Influenza is the type of illness where people say, ‘You know, I was doing great on Friday and at two o’ clock in the afternoon I felt like I got hit by a ton of bricks,’” says Rehm.
The flu “makes you want to stop doing whatever you’re doing, go home, pull the covers over your head and tell people to ‘Call me in the morning.’”
Although Rehm’s seen no studies indicating how effective surgical masks are, donning one yourself “probably wouldn’t hurt.” Nor would frequent hand washing and hand sanitizer. But remember, “The primary way that influenza is spread is through the air – not [via] surfaces.”
The single most important thing is getting vaccinated. Now. “We know when That Guy’s out there and we can see him,” says Susan Rehm. “But there are a lot more instances where [he or she] is out there and we don’t know.”
To see a public service announcement on how to avoid the flu in flight go to http://www.flufacts.com/know/flu-iq.jsp.
Story by Jerry Chandler
