Search Results for: blog swine flu and your student

Do You Offer Fashion Advice to Your College Co-ed?

Keeping up with fashion trends can be tough, especially if you are juggling a job, a house and a mountain of other responsibilities. So, when your college co-ed comes to you for advice… I mean… money, to purchase clothes for the new academic year, do you really know if your hard-earned cash is going to be spent on something fashionable? Personally, I think the term “fashionable” is open to interpretation. When you are dealing with college kids, I think budget is key. Still, you want your son or daughter to look good while hitting the books, so how do you … Continue reading →

Swine Flu Vaccine Supply Finally Catches up with Demand

It only took two months, but it seems that the supply of swine flu vaccine here in the United States has finally caught up with the demand. A lot of people have had trouble getting the vaccine so far — you may have heard stories of (or experienced) long lines and canceled flu shot clinics. Still, a lot of high risk people did manage to get a swine flu shot. Now there should be swine flu shots a-plenty… just in time for the virus to start fading away. Experts are seeing the number of new cases go down, but that … Continue reading →

China Protects Pandas Against Swine Flu

We have evidence here in the United States that both cats and ferrets can catch swine flu (H1N1) from humans. Officials in China are concerned that pandas may also be susceptible to the disease. A panda research center has been closed to visitors in hopes of protecting the endangered pandas from swine flu. The Shaanxi Wild Animal Rescue and Research Center started seeing increased numbers of swine flu cases and flu symptoms in general after the weather turned cold and snowy in November. Now they’ve put a halt on recruiting new volunteers and are not allowing staff members with flu-like … Continue reading →

First Swine Flu Case Confirmed in Family Pet

Despite all the worry about swine flu (H1N1) over the last few months, I’ve been confident that four-legged family members were safe from the disease. Until now. Government officials released information on Wednesday, November 11 about a cat from Iowa — thought to be the first confirmed case of swine flu in a feline. The thirteen year old cat exhibited the following symptoms: lethargy, loss of appetite, difficulty breathing. The vet who treated the cat described the symptoms as flu-like. Testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames confirmed that … Continue reading →

Kids, Swine Flu and Trick-or-Treating

My friend’s young children will be missing out on trick-or-treating this year. Thank you swine flu. Actually, one of her kids has chicken pox and the other has swine flu-like symptoms, but has not yet been tested for H1N1. Regardless, I won’t be taking my daughter to their home for treats this Halloween. In fact, I wondered if my pal intended to hand out candy to costumed beggars today given that her home is contaminated. She is. I suppose, how would parents know whether or not their child is knocking on the door of a swine flu infested house, and … Continue reading →

Swine Flu and Fear

I’m writing this on day three of a fever, so I apologize if it isn’t as coherent as I’d like. I’m sick. It started off feeling like my usual sinus troubles, so I treated it in the usual way: irrigating my sinuses with salt water. This plan has worked in the past, fending off several sinus infections before they got to the point where I’d need a doctor or antibiotics. But while the sinus problem cleared up, the feeling of not-good stuck around. My head was still pounding. Two days ago, the headache was joined by an all-over body ache … Continue reading →

Swine Flu Vaccine and Side Effects

As promised, October has arrived with the first batches of the swine flu vaccine. The World Health Organization rolled out the first doses of the vaccine in China, soon to be followed by Australia, the United States, and parts of Europe. Four out of the thirty-nine thousand people vaccinated in China reported mild side effects. That works out to approximately one in every ten thousand people getting the shot — not surprising, according to WHO officials. When large numbers of people are getting a vaccine, side effects are to be expected. Once the swine flu vaccine hits the United States, … Continue reading →

Sanitizing Your Home for Swine Flu

Swine Flu has many people up in arms. People don’t want to shake hands. People get nervous when someone else coughs. People are even sanitizing their homes. But will home sanitizing prevent you from getting swine flu? Maybe. Sanitizing your home is effective against getting swine flu if someone in your home has it. If no one in the house has swine flu, then there’s really no point about going overboard to sanitize it. The problem is that you don’t know that you even have Swine Flu in your home until someone gets sick, and by then the whole house … Continue reading →

What to Expect From the Swine Flu this Fall and Winter

Swine flu has been in the news this year, starting with an April outbreak. The disease stuck around for the summer — a time when most strains of flu go away. Now health experts are predicting a surge in cases as schools reopen. One report suggests that between a third and a half of the U.S. population will contract swine flu, and October is probably the earliest we’ll see a swine flu vaccine. The normal seasonal flu vaccine does not include protection against swine flu. The World Health Organization says that as much as one third of the world’s population … Continue reading →

Tips for Livening up Your Kid’s School Lunch

For some kids back-to-school means back to eating the same ol’ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches five days a week. If you pack your child’s lunch every day, then you know how challenging it can be to come up with new and exciting options your kid will actually eat (and not trade for cookies and chips). Instead of spending the next eight months packing PB&J, consider breaking out of the sandwich rut with these ideas: * Leftover pizza * Leftover pasta * Leftover fried rice * Soup in a thermos * Brown rice salad with nuts and veggies * A … Continue reading →