The damp and foggy weather could be with us for weeks to come. In these conditions, the chance of catching flu is also higher. Good nutrition, an active lifestyle and a strong immune system can help us fight infection, but it is also important to pay more attention to everyday routines such as washing your hands more thoroughly, airing your home more often and keeping your clothes and home even cleaner.
Influenza viruses spread mainly by droplet transmission. Few people may know, but viruses that escape with a single sneeze can sometimes fill a room and remain infectious for hours: that’s why it’s important to cough or sneeze into a tissue or elbow.
Handwashing, changing clothes
We should wash our hands more often and more thoroughly than usual, because we can touch infected surfaces at work, on public transport, while shopping, visiting museums or having a beer with friends. Thereby, we can easily transmit pathogens to our body through the mouth or nostrils. Frequent cleaning, disinfecting home surfaces and taking off your street clothes, putting them in the washing machine and changing clothes when you get home can help in prevention. Viruses can hide in the fabric of your clothes for a while.
Fitness, energy, proper nutrition, and exercise
We can also protect ourselves against viruses by proper nutrition and hydration. It’s not a good idea to go on a strict diet at this time of year, because you need the energy to fight the virus and if you are infected, you can recover more quickly from an illness that can last up to ten days. Beetroot, sauerkraut, rosehips, fermented vegetables with a high probiotic content contain a range of vitamins that support our health. Moderate exercise in the open air, a light hike, jog or walk can also boost our fitness. If you go to the gym, it is also a good idea to clean and disinfect the equipment used by others before using it yourself.
From mild to severe symptoms
In addition to the classic symptoms of flu (e.g. cough, fever, chills, fatigue, headache or muscle aches) sometimes more severe symptoms can occur, such as chest pain, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, and you should seek medical advice. With the specific test of the laboratory service provider HR-Pharma in Szeged, it is possible to quickly find out what type of flu infection you have, so that you can more easily identify the symptoms that appear.
HR-Pharma offers the following laboratory package: