Swine flu - Health chief’s advice to residents (From The Bolton News)

Swine flu - Health chief’s advice to residents

8:07am Wednesday 29th April 2009 in

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BOLTON’S director of public health, Jan Hutchinson, has offered further advice to residents who are concerned about contracting swine flu.

Symptoms of swine flu include a fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue. Some people have also had vomiting and diarrhoea.

Ms Hutchinson advised patients with flu-like symptoms to phone their GP during office hours or NHS Direct on 0845 4647 out of hours, rather than visit their surgery.

She said: “People should follow general measures to control infection. These are to cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, use a tissue when possible and throw it away straight away.

“It is also important to wash your hands frequently with soap and water to reduce the spread of the virus from your hands to face or to other people, and cleaning hard surfaces like door handles frequently using a normal cleaning product. And make sure that children do likewise.”

People who have returned from one of the countries or areas where human cases of flu have been identified should monitor their health for a week afterwards.