The swine flu is a new virus that has been infecting people across the world.  America, Brazil, India, and Argentina seem to be the worst hit at the moment.  In order to best prepare for the flu, it’s important to know if you’ve been in contact with infected people and when you’ll start showing symptoms if you are.

The incubation period for swine flu appears to be about 48 hours for most people.  That means they will be asympomatic while infected for 48 hours.  Something to note, however, is that they can be contagious up to a day before showing symptoms.  If you think you’ve been in contact with someone that has swine flu, it’s best to isolate yourself for a day or two to see if you’re sick with the virus.  

While the incubation period for the flu is important, you’ll also want to know how long you can be contagious after symptoms.  Studies have shown that many people can be contagious for up to a week after symptoms and some even after two weeks.  The best thing you can do if you’ve been infected with the flu is to stay away from others for at least 5 days after symptoms have resolved, especially around high-risk groups.

Here are some tips to help you optimize your chances of survival after you’ve been in contact with or contracted the swine flu:

Watch for signs of secondary infection after you’ve been infected with the swine flu.  The best way to know if you are suffering from a secondary infection is if you start to make a recovery and then get sicker a couple days later.  If this happens, you should go to the hospital right away.  Many people actually die from MRSA, Strep, or pneumonia after catching the flu.  These are still flu-related deaths, but aren’t actually from the swine flu.  This is because it destroys your immune system and leaves your lungs raw and open to infection. Stay hydrated.  The flu has great capability to dehydrate you while you’re infected.  This is because you’ll likely run a fever and the flu can also induce dysentary and vomiting, both of which lead to dehydration.  Being dehydrated lowers your immune system and will make you more sick.  So make sure you drink plenty of water! Take Tamiflu right away if you’re sick.  While the flu is slowly becoming resistant to the antiviral, it is still the first line of defense against this deadly virus.  If you can, take it while the virus is still in its incubation period.  That is, take it as a preventative dose.  Some doctors won’t give you a prescription for that, however. Stay calm and make sure you prepare for the worst.  This means stockpile enough food for at least 2 weeks and make sure that you’ll be able to survive if the flu hits your community particularly hard.  Some good news is that the flu only seems to infect about 5% of the population per “wave” in a community, coming back later to infect more.  If this continues to be a trend, then there might not be as large of an overload per community as originally anticipated.

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