Latest news on swine flu and travel

Swine flu is no reason to cancel travel plans, say travel experts, and there are fast and easy ways to minimize your exposure.
 

So hop on a plane but remember to wash your hands along the way.
 

“Sure, there are hazards abroad, they say – malaria, hepatitis, political mayhem. But the H1N1 flu is not among the big threats,” says Canwest News Service.
 

Dr. David Colby, who runs a medicine clinic in London, Ontario, and teaches medicine at the University of Western Ontario, said:
 

“There are always places where you really shouldn’t go because of political instability and that type of thing. But overall, in terms of traveling, this is not any worse than any other time, and because of the (recession), the economic opportunities for travel have probably not been this good in some time.”
 

He said it’s a great time to travel.
 

He’s often asked: should people delay their trips till after the flu pandemic?
 

“Absolutely not. This flu is incredibly mild. It has a lower mortality than our regular seasonal influenza, so I wouldn’t let this dissuade me from traveling anywhere.”
 

He said that’s true even in Mexico.
 

“It (the number of deaths there) still wasn’t very high. It was higher, and we don’t know why, but there seem to have been pockets of influenza that have struck particularly unhealthy people,” he said.
 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t bother to tell travelers how to avoid flu abroad, noting that the bug is all over the United States anyway. It counsels people with flu-like symptoms not to travel, or, if they’re already abroad, to cover their sneezes, wash often, and stay in their hotel rooms.
 

The bottom line: if you are healthy enough to travel, you should be fine, Colby said.
 

“There are no travel advisories (government health warnings about flu) at present to any international location . . . and I don’t believe one has to alter their international plans,” added Dr. Shariz Haider, who runs the international health and tropical medicine clinic at McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton.
 

But he did urge common sense preventive measures such as washing hands.
 

“But just as health officials are recommending the population at large take certain preventive measures against contracting (and spreading) swine flu, there are specific ways for travelers to protect themselves in the event of another outbreak,” writes the New York Daily News.
 

Obviously, don’t travel if you’re sick, is their advice.
 

Those with flu-like symptoms (fever, sore throat, runny nose, cough, headache, body aches and chills) should avoid travel for seven days after they get sick or for at least 24 hours after they stop having symptoms — whichever is longer.
 

Travelers in high-risk groups – including children under five, seniors, pregnant women, people with weak immune systems and those with chronic conditions like asthma – should consult a doctor before traveling to areas with reported cases of swine flu.
 

It’s also important to know how the country you’re traveling to deals with the virus, adds the newspaper.
 

Russia, for example, "is in a panic about people there traveling to the US," says Dr. Anatoly Belilovsky, whose Brooklyn pediatric center handled hundreds of swine flu cases this year.

"They actually check people’s temperature [at the airport] and isolate them if it’s high."
 

Finally, more good advice repeated: practice good hand hygiene while abroad – wash often, and wash well.
 

“Even if there are no swine flu germs, airplane rest rooms are practically flying petri dishes anyway.,” says the NY News.
 

By David Wilkening