PLAN TO PROTECT

Understand how the immune system works and use your knowledge to protect your family against this winter’s germ attacks. By Margot Bertelsmann

BRACE YOURSELF! Winter is coming... While crisp, cold weather and lots more cuddles can be lovely, the downside of the season is a far greater likelihood that colds and flu will be hitting your family. Believe it or not, scientists still aren’t sure why the viruses and germs that cause winter woes affect us more when temperatures plummet. It could be that they live longer in winter, or that they spread more easily when we spend more time indoors.

Your best plan is to aim for prevention, but arm yourself with knowledge of what to do when the germs break through your defences.

STAY DRY AND WARM

It is not true that being cold and wet will make your child get sick. What is true is that it gives viruses and bacteria an advantage as they might live longer in certain conditions, such as high humidity or at certain temperatures. A person actually needs to inhale or ingest the bacteria or virus to get sick – and these could be airborne, or transmitted via bodily fluids such as saliva and faeces, or transferred by touching infected surfaces. By keeping your child dry and warm, though, you put at least a small hurdle in the germs’ path.

GET YOUR SHOTS

A flu vaccine is a great way to start your family’s counterattack. A vaccine works by injecting a small or modified amount of the virus into your children’s bodies. It sounds crazy, but doing so allows their bodies to mount an immune response by making antibodies that recognise that particular virus. When the “real” virus attacks their body, they are armed against it and their body has a far better chance of fighting it off.

Unfortunately the vaccine does not give 100 % protection, though, because every year the flu virus mutates. Last year’s flu is different to this year’s flu. Make very sure that you don’t get given the previous year’s vaccine as it may not protect you. You want the most current

one. (It is usually available from about March onwards.)

Scientists at labs worldwide develop annual flu vaccines to try to target the particular strain currently rampaging through the world. If Swedes contract a particular strain of flu, it’s then possible that South Africans can be protected from that strain via the vaccine by the time our winter comes around a few months later.

Keep in mind, though, that you might still get sick if you contract a different strain of cold and flu. In such a case, it is not that the vaccine didn’t work – it just didn’t cover you for whatever you came into contact with.

WHO SHOULD BE VACCINATED?

Dr Mariana Lucic, a paediatrician at the Netcare Park Lane Hospital in Johannesburg, says she highly recommends all healthy children should receive the flu vaccine every year from the time they are six months old.

“Pregnancy lowers your immunity so pregnant women should definitely also be vaccinated. Acutely very ill children should not be vaccinated, neither should those people with previously demonstrated severe allergic reactions to vaccines,” she says. IMMUNITY CRASH COURSE Immunity starts to develop from birth, but up to the age of six months you don’t yet have all the antibodies you need to fight disease. That is why babies are more prone to getting ill.

To build up immunity, exposure to small amounts of viruses and bacteria are necessary. This is bound to happen naturally, simply by babies living in the world and touching the same surfaces and breathing the same air as other people, and yes, it does mean they can occasionally become ill.

“A good way to limit the risk is to vaccinate a very young baby’s parents, caregivers and older siblings against influenza,” says Dr Lucic. “Also try to avoid crowded, closed places.”

Breastfeeding mothers do have a card up their sleeves. It is the best thing you can do to protect your young baby from disease as breastmilk contains antibodies from the mother which the baby can use to fight disease and build up immunity. It’s a fact: breastfed babies get sick less.

Lastly, practise good hygiene. Wash your and your children’s hands regularly – certainly after every nappy change and before meals – and clean your household surfaces with an antibacterial cleaner. Teach your children from a young age not to touch surfaces when you’re out in public. Also teach them how to cough in the crook of their elbow, as this is proven to be the best way to limit the spread of germs. (Coughing on the hand only transfers the germs to the hand, which, let’s be honest, few of us wash after every cough.) Make sure that tissues are disposed of properly too.

HOW TO TREAT COLDS AND FLU

Colds and flu can be viral or bacterial, but most commonly it is a virus that strikes first. Viruses are self-limiting – meaning they will go away when they go away, and there is not much you can do to hasten their departure. Your child’s body will fight the virus on its own, and you can help by making the conditions favourable for this: ✓ Let them rest ✓ Give them plenty of fluids ✓ Treat their aches and pains symptomatically, such as with painkillers and vitamin supplements ✓ Supply nutritious meals but don’t expect them to eat much, and ✓ Keep your child home from school

ROLE OF ANTIBIOTICS

Proceed with caution. Antibiotics are overused on a massive scale. The problem is that bacteria are developing antibiotic resistance, and are no longer being killed off by our existing range of antibiotics. So-called “superbugs” are outwitting our existing antibiotics in the “arms race” between medicine and bugs. This is a global health concern, with drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis of particular concern in Africa, and it’s worth bearing in mind next time you want to ask your doctor for a prescription. YB

Pregnancy lowers your immunity so pregnant women should also be vaccinated