You've got a high fever, headache, cough, sore throat, runny nose, extreme exhaustion and every muscle is aching to the core. Yes, you have the flu. After a week of serious suffering, the worst symptoms depart, but the battle leaves you feeling limp for two weeks or longer.
Influenza, the major cause of absenteeism from work during the winter season, costs American companies an estimated 32 million hours in lost employee production each year.
As a small-business owner, you can ill-afford several days in bed and several more feeling well below par. Neither can you afford to have valued employees laid up or feeling less than their best. There is no sure way to avoid the flu, but there are things you can do to lessen the risk for yourself and your team.
Stress prevention
Influenza is a contagious respiratory virus spread from person to person in droplets from coughs and sneezes, or by touching contaminated surfaces. Most apparently healthy adults infect others beginning the day prior to symptoms developing and up to five days after they become visibly ill.
Flu can be a serious matter. Every year in the United States, on average, 5 to 20 percent of the population gets the flu. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized from complications, and about 36,000 people (mostly the elderly, those with weakened immune systems, the seriously ill and children) die from the disease.
The single best way to prevent influenza is to be immunized each year. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, employers across the United States typically purchase a total of 10- to 20-million flu shots to sponsor free clinics.
That makes economic sense: The cost of injections averaged $28 in 2006, but influenza costs nearly $400 per employee in lost work and medical expenses, according to McGraw Wentworth, a Michigan consulting firm.
In past years, ComPsych Corp. found that its annual workplace flu shot program dramatically reduced worker absenteeism. Only seven percent of employees vaccinated missed work because of flu, versus 40 percent of those who were unvaccinated.
It takes two weeks for immunization to take full effect. Since the peak flu season begins in December (lasting through early March), October to mid- November is the best time to get in line for the jab.
Hygiene helps
The best thing anybody can do when suffering with the flu is to stay home in a self-imposed quarantine and avoid spreading the disease to others. Good personal hygiene is another necessity.
One of the simplest measures is washing your hands. Rub them vigorously together and scrub all surfaces for 15 to 20 seconds. The soap, combined with the scrubbing action, helps dislodge and remove viruses. If soap and water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based waterless hand cleanser. Rub the gel in your hands until they are dry. The fast-acting alcohol significantly reduces the number of microbes on the skin.
Habits like covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing are important. Also, watch where you touch. Diseases are often spread when people touch a contaminated object, then touch their eyes, nose or mouth. Germs can live for a long time (some for two hours or more) on surfaces like door handles, steering wheels, tools, tables and grocery carts. That's all the more reason to wash your hands.
Got it anyway
Despite practicing prevention, people still catch the flu. Most often, the cure is nothing more than bed rest and drinking plenty of fluids. Water, juice and warm soups prevent dehydration. (Chicken soup really does help by breaking up congestion.)
If taken soon after symptoms develop, an antiviral medication may shorten the illness by a day or so. These prescription drugs, which treat Influenza A and B, work by deactivating an enzyme the virus needs to grow and spread.