Everyone should be paying some attention to the recent increase in reported Influenza Like Infections (ILI) as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported numbers are rising rapidly.  A cold is manageable with symptoms which we are familiar, but the flu is like you have been run over by a dump truck.  Severe body aches all over which could last for a week or more, etc.  I am not a doc, so I will leave the medicine to those who are qualified, but I am an emergency planner.  The numbers reporting flu symptoms will soon reach pandemic proportions here in the U.S.  Already, Europe is reporting the flu as a pandemic.  Watch this flu virus.  Get yourself a home flu kit (aspirin, Tylenol, Aleve, mineral fluid replacements, Imodium-D, etc.) or what ever your mother would use to help you through.

If you are vulnerable to the flu with a weakened condition, it would not be a time to be visiting the mall for a morning walk.  There are precautions that you can take that will lessen your chances for the virus, mainly washing your hands a lot, avoiding crowds, and especially avoiding neighbors and family with flu symptoms.  Care giving is one thing that we all sign on for as a parent or a spouse, but you should not expose yourself needlessly.  Please watch the news and read the newspaper for information. Take care of yourself and family.