Advice Issued By NHS D&G As Result Of Winter Flu Outbreak

Advice is being offered in Dumfries and Galloway on how to manage the flu and how to help prevent the spread of the virus.

As people across the region suffer as a result of the seasonal outbreak sweeping the country, Elaine Ross from NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s Infection Control Team has addressed the current situation and what measures people can take.

Advising anyone currently suffering from the flu, Elaine said: “It’s a case of taking simple painkillers to ease the aches and pains, and drinking plenty of fluids – make sure you avoid getting dehydrated.

“If you already have the flu we’d advise people to follow the message ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’.

“So if you are coughing, make sure you have plenty of paper tissues with you, and make sure you throw those away properly and then use alcohol hand rub – which works very well in helping to prevent the illness being spread.

“And if you don’t have the flu, it’s not too late to get the vaccine. You can get that at a High Street pharmacy, so you don’t even need to go to the doctors. If you’re not sure if you’re eligible, you can pay for it at a High Street pharmacy.”

Dumfries and Galloway is currently awaiting information from Health Protection Scotland about the national picture, and how the region compares with others as it deals with the seasonal outbreak.

However, Elaine suggests Dumfries and Galloway may simply have been one of the first places in Scotland to be hit by a virus which is making its way up through the UK.

She said: “My sense is that it’s crept up from England, so I think it’s going to be a ‘temperature’ which is going to rise all over Scotland.”

Media attention has focussed on the so-called ‘Aussie Flu’, but this is in fact a standard strain which historically is also commonplace Scotland.

Elaine said: “The ‘Aussie Flu’, H3 N2, is the same strain that was circulating last year and is not unusual. These viruses spread very easily when groups of people congregate, as they do over the festive season. This year we have seen a large number of community cases of flu A and B admitted to hospital, including the strain H3 N2.”

Explaining that vaccination introduces people to a dead form of the virus in order to help develop immunity from strains including H3 N2, Elaine Ross said: “If people are vaccinated, you’ve got a good chance of being vaccinated against the Aussie Flu.”

And in Dumfries and Galloway, the move to single bed patient rooms with the new £213 million Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary is being credited in part with helping to prevent the spread of flu – with the Infection Control Team explaining that to date not a single case of flu has been transferred from one patient to another.

However, Elaine said: “If you’re suffering from the flu, please don’t come into hospital to visit or go and visit your granny if she’s at home and poorly.”

For further advice on flu and dealing with its symptoms, a great first point of call is your local pharmacist.

And that support is available over the weekend, including Sundays, with Boots High Street, Dumfries, open every Sunday from 12 noon to 4 pm, and as part of a six month pilot rota project in Wigtownshire, this Sunday Creebridge Mill pharmacy is open in Newton Stewart.