What you need to know about Respiratory Etiquette, Antibiotics and Safe Medication

Respiratory Etiquette: Keeping Infectious Diseases At Bay
Do you know your respiratory etiquette? It includes simple actions and basic good health manners to prevent the spread of disease, says Luningning Villa, M.D., medical specialist IV of the Department of Health’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Many infectious diseases are contracted through droplets coming from the mouth and nose of an infected person. These diseases, which can be passed by coughing, sneezing or talking, include influenza, the common cold, pneumonia, bacterial meningitis, whooping cough, SARS, measles and chicken pox.

The DOH has issued guidelines on respiratory etiquette amid the threat of a bird flu pandemic and the possible transfer of the avian flu through human contact.

Start practicing respiratory etiquette today:

 
1. If sick, stay home to prevent passing on the virus-causing disease, or at least observe a one-meter distance from others.
2. Don’t share utensils, drinking glasses, towels, or other personal items, even when not ill.
3. Ideally, cover your mouth and nose with tissue or hanky whenever you sneeze, cough, or blow your nose. At the least, cover them with your hand, or cough into your sleeve.
4. Always wash your hands with soap and water before touching your eyes, nose, or mouth and when shaking hands. When there’s no water, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer will do.
5. Don’t spit on the floor or on the street. If this is unavoidable, spit into a trash bin or a small plastic bag.
6. Throw used tissue or plastic bags in the trash can. Wash used hankies separately from other clothing.

Click here to read more about antibiotics and rising medicine resistance.

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Use antibiotics wisely. Bad medication practices cause rising medicine resistance.
If you really want to get well, don’t misuse antibiotics. Camilo Roa. M.D., UP College of Medicine professor and past president of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians, warned recently that the Filipino habit of stopping medication before full recovery has given rise to antibiotic-resistant microbes, particularly those that cause pneumonia and influenza.

Roa said misuse of antibiotics occurs when patients take them when not really needed, fail to follow the dosing schedule, or substitute prescribed medicine with a lower milligram or inferior formulation. Such practices, he added, enable medicine-resistant strains to develop, leading to low cure rates, longer illness, and sometimes even death.

8 tips for safe medication
1. Do not take antibiotics for a viral infection like cold or flu.
2. Take antibiotics exactly as the doctor tells you.
3. Do not take antibiotics without a prescription.
4. Never take antibiotics prescribed for others.
5. Do not save some of your antibiotic for future use.
6. Protect yourself from infection—and prevent spreading it—by observing proper hygiene.
7. Keep your child up to date on immunizations.
8. If your child is sick, keep him out of school.

Photos: girl sneezing, pills