Top Tips for the Flu Season

It’s coming. I can feel it in the air. On the subway every time someone coughs, I look up to see if I can move a little further. As I exit the train, I immediately reach for hand wash to remove any of the dirt on my hands.【小题1】

If you are young and healthy, it’s most likely that you will just feel uncomfortable for a week or two, miss some work or study. If you are elderly, have medical problems, or are a young child, you may not be so lucky. 【小题2】 Depending on the year, between 3,000 and 49,000 people die.

The best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated(接种疫苗). 【小题3】 However, it still offers considerable protection. In adults, the vaccine is 59 percent protective on average. For children the story is better. Clearly, we need better vaccines but it’s still a really good idea to get vaccinated.

Can the flu shot give you the flu? You may have an arm pain or a little fever, but the injection does not contain a live virus and cannot give you the flu.

【小题4】 It isn’t clear how long protection lasts and if the vaccine protects against different flus for only one year.

Finally, here is some advice for what to do if you get the flu.

• 【小题5】

• Stay at home until your fever has been gone for at least 24 hours. That will reduce the number of people you give this to.

Best wishes for a happy flu season!

An aspirin a day keeps the doctor away

Dr. Tim Johnson discusses evidence of a daily dose of aspirin’s benefits. That’s not the saying, but doctors have agreed, for about a generation, that an aspirin a day is good for you. It may reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes by 20 percent or more.

The US Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group convened by the Department of Health and Human Services, has published guidelines that it says should end the confusion.

The key points:

.1. Men should start a daily aspirin at age 45, mainly to protect against heart attacks.

.2. Women should start at 55, mainly to protect against stroke.

.3. For both sexes, a baby aspirin-typically 81 milligram a day-will do the job. There is no evidence that a large dose makes a difference.

.4. And both sexes should stop by age 80, unless their doctors say otherwise. As you get older, there’s a greater risk of bleeding in the brain or the digestive system, a risk that is small but can be deadly in some cases.

If people start taking aspirin as the guidelines, doctors say their risk of heart attacks will drop by about 20 percent. “People may ask themselves ‘Am I at risk for a heart attack or a stroke?’” said Dr. Randal Thomas, director ofcardiovas-cular health at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota “If. you are age 45 and male, if you’re above age 55 and female, the answer is most likely yes, and you will most likely benefit from taking a small dose of aspirin a day.

There are 8.8 million blind people in India. In fact, there are 36 million blind people worldwide and a quarter of them are in India; however, many cases of blindness in India are curable. The poor in India have limited access to primary eye healthcare and often do not eat foods rich in micronutrients, like vitamins and minerals, which play an important role in maintaining good eye health.

Many people worldwide are not even aware that they may have a vision (视力) problem simply because they do not get their eyes tested every year with a doctor, who tests for the functioning of the eye muscles (肌肉), as well as common diseases like night blindness. This exam is strongly recommended by experts because some changes in vision, which the patient may take longer to notice, can be found easily in this way.

Certain simple changes in diet and lifestyle can ensure better eye health for you. These include drinking plenty-of water, not smoking, and eating brightly colored and leafy fruit and vegetables. Wearing sunglasses protects your eyes from the sun, which damages otherwise healthy eyes. Learn about your family's eye disease history, and be on the lookout for any problem about your vision. Make sure that you see a doctor immediately for early intervention(干预) if you see any of these signs of worsening eye health.