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American Morning
Flu Fears
Aired December 11, 2003 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the workplace we know can be an absolute breeding ground for the influenza. And, wow, this is your topic of the week, isn't it?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really is.
HEMMER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us with some tips and some good ones, too.
GUTPA: And we're walking around CNN, a hard-working group of people here, no question.
HEMMER: Yes, they are.
GUTPA: The flu shot we've talked a lot about, but that is still going to be your best defense against getting the flu. But it has its concerns as we've talked about.
Other five practical tips to try and stay healthy at the workplace. First of all, if you're sick -- and these are pretty common and sensible -- but if you're stick, stay home. What does sick mean? That's a tough one. Sometimes a fever over 101.5, muscle aches. A flu will oftentimes comes on suddenly versus a cold which oftentimes takes a little bit of time. Avoid crowds as well. You want to be a little bit of a hermit during this flu season. Try and stay away from those crowds as well. Three feet away from people. Try and separate people here a little bit, about three feet away from each other. That's always a good thing. Sanitize common surfaces and wash your hands frequently.
All pretty important tips here, common sense things you can do.
HEMMER: We talk about washing hands all the time. The other thing is don't touch your eyes.
GUTPA: That's right, don't touch...
HEMMER: Because there's one place where you can really take the effects quickly.
HEMMER: Your hand is going to be the biggest transmitter of the flu virus this flu season, your hands more than anything else.
HEMMER: You brought some tools?
GUTPA: Let's talk about this a little bit. You know, your hands, you know, oftentimes you can't get to the bathroom to wash your hands frequently, so just grab some of this hand sanitizer, put it right by your desk, right by Andrea (ph) here, right? Use that often, several times during the day. We talked about the hands and the nose. Keep some Kleenex close by as well.
HEMMER: Does that really help?
GUTPA: Yes, this stuff really helps. It's going to clean over 90 percent of the germs on your hands at any given time. Use it frequently, as you just saw Andrea (ph) do there as well.
Wipe down your surfaces. This is an interesting one. Wipe down your keyboardyoure your phone -- 99.9 percent of those germs will be taken care of by this. Just to put it in perspective, your keyboard and your phone have 400 times the number of germs as a toilet seat.
HEMMER: Is that right?
GUTPA: A little disgusting, but an important number to keep in mind.
HEMMER: Especially at breakfast.
GUTPA: People cover their toilet seat; wash your phones.
HEMMER: How often should you wash your hands a day?
GUTPA: You know, not just before meals. Wash them four or five times a day certainly. That's what people say..
HEMMER: And also depending on the activity as well. Opening the windows, dehumidifiers, people say that's good advice. Is it true or not?
GUTPA: And people do talk about it. First of all, there are no windows in here as it turns out. You know, you're used to that.
HEMMER: Welcome to work.
GUTPA: Right. But it really doesn't help either. Opening the windows, dehumidifiers...
HEMMER: Is that so?
GUTPA: ... they're really not shown to have any benefit in terms of cutting down bacteria overall.
HEMMER: A quick question, too, here. We're going to get your e- mails a little later. In fact, am@cnn.com, you can send them in to Sanjay if you have any questions for today. We'll get to them a bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING. Thirty-six thousand people a year die from the effects of the flu. We're already at the beginning of the season. Why is it that so many Americans are right now so concerned about this?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's tough. I think that everyone is saying that this is going to be a harder flu season. You've got a virus that hasn't been fully protected in the flu shot. So, you're working against both of those things harder and earlier, but 36,000, we talked about all of these kids, which are tragic stories. You talk about the elderly as well. There's probably going to be a lot more to come still, you know, if the numbers sort of keep up. Could it be 40,000 this year? Possibly, but this flu is a serious deal.
HEMMER: That's right. Thanks. Am@cnn.com in case you have questions. We'll see you next hour, all right?
GUPTA: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 11, 2003 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the workplace we know can be an absolute breeding ground for the influenza. And, wow, this is your topic of the week, isn't it?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really is.
HEMMER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us with some tips and some good ones, too.
GUTPA: And we're walking around CNN, a hard-working group of people here, no question.
HEMMER: Yes, they are.
GUTPA: The flu shot we've talked a lot about, but that is still going to be your best defense against getting the flu. But it has its concerns as we've talked about.
Other five practical tips to try and stay healthy at the workplace. First of all, if you're sick -- and these are pretty common and sensible -- but if you're stick, stay home. What does sick mean? That's a tough one. Sometimes a fever over 101.5, muscle aches. A flu will oftentimes comes on suddenly versus a cold which oftentimes takes a little bit of time. Avoid crowds as well. You want to be a little bit of a hermit during this flu season. Try and stay away from those crowds as well. Three feet away from people. Try and separate people here a little bit, about three feet away from each other. That's always a good thing. Sanitize common surfaces and wash your hands frequently.
All pretty important tips here, common sense things you can do.
HEMMER: We talk about washing hands all the time. The other thing is don't touch your eyes.
GUTPA: That's right, don't touch...
HEMMER: Because there's one place where you can really take the effects quickly.
HEMMER: Your hand is going to be the biggest transmitter of the flu virus this flu season, your hands more than anything else.
HEMMER: You brought some tools?
GUTPA: Let's talk about this a little bit. You know, your hands, you know, oftentimes you can't get to the bathroom to wash your hands frequently, so just grab some of this hand sanitizer, put it right by your desk, right by Andrea (ph) here, right? Use that often, several times during the day. We talked about the hands and the nose. Keep some Kleenex close by as well.
HEMMER: Does that really help?
GUTPA: Yes, this stuff really helps. It's going to clean over 90 percent of the germs on your hands at any given time. Use it frequently, as you just saw Andrea (ph) do there as well.
Wipe down your surfaces. This is an interesting one. Wipe down your keyboardyoure your phone -- 99.9 percent of those germs will be taken care of by this. Just to put it in perspective, your keyboard and your phone have 400 times the number of germs as a toilet seat.
HEMMER: Is that right?
GUTPA: A little disgusting, but an important number to keep in mind.
HEMMER: Especially at breakfast.
GUTPA: People cover their toilet seat; wash your phones.
HEMMER: How often should you wash your hands a day?
GUTPA: You know, not just before meals. Wash them four or five times a day certainly. That's what people say..
HEMMER: And also depending on the activity as well. Opening the windows, dehumidifiers, people say that's good advice. Is it true or not?
GUTPA: And people do talk about it. First of all, there are no windows in here as it turns out. You know, you're used to that.
HEMMER: Welcome to work.
GUTPA: Right. But it really doesn't help either. Opening the windows, dehumidifiers...
HEMMER: Is that so?
GUTPA: ... they're really not shown to have any benefit in terms of cutting down bacteria overall.
HEMMER: A quick question, too, here. We're going to get your e- mails a little later. In fact, am@cnn.com, you can send them in to Sanjay if you have any questions for today. We'll get to them a bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING. Thirty-six thousand people a year die from the effects of the flu. We're already at the beginning of the season. Why is it that so many Americans are right now so concerned about this?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's tough. I think that everyone is saying that this is going to be a harder flu season. You've got a virus that hasn't been fully protected in the flu shot. So, you're working against both of those things harder and earlier, but 36,000, we talked about all of these kids, which are tragic stories. You talk about the elderly as well. There's probably going to be a lot more to come still, you know, if the numbers sort of keep up. Could it be 40,000 this year? Possibly, but this flu is a serious deal.
HEMMER: That's right. Thanks. Am@cnn.com in case you have questions. We'll see you next hour, all right?
GUPTA: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
