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Preparing for H1N1 in the office: Tech and flu prevention

Aug 15, 2009 22:30

Yes, it's so cute. It's also deadly. I'm getting swamped by calls: From a friend at the office having the flu--what does he do? Should he shut the office down? Where can he get a Tamiflu injection? He's heard the vaccine is out, but where can he buy some? Can I get him some Tamiflu? We're so advanced, can't we do anything about this flu? Some answers, not all, are relatively straightforward.

"Ah but then", the rest I will qualify with the statement "on a case-to-case basis". Bear in mind, I am NOT a specialist in this field, but have been observing things as they go by, from a medical perspective.

Preparing for an employee in the office with Tamiflu
It's going to be inevitable that one of your collegues or employees is going to be hit by H1N1. It's not going to be confirmed as H1N1 at first. The most common scenario would be someone who has been having a flu, and after an Influenza Rapid test, will get results as Influenza A. This is when "it" hits the fan and you would probably end up waiting for some time to get your nasal swab done for a more specific H1N1 test.

H1N1 is a subset of the Influenza A virus. So with a three-day waiting period, it's time to notify your employer and inevitably your colleagues will get into the know... yada yada yada.

Now what to do?
Patient gets treated as per the clinical opinion of the treating doctor. Ideally, home quarantine till H1N1 results are out. People in contact with the patient in the office (contact defined as 2m for 1-hour duration) should be aware that they have been in contact with the flu, and should take precautionary measures to monitor themselves for the fever (when it is more than 38 degrees Celcius). Once they have a fever, they become a patient, and the cycle starts from the top.

Hopefully, the initially sick people will be well and come to work after their colleagues fall sick.

I don't know if people who have had H1N1 already, will get it again. So far, there has been nothing specific reported.

Continuity of work at the office
If everyone gets five days of medical leave, the "it" really hits the fan when there's no continuity of work! So prevention is going to be much better than fixing for the contingency plan.

SCREEN ALL people at the workplace daily. Really meaning all... from the GM to the tea lady. Contactless thermometers are the most effective at screening, and much cheaper than the ear probe type of thermometers as no disposable sheath is needed.

Those with a runny noses need a mask so they don't spread viruses in an incubation period. The incubation period of H1N1 is exactly unknown but expected to be one to seven days.

Maintain a high level of hygiene in the office. Get alcohol wipes to wipe down all shared equipment such as mice and keyboards. Make alcohol gel rubs accessible at entrances of the office or anywhere convienient. Consider Hepa Air purifier filters in conference rooms and offices.

Tamiflu is not an injection, it's an oral antiviral medication, currently in scarce supply due to hoarding. Hoarding is not by the common person, but more by the Governments and private companies that have planned for a pandemic. (Don't worry, almost nobody planned for the pandemic very well.) This oral Tamiflu is very much available through major hospitals once the treating doctor has identified the need for it in a patient.

The mentioned flu injection is the Influenza Vaccine or Flu shot, which does not offer specific H1N1 prophylaxis. BUT it still does give you some immunity to other strains of flus. So it's worth getting that flu shot if you hven't had it yet.

Take care of the children
Unofficial reports mention that there is an unexpected and unexplainably high death rate among the young in Asia compared with the rest of the world. Don't take flu in a child for granted even though you think there has not been exposure to H1N1. Get the kid checked out. 

As for tech and flu prevention: Here's my Laser Contactless Thermometer. It has other uses, such as checking the temperature of my warm Vodkha. :) It actually senses infrared and the laser is just for pointing to the heat source. It's supposed to be pointed at your forehead and requires calibration every time the enviromental conditions change. Mine's an industrial version, so it measures 0-100 degrees Celcius. Regular home-use contactless thermometers measure about 32-50 degrees Celcius only.



Also something else I'm fond of in the office is the air purifier. Here's my "clean the air" gizmo.



A non-financially challenging DeLonghi seven-stage filter air purifier, this cleans up to a 20sqm room. It'll probably work for six months till the Hepa Filters get clogged up, and becomes a health hazard rather than anything else, but the internal UV light should help some. Ideally, offices should have a bunch of industrial versions in the office. I used to have three industrial strength ones in my workplace though. (But then,, that was the Spine Surgery Operation Theater... LOL.)



Non-financially challenging, seven-stage filter. Good enough.

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