Swine Flu: ‘Air kisses are threat’
Saturday 19th September 2009, 2:58PM BST.
Dr Susan Turnbull.
AIR kissing and cheek-to-cheek pecks could be under threat in Jersey to stop the spread of swine flu, health officials have warned.
The French have ‘banned’ the traditional kiss on the cheek in the belief it can spread the disease in seconds and now Jersey’s Deputy Medical Officer of Health has confirmed that they might also rethink their policy.
Some French schools and companies are telling students and employees to avoid the social ritual ‘la bise’ out of a fear the swine flu pandemic could make it the ‘kiss of death’ or at least illness this winter.
Susan Turnbull, Jersey’s Deputy Medical Officer of Health, said: ‘We have discussed this issue in Jersey when initially developing our public hygiene campaign earlier this summer, but the view was taken that it would not be included explicitly. Perhaps we should look at the issue again in view of the policy in France.’
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An excellent precaution. I have never liked it when strange women want to kiss me.
We should also ban shaking hands as that is likely to transmit as many infections.
I recently had to attend a funeral and several relatives of the guest of honour had just flown here from England. I am sure they thought I was being rude when I would neither shake hands nor kiss them but I was taking the advice I had been given.
The ban should be announced now rather than wait until the latest flu and other diseases have become more of a problem.
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What a load of garbage! mind you at least we know the politicians’ are unlikely to get swine flu, I for one wouldn’t blow kisses or peck any of them on the cheek!!!
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What next, no hand shaking!!
Can anyone see a service that could be cut here? At least it will help health save a few pennies, may be give them to our overworked and underpaid nurses.
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Get a grip!!
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Absolutely lets follow the French example and avoid the “kiss of death” best we don’t look at one another or go out of the house either, lest we catch what is basically a cold.
Look this flu is going to sweep the island, just like every other strain of flu, we will get sick ( mildly ) watch daytime tv ( the worse part ) and get better.
Still I’m not concerned, I’ll panic when they tell us not to panic.
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Sensible flu-prevention precautions are necessary, but all this hysteria-generated adrenalin weakens the immune system…and an underactive immune response is the last thing we need during a novel flu pandemic…or is it?
Well, I suppose it depends on which way one looks at things.
On one hand, an underactive immune response means the immune system won’t fire all it’s guns at once, therefore, there will be less risk of a potentially-lethal cytokine storm.
On the other hand, an underactive immune response will allow microbes to get too strong a foothold in our lungs and we’ll be unable to breath…and that’s pretty deadly too!
This is an example of the contradictory information the public is faced with.
So how about some “what-to-believe-and-what-not-to-believe” info instead of these “scare-em” tactics…please.
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One only has to look at the Royal Family in England they will not shake hands or touch anyone without gloves on.
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I almost needed the Health Dept when I split my sides reading Ms Turnballs comments….
Who is paying for this scare-mongering propaganda? Not kissing? er it’s a sneezy cold, sore throat which, sadly does terminally effect 1 in 1000 with severe other medical matters but the rest of us who get “the flu” or worse still “man flu” will suffer with runny noses & then carry on living. For someone with that “public authority” talking gibberish is making a laughing stock of all the hard working nurses/doctors in the Health Dept….
Shall we have a snogathon?!?!?
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this is total nonsense! what next no touching door handles, drinking glasses, knife and fork,no touching anything!!stay indoors, don,t go to school/work, no holidays, don,t get on a bus, don,t walk the street avoid this and avoid that,everyone must wear an all in one white suit with a goldfish bowl on yer head!!!!…on yer bike public health!!!!
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What a load of nonsense. It’s a flu, we get flu every year, this one is really no different.
Basic hygiene is important ALL the time and that message needs to get across. We need to stop the increasing trend of not washing hands after using the toilet, this aids more fatal conditions than flu.
I understand that this could simply be a chance to test responses to a possible biological attack, from the way the UK is reacting to a simple flu it certainly seems this is a possibility, however, MORE education on basic hygiene (especially among drunks) would be our best bet!
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I went to the dental department at the hospital the other day, they have a lable by the entrance with disinfectant to wipe your hands before you go in. That’s a very good idea, but what if I sneeze once inside?? Will they evacuate the building? Swine flu is no different than normal flu.
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deputy dog 9
…a goldfish bowl on yer head!!!!
Now there’s an idea!
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This is really an excellent precaution.kissing and cheek-to-cheek pecks should be avoided to stop the spread of swine flu.
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Surely its better a few of us catch the pig fly now (and get immunity)so it spreads slowly while the weather is not on the viruses side, than us all wait till the cold wet weather when it will spread like wildfire and inundate our overstretched medical services ?
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Dont they just love advising us and scaremongering
any-one would think they were comparing this to the great plague in the 16 centry.
maybe next they will put red crosses on our doors,
shouting bring out the dead LOL
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leah – totally agree i’ve had 3 friends diagnosed with swine flu and guess what? They just thought it was regular flu and were only off work for 2 days!!! Can you believe theyre making money out of swine flu by branding “swine flu prevention wipes”
really i’m not joking look for yourself – i almost fell over laughing
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I agree Lula. I’ll do my damndest to not get it (as I would any flu) because of my immune system, but the normal precautions are all it takes.
They can (and undoubtedly will) say this strain is far more virulent and more deadly but, in fact, we’ll NEVER know because everyone who has flu symptoms is being told they HAVE swine flu!
So it will turn out to be the worst flu we’ve ever had by virtue of the fact we don’t actually know if most of us have had it or not! Hilarious, if it wasn’t so pathetic.
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#14, Bella, if any of you end up having it I would be very grateful if you could arrange some outward indicator (other than coughing and sneezing)
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Leah
I was at doctors last week and asked him the gen on the flu .he told me most people only get 2 or 3 types of flu in a life time and build up their own immunity just by having had the flu and will quickly shake off any future threats if they came into contact with it again,and as they mostly are all the same.
however he did tell me chest infections are sometimes far more serious than flu and are sometimes mistaken for the flu as they have the same symptoms.
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Lula (15)
I saw that, in Checkers. “Swine Flu Wipes” Even the generic antibacterial wipes are no good any more.
And not sure if anyone else has seen this, but offices are handing out antibacterial gel to all the staff to combat the spread of swine flu…
This will not work, as swine flu is a VIRUS, which cannot be killed by antiBACTERIAl gels…
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Bella, he’s right. People with underlying problems are the exception. I’ve only had real flu (not just a bad cold) once in my life, so even with a bad immune system I’ve managed to avoid it. I will continue to try and avoid it as it is extremely unpleasant.
On the other hand chest infections like pleurisy and pneumonia can be missed, or can even creep up on people and not be noticed till it’s too late. My dad had ‘silent pneumonia’, practically no symptoms until one day he stopped breathing. We are very lucky that it happened close to a hospital and he is still with us.
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I would suggest all sufferers are made to put a notice round their neck or else have a H & S person assigned to them to walk ahead ringing a bell shouting “Unclean,unclean”.
The sooner we all build an immunity to this flu strain the better. And stop comparing us to the Mexicans. They are basically descendants of the Aztecs who were practically wiped out by the common cold,smallpox etc.introduced by early European explorers and who even today have less natural immune resistance in their make up as their climate does not lend itself to flu type illnesses.
On the other hand us European seafaring and now air-travelling nations have been exposed to centuries of illnesses and virus from all over the Globe and still are.Some we win against and some we don’t but eventually we develop a natural immunity.
We still need to take care to maintain reasonable hygiene standards.
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Leah, at least you have the satisfaction to have had proper flu once. The women in my office are adamant that men have never had the proper flu, but just bad colds. They said that I wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed if I’d had the proper flu. I asked them if I was allowed to get out of bed should there be a fire, but they hadn’t thought of that eventuality. I did incur illness bonus points recently though as I was diagnosed with bronchitis AND pharyngitis. They couldn’t give me a low score with that combination.
What’s the similarity between the Queen, Michael Jackson and Audley Harrison?
They all wear gloves for no apparent reason.
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Perhaps transport and technical services should begin to disinfect the streets and roads. I have ssen this in effect in Sweden and they have a very high mortality rate.
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I would advise taking all precautions we can against swine flu. It’s nothing to joke about.
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Sorry Bob, sounds like you’ve had some time of it from womenkind.
Woman are as bad as men at saying they have the flu rather than the cold, or ‘depression’ rather than a crummy day. With flu you will be pretty much bed-bound at its peak, but I did get
outside as soon as I could for fresh air.
Still, for most of it I would have just about managed to get out should the building have been on fire.
I have sympathy for your pharyngitis, it’s not nice, and it can do permanent damage so take it easy on the talking.
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I’m still trying to catch Bird Flu let alone Swine Flu……probably a new strain of fish flu will come and go before this happens
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Bob Flemming 23
The women in your office are probably right.
I thought I’d had flu many times until I got the real thing in 2007, and I’m telling you, I could hardly lift my head off the pillow!
As for bronchitis AND pharyngitis, child’s play in comparison! I’ve had both, plus bronchiolitis and pneumonia (because when I do things I do them properly!) and although they are far more serious (and take longer to recover from), they are definitely lower on the “How-ill-can-you-feel” scale.
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Nick (22)
I think you’ll find that most modern day Mexicans are descended from the Spaniards.
As you rightly pointed out, the aztecs were largely wiped out…
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BS Deluxe; if you’re lucky you might catch both. Hmm, and pigs might fly – HONK!
Thanks Leah; luckily I don’t talk very much, so the old pharynx will probably be fine.
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Born Warrior
If you want to collect a pension I suggest you have a serious look at your lifestyle.
I hope you have private medical and are not making us taxpayers pay for your indulgencies.
PS. Try hepatitis next, “awesome”
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PJG
I’m happy to say that I have a very healthy lifestyle. I don’t smoke, don’t drink, I take regular exercise, I’m not overweight and I follow a very healthy vegetarian diet. Unfortunately, I travel a lot for work and while away I picked up a wicked chest infection that passed from bronchistis, to bronchiolitis an then pneumonia! All of which put me in hospital, and kept me away from work for a month. Not my fault, it was all those people who were coughing and sneezing on my long-haul flights!
And remember, viruses hit healthy people as well!
P.S. I won’t be retiring for a good while yet, and yes I have excellent medi-care cover, so your “tax contributions” are safe and sound!
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Can someone explain to me how much Ms Turnbull and her boss Ms Gellar cost? And then explain why the Health Department needs more money?
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#(32)
Another good reason not to fly.
planes are a breeding pit for germs.
The same air is circulating round and round because they keep the ventilation too low to save money.
At one time the air conditioning was on full as you entered.
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Dr.Turnbull’s turn to freak us out now is it,must be taking it in turns with Uri’s sister in order to dilute the ridicule factor…Ooh look Rosemary the French are doing,abc, next week the Brits will be doing xyz…let’s follow them.so if all they are doing is following these twerps why do we need to pay ‘em….? whilst this “Air kissing is basically pretentious fake affection anyway..lets have some proper kissing after all there is little pleasure left in life here that is not already taxed…so let’s get out there and do some real down the throat tongueing and may the Devil take the hindmost
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What type of example are our world leaders giving us on this very serious issue!
Gordon Brown and his wife involved in elaborate hugs and kisses with President Barack Obama and his gorgeous wife Michelle in New York!!
Absolute disgrace!!
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What is the differance between air kissing and talking?… or for that matter breathing!
All three involve blowing air out of your lungs and mouth at some point in the vicinity of other people!
Maybe we should all be given life support suits and speak to each other through radios!
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Is it still ok to do air guitar though!!
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Nick, the only difference is that air kisses (who honestly does that anyway?!?!?) will normally take you closer to the person than just talking would, and breathing doesn’t force air out as much as air kisses or things like coughing and sneezing.
But you’re right, I vote that we all start using sign language, OR we attach battery-operated fans to our shoulders and foreheads that blow away any air coming towards us? I’m already contemplating that one for walking past crowds of smokers anyway.
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Leah Holmes 39
I was seriously thinking about 9′s “goldfish-bowl-on-yer-head” solution for my next long-haul flight, but your “forehead-mounted-battery-operated-whirlwind-attachment” is not a bad idea either…hmmmm…not bad at all!
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Thank God for that, my excuse about having a cold sore is waring thin, I hate that pretentious air kissing especially when you meet strangers. That’s my excuse from now on. Well done Dr Bull!
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