Various Times
The more healthy you are, the less contagious you’re ultimately going to be. This is because the length your body is infected with the sickness will naturally be shorter if your body can fight said infection more thoroughly. Keeping in good physical and mental shape, as well as eating healthy, can reduce the time you are contagious with the flu. But there are limits. Generally, you will be contagious with influenza anywhere from twenty-four hours after infection to five days after symptoms have developed. Symptoms can take several days to develop. Generally, you’re looking at a spread between three days and about a week, week and a half. Those who have compromised immune system may remain continuously contagious.
Keep From Passing It On
Cough into your sleeve or shoulder or tissue. Don’t cough into your hands, because you’re going to touch doorknobs, rails, and other people. If you can, wear a surgical mask; they’re usually pretty cheap and can be found at any Wal-Mart. Gloves are a good measure too. Don’t get too close to people; give them at the very least three feet of space. Wear a scarf and wrap your mouth when you can, and hugs are pretty much right out of the question–unless huggers already know you’re sick, and could care less.
Influenza is passed via phlegm. When you sneeze or cough, little micro-droplets of phlegm and it’s skinnier cousin, saliva, are diffused through the air. Others catch influenza by contacting the spread pathogen with their hands and then touching an open orifice, or by breathing in the droplets someone else sneezed out.
Medicate
Medicating may not always involve medication. Medicating is just supplying yourself with measures designed to facilitate cure. You can medicate by drinking orange juice and ingesting zinc, or getting Vitamin D–though, to be sure, Vitamin D is best absorbed from the sun through the skin, so you may want to find some sunny (but not overly hot) area for rest while you’re working through the sickness. Eat healthy foods, and gravitate toward a diet that is strong in liquids. Chicken noodle soup has a nutrient-rich broth that is exceptionally conducive to recovery.
Isolale Yourself
Isolating yourself from other individuals during your initial week of sickness is a good way to ensure they won’t get it, and you won’t spread it. You can stay in your own room, though you might want to move to the guest room for the duration.
Measures To Reduce Contagion
The more healthy you are when the sickness comes, the more quickly it’s going to pass. Keep yourself hydrated, keep yourself physically fit, avoid processed foods and regularly wash your hands. Do your laundry and clean in the corners. Black mold can grow which sends out spores that give you conditions which seem like the flu, and weaken the immune system. Avoiding that which takes away your immune system’s strength will ensure that when the flu hits, your body can defend itself entirely. Reducing the length you must deal with influenza reduces your length of contagiousness.
Vaccinations can also help you be less contagious. They introduce your immune system to the season’s influenza strains, and when you come into contact with those strains later, your body can ostensibly fight them off more quickly,
Avoiding Becoming Another Statistic
There are some 50,000 people who lose their lives in America on a yearly basis because of influenza. These are mostly extremely old or extremely young people–those who have the least physical defenses, and the most weak immune systems. Being conscientious about your sickness helps you and those around you.