Preventing Respiratory Illnesses
- Stay up to date with immunizations
- Practice good hygiene
- Take steps for cleaner air
- When you may have a respiratory virus:
- Use precautions to prevent spread
- Seek health care if you feel sick
Covid
5 Things to Know:
- COVID-19 most often causes respiratory symptoms that can feel much like a cold, the flu, or pneumonia. COVID-19 may attack more than your lungs and respiratory system.
- Other parts of your body may also be affected by the disease. Most people with COVID-19 have mild symptoms, but some people become severely ill.
- Some people, including those with minor or no symptoms, will develop Post-COVID Conditions – also called “Long COVID.”
- Anyone infected with COVID-19 can spread it, even if they do NOT have symptoms. COVID-19 can even spread from people to animals in some situations.
- The best way to prevent the Covid is to get a Covid shot every year.
Flu
5 Things to Know:
- Flu is a virus that infects your nose, throat, and sometimes your lungs. It can make you a little sick or very sick, and in some cases, it can be deadly.
- You can spread the flu before you know you’re sick. You can also spread it while you have symptoms. Some people can spread the flu even longer. This includes young children and people with weak immune systems.
- People are most contagious during the first 3 days of being sick. Healthy adults can spread the flu starting one day before symptoms and up to 5–7 days after getting sick.
- Not everyone with the flu gets a fever. Because flu symptoms can look like other illnesses, it can be hard to tell them apart without a test.
- The best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu shot every year.
Tuberculosis (TB)
5 Things to Know:
- Anyone can get TB.
- TB disease is one of the world’s leading infectious disease killers.
- TB is not a disease of the past and can happen anywhere, including the United States.
- Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
- Two TB-related conditions exist: inactive TB and active TB disease.
- Inactive TB: TB germs can live in the body without making you sick. They do not feel sick, do not have any symptoms, and cannot spread TB to others.
- Active TB: People with active TB disease feel sick. They may also be able to spread the germs to people they spend time with every day. Without treatment, active TB disease can be fatal.