As the swine flu sweeps the world we are all concerned with protecting ourselves and our families from contracting this virus. There are many ways that we can be pro-active and protect ourselves and families. First we must understand how the virus is spread. Whenever a person who has the virus coughs, sneezes, spits, blows their nose or even talks and laughs the virus escapes their body in their respiratory secretions. It is spread by droplet infection. That means that the tiny droplets of moisture from their mouth and nose escape and carry the virus with them. These droplets in the air are then breathed in by others or land on surfaces and the virus is there, waiting for a victim. Once the virus enters another person's system it must fight that person's immune system to cause illness. Since this is a new virus strain, people do not have immunity to it and our immune systems frequently fight a losing battle and the the newly infected person becomes ill. There is currently no vaccine in the world that can be taken to prevent contracting this virus once it has entered your body. It will take several months to develop a vaccine. To avoid contracting the illness, we must break the chain of infection and contamination. So, what can we do to break that chain. Here are some simple steps we can all take to keep that virus away.