Flu season is here, and this year we’re faced with the prospective of a double-whammy: the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu.  If you’re pregnant, and you catch the H1N1 flu, you are at a much greater risk for complications than if you were not expecting.  During pregnancy, a woman’s immune system is working overtime to protect her body, and that of her growing child, so germs are more likely to get a foothold and wreak havoc.

To make matters worse, the H1N1 flu affects younger people disproportionately.  Since the H1N1 flu began circulating, the five to 24 year old age group has suffered the most cases of the flu, second only to 25 to 49 year-olds.

OK. Enough scary stuff. There are lots of ways to protect yourself against the spread of the flu virus.  Washing your hands often with warm water and soap or with an alcohol-based gel to prevent the spread of germs; staying away from sick people; and coughing or sneezing into a tissue or the crook of your arm protects you, and others, from the virus, and other germs. When the vaccine becomes available, get immunized.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnant women should get the H1N1 vaccine because they run a greater risk of complications from the flu. Plus, as mothers, pregnant women can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated. Keep yourself informed about the government’s efforts and guidelines for the public for preventing and managing the H1N1 virus by visiting this link: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/pregnant.htm.

A healthy lifestyle goes a long way to peak immune function, too.  Eating a healthy diet and taking a multivitamin, getting the rest you need, reducing the stress in your life, and getting regular exercise are among the behaviors linked to a stronger immune system.  Rest assured, you cannot catch the H1N1 virus, often referred as the swine flu, from eating pork or pork products, so there is no need to eliminate them from a balanced eating plan.

There is a lot of hysteria and anxiety surrounding the coming flu season, but it pays to stay calm and take all the precautions that you can, pregnant, nursing, or not.