What you need to know: symptoms and how swine flu spreads

How it spreads
Swine flu spreads by direct contact with respiratory secretions of someone who is sick with swine flu. You can contract it if they cough or sneeze close to you.

Droplets from a cough or sneeze can also contaminate everyday objects, like water bottles, doorknobs oru00a0 kitchen appliances. However, these might survive for a few hours only.

People with swine flu are likely to be contagious for one day before and up to seven days after they began to get sick with swine flu symptoms.

If someone begins to show symptoms of swine flu, they should avoid other people and call a doctor who might conduct a rapid flu test to see if they have an influenza A infection. Further testing can then be done to see if it is a swine flu infection.

Swine flu helpline number set up by the BMC at Kasturba Hospital: 23083901