Health experts advise parents to just take ordinary precautions to protect their children from swine flu. Every year children die from seasonal flu; that's one reason US health authorities recommend annual flu shots for children 6 months and older. So far this season, 55 children in the United States have died from regular flu, federal health authorities report. While children, especially those younger than 5, are known to be most vulnerable to severe and fatal complications from seasonal flu, most children who get even the most aggressive strains of flu don't die. So far, flu experts say there's no reason to think the new strain will be much different. That includes covering your cough, washing your hands often – and telling children to do the same. Dr. Carlos Perez-Velez, an infectious disease specialist with the National Jewish Health system in Denver, says a good trick to get kids to wash their hands long enough to kill germs is to tell them to recite the alphabet A to Z before they quit washing. Parents should also avoid sending children with fevers or other signs of illness to school, and should skip work if they have those symptoms – usual precautions when they or their kids are sick. There's no vaccine to protect against swine flu.
