News & Information
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Important Swine Flu Resources |
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H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) Information
 How does diabetes affect how I respond to a cold or flu?
Being sick by itself can raise your blood glucose. Moreover, illness can
prevent you from eating properly, which further affects blood glucose.
In addition, diabetes can make the immune system more vulnerable to
severe cases of the flu. People with diabetes who come down with the flu may
become very sick and may even have to go to a hospital. You can help keep
yourself from getting the flu by getting a flu shot every year. Everyone
with diabetes—even pregnant women—should get a yearly flu shot. The best
time to get one is between October and mid-November, before the flu season
begins.
See the following for more information:
What should I do when I am sick?
There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy. Try to avoid
close contact with sick people.
Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing
or sneezing of infected people. If you get sick, CDC recommends that you
stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from
infecting them.
- Be sure to continue taking your diabetes pills or insulin. Don’t
stop taking them even if you can’t eat. Your health care provider may
even advise you to take more insulin during sickness.
- Test your blood glucose every four hours, and keep track of the
results.
- Drink extra (calorie-free) liquids, and try to eat as you normally
would. If you can’t, try to have soft foods and liquids containing the
equivalent amount of carbohydrates that you usually consume.
- Weigh yourself every day. Losing weight without trying is a sign of
high blood glucose.
- Check your temperature every morning and evening. A fever may be a
sign of infection.
Call your health care provider or go to an emergency room if any of the
following happen to you:
- You feel too sick to eat normally and are unable to
keep down food for more than 6 hours.
- You're having severe diarrhea.
- You lose 5 pounds or more.
- Your temperature is over 101 degrees F.
- Your blood glucose is lower than 60 mg/dL or
remains over 300 mg/dL.
- You have moderate or large amounts of ketones in
your urine.
- You're having trouble breathing.
- You feel sleepy or can't think clearly.
See the following for more information:
Preparing for a Pandemic
One of the first steps in planning for a pandemic or other public health
emergency is making sure you and your family, including pets, has a two-week
supply of food, water and medication. It may be very difficult to get to a
store or the stores may be out of supplies, so it will be important for you
to have extra supplies on hand.
Visit the
Emergency Supplies Kit for more information.
Read additional information to aid in the protection against the spread of
Pandemic Influenza at
http://pandemicflu.gov/plan/individual/familyguide.html.
The American Red Cross and CDC have teamed up. Please visit the following
website for information.
http://www.redcross.org/preparedness/cdc_english/home.asp*.
Hand Hygiene in Emergency Situations
After an emergency, it can be difficult to find running water. However, it is
still important to wash your hands to avoid illness or infection, especially
when testing your blood glucose or treating a wound.
See the following for more information:
Fact Sheets
* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service
to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization
by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC
is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web
pages found at this link.
Page last reviewed: August 21, 2009
Page last modified: August 21, 2009
Content Source: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Division of Diabetes Translation
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Diabetes & Me
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