Time to take precautions against flu London - Arabstoday People returning from vacations abroad, if sick, should take proper precautions to prevent the spread of flu and related diseases, doctors have warned. Doctors have also said that the changing weather and concurrent sandstorms are also expected to cause a surge in the flu, cough and cold cases in the coming days. Dr Sameem Mattoo, Specialist Internal Medicine at the Canadian Specialist Hospital, said that flu cases spiked mainly due to changing weather and influx of people coming from abroad bringing different strains of flu virus back to the UAE. “Since schools have re-opened, children come in contact with other kids who may be ill and thus flu spreads,” he said. He asked parents to take precautions rather than medicines to treat flu symptoms. “Parents should not send their kids to school until they are completely cured and that could take about a week or more,” he added. The onset of Flu has typical symptoms of a runny nose, cough and fever. Dr Mattoo also said in the coming two months, the number of cases of flu and fever were expected to rise due to a change in the weather. Dr Henry V. Galuba Jr, Specialist Internal Medicine at Zulekha Hospital, Dubai said that sandstorms could trigger varied types of diseases and allergies in the body. “These fine grains of sand can trigger certain inflammatory reactions once they enter our respiratory tract,” he said. Diseases such as asthma, acute rhinitis, acute sinusitis, acute bronchitis, allergic conjunctivitis and allergic dermatitis shoot up due to sandstorms, he said. Meanwhile, schools have also asked parents to undertake precautions to keep seasonal flu and other diseases at bay. Tips by Indian High School’s health department     Keep your children at home until all the symptoms of flu have completely cleared – which may take upto 7 days.     Remind your children to keep their hands away from their face, mouth, nose and eyes especially after touching potentially infected objects like desks, toys, money, elevator buttons, door knobs, side-rail of escalator, cell phones, public phone etc.     Coughing and sneezing into your elbow is preferred over covering your mouth and nose with your hands. Please teach this to your children.     Alternatively, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Clean your hands after carefully disposing the used tissue and similar waste in the waste bin.     Please teach your children to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds, or as long as it takes to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice.     Children can use hand sanitizer — especially after coughing or sneezing — to clean their hands.     It is best if you get your kids vaccinated for the seasonal flu early because it takes a few weeks for it to kick in.     Cleaning hard surfaces, such as door handles, desk surface, handrails, keyboards, elevator buttons, remote controls, headphones, telephone receivers and touch-tone pads often and thoroughly using a normal cleaning product.     Children under 16 must not be given aspirin or ready-made flu remedies containing aspirin. From Khaleejtimes