Talk with your healthcare provider about getting vaccinated against seasonal and nH1N1 flu. There are a number of actions you can take, though, to maintain a healthy lifestyle and help prevent the spread of germs that cause influenza:

1. Wash your hands. Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact, so wash your hands often. If no sink is available, use antibacterial hand sanitizer. Wash for approximately 30 seconds, and pay particular attention to fingernails, between the fingers, and beneath rings.
2. Catch sneezes and coughs with tissues. When you feel a sneeze or a cough coming, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, discard it immediately and wash hands. If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your sleeve.
3. Don't touch your face. Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose or mouth.
4. Drink plenty of fluids. A typical, healthy adult needs eight glasses of eight-ounce fluids each day.
5. Get fresh air. Central heating dries you out and makes you more vulnerable to cold and flu.
6. Exercise regularly. Aerobic exercise increases heartbeat, improves breathing and makes you sweat which helps increase the body's natural virus-killing cells. Talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
7. Don't smoke. Smoke dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia, the delicate hairs that line mucous membranes in your nose and lungs and sweep cold and flu viruses out of nasal passages.
8. Cut alcohol consumption. Heavy alcohol use destroys the liver, the body's primary filtering system, which means that germs of all kinds leave your body more slowly.
9. Eat well. Eating a balanced diet including foods rich in zinc and vitamin C helps keep your immune system strong.
10. Avoid crowds. Avoid crowded places to decrease the likelihood of coming into contact with a cold or flu virus. If you do become ill with influenza, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with other people to avoid infecting them.