Call up your local health department now and ask what your community’s fall vaccine plan looks like.

Don't wait: Talk to your boss now about what happens if the H1N1 flu lays you low.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—If you were scanning the news earlier this week, you may have heard about a new study suggesting the H1N1 virus resembles that of the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed millions of people. That, development, coupled with news that the U.S. government just invested $884 million more toward purchasing two key ingredients for a possible H1N1 vaccine, makes the situation seem pretty serious. But don’t panic. Now is the time to build up your immunity, talk to your boss about work plans in the event of an outbreak, and make sure your local health department is prepared.

THE DETAILS: According to the most recent study looking at characteristics of the H1N1 virus, published recently in the journal Nature, an international team of scientists found that the H1N1 virus, also referred to as swine flu, has the ability to invade deeper into the lungs than the seasonal flu, which makes it more likely to cause pneumonia. The deeper lung invasion has been seen in a small number of patients who have been seriously sickened by the new virus. This is a similarity to the 1918 virus, but that doesn’t translate to a doomsday scenario. “The studies are interesting and do suggest some similarities,” says Mary Klotman, MD, chief of the division of infectious diseases and director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. “But we have a lot of information we’re armed with that we never had before, including infection control and antiviral [medicines]. So far, they look very good against this virus. 1918 was a very different time.”