Our turn to reach for tissues

CHERIE SIVIGNON

COLD COMFORTS: Seasonal colds and flu have arrived with the European autumn.

Relevant offers

OPINION: It's time to keep the tissues handy, writes Cherie Sivignon in this week's L'expat.

While you good folk in New Zealand are beginning to bid farewell to winter coughs and colds, the season of ills is just taking hold in Europe.

And this year swine flu is hogging the headlines.

But seriously puns aside this H1N1 strain of influenza is big news in France.

I was in New Zealand during autumn when the virus first piggybacked its way down under. Remember the saturation of news coverage at the time? There were interviews through doors and windows with people who had been quarantined, checks on passengers arriving at the airports and scary television documentaries on how a pandemic could wipe out great swaths of our population.

It's not quite that full on here in France but there's no way one can miss the dos and don'ts associated with swine flu known as grippe A to French speakers.

There are advertising campaigns in the mass media, including prime-time television slots, outlining the importance of sneezing or coughing into a tissue or the crook of one's arm.

 Even my six-year-old son Tom has picked up this guideline. It's also advised to regularly wash one's hands, and people who suspect they may have the flu are urged to call their GP. The schools Tom and his older brother Hugo, 12, attend have sent letters home outlining these requirements and calling on parents to notify the staff immediately if any child contracts the virus.

There was a scare last week after three suspected cases were identified at the high school Hugo attends. Letters were sent home after the first case that said if more children became ill with the swine flu, decisions would be made rapidly and parents would be kept informed.

The rule of thumb for schools and creches throughout France is that closure will be considered if three cases develop.

It turned out all three cases at Hugo's school were of regular seasonal flu and not the H1N1 strain. However, other schools and creches in France have closed because of swine flu and the children have been back at school only three weeks.

There have also been calls to ban the double-cheek (triple in some areas) kiss French people use to say hello and goodbye.

I thought "hogwash" when I first heard it but quelle horreur it turns out some mayors, employers and schools are encouraging a temporary au revoir to the ubiquitous French greeting.

There's controversy about the vaccine, too. I except we'll hear more about that in the coming weeks as France prepares to roll out its mass vaccination programme next month. A few people have raised concerns about the speed at which the vaccine was produced and some say it's unnecessary; that the swine flu is no more potent than any other flu.

Time will tell. I just wish I had shares in a tissue company.

» Cherie Sivignon is a former Southland Times journalist who has moved to France with her French-born husband and their family.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Newest First

Oldest First