With swine influenza on everyone's mind right now it's important to know what to look out for.

The symptoms are the same as the regular flu, but there may also be some vomiting and diarrhea. If you've fallen ill and you've recently traveled -- especially to Mexico, you may want to contact your doctor for testing and further advice.

Does wearing a face mask help?

Right now, there's no reason to run out and buy a face mask. Infectious disease experts say there's no good evidence that face masks will make a significant difference .

According to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, masks are necessary if you're in close contact or caring for an infected person. The infected individual should also wear a mask to prevent spreading the virus to others.

A multi-prong approach is best -- staying home, avoiding crowded places and hand washing are key. Face masks are most useful in crowded settings, such as on airplanes or classrooms. If you do wear a mask, the respirator type N95 offers better protection because they fit more snugly and can protect the wearer from breathing in very small particles. Make sure it fits well. It should not be reused or shared.

When washing your hands it's important to do so for 30 seconds, and make sure you get the top and palm of your hands.

The two most commonly missed areas are your fingertips and thumbs.

Hand sanitizers with moisturizers are actually less drying than using soap and water, and studies show they are more effective than soap and water in reducing the number of live bacteria and some viruses on your hands. They're also time efficient as it takes only 15 seconds to eliminate bacteria.

Treatment

The current influenza vaccine that is available this year only protects against human flu viruses, so it will not provide protection against this new swine flu virus that contains components from swine and avian virus.

So far there's no specific vaccine against this new virus and a new vaccine will take many months to develop.

This virus is treatable with drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza -- but those drugs are most effective when taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.

Severity

No one knows for sure if the virus in Mexico is more severe then the one detected now in Canada and the U.S.

The World Health Organization has raised the pandemic alert level to phase four. A phase four alert means there is a significant increase in the risk of a pandemic -- but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen soon.

The pandemic phases break down like this:

  • Phase one -- there are no human infections, the virus only exists among a particular animal
  • Phase two -- the flu virus in animals goes on to infect humans
  • Phase three -- only sporadic cases in people are detected , but no significant people-to-people transmission
  • Phase four -- human-to-human transmission of the virus with community-level outbreaks. This is where we are now.
  • Phase five -- means a pandemic is imminent with human-to-human transmission in at least two countries.
  • Phase six -- indicates that the virus has spread around the world and a global pandemic is under way.