Con Crud! No one wants it! How to avoid it!
Anthrocon is soon approaching! In fact it's right around the corner!
So please be sure to follow this helpful advice below if don't wish to get sick!
Ok so I thought I would share with you (The first time Congoers and long time attendees) my Experience with Con Crud!
I didn't take very good care of my self during my first AC and I learned my lesson the hard way! About the 3rd day in I woke up it hurt to swallow and I contracted the flu 
ick! I had all the symptoms you would expect. I ended staying in bed for the rest of the con and by time I had to pack up and go I was still feeling really awful.
I missed half the Convention because of Con Crud!
I've Put together this guide for AC 09 using info from past blogs and threads on the site! I've also put in some info of my own 
As mentioned by MapDark Here: http://www.anthrocon.org/node/872
Con crud is very nasty and isn't something you wish to contract while at your first AC (or any other convention) "basically a flash infection of the con population by a non-life-threatening virus such as influenza or stuff like that"
My first AC was a total nightmare because I was reckless and didn't take care of my self as I should have.
Here are some helpful ways to avoid Con Crud!
**Wash your hands frequently!
-After using the washroom! This is important!!! 
-Before and after any meals or snacks!
-After sneezing or coughing! (to help prevent the spread of germs or viruses!!!)
-Also carry around some hand sanitizer/hand wipes if you know you will be out and about, as a sink my be hard to find.
Here is a great to make sure you hands stay clean as described by Fenrislorsrai a few comments below :3
"If you've ever worked service, they hopefully taught you how to wash your hands to minimize disease. It's soap and friction that does the job, not just a quick rinse under the water.
* Take off any rings, bracelets, or watches and hair ties you may wear around your wrist.
* Soap the whole hand AND wrist
* vigorously wash for 30 seconds. sing happy birthday twice (in your head, please) and that'll be your 30 seconds
* rinse and dry thoroughly before putting jewelry and such back on. water under jewelry may just provide a nice damp place for bacteria to breed otherwise
* make sure to wash your jewelry too! (better yet, leave as much of it home as possible. less chance of losing it)
Be aware that various electronic items are often great ways to meet other people's germs. When was the last time you wiped off your cellphone? Your PSP? Ipod? Did you borrow your roommates devices? when did they last clean them?
Wash your hands after using other people's devices.
Side note: for the video game room, a box of alcohol hand wipes to wipe down the controllers sporadically would probably help stop some of the germ spreading."
**Shower/Bath Daily! It's important!
-Even if you think you don't need one or can't smell yourself, doesn't mean others can.
-This will also keep you clean and refreshed and help get rid of the germs that you've been exposed too all day while wandering around the convention.
Soap and water are your friends! =3 Be clean! ^-^
Even if you're not feeling sick you might be a carrier!
**Get Plenty or sleep and Rest!
-A lack of sleep can make your immune system less efficient!
-About a 7 hour sleep should do the trick! or 6 if your just that excited!
-If your feeling a bit sore from walking have a seat somewhere and sit for a few minutes! you don't want to be to exhausted by the end of the day!
-Drink Plenty of water and fluids! This helps flush some harmful bacteria and germs from your system it also keeps you hydrated! The warmest month of the year in Pittsburgh is July!(but this year it's in June :3) The average high temperature is 83 °F (28 °C). so be sure you have enough hydration! don't want you to get dehydrated or heat stroke! or even sun bur for that matter! so make you sure you also have the proper skin protection :3
**Eat well! No Junk!
-Be sure your not just eating and drinking junk, such as chips, candy and soda! even pizza and french fries are considered junk
These treats are ok but not for meal! xp
-At least two meals a day should suffice, it's enough to keep you filled for the day, or even 3 meals is great too! Breakfast, lunch and dinner!
-I suggest eating yogurt for breakfast if it's available. Yogurt is a good source of B vitamins, protein and calcium...blah blah blah x3 Here's a link to why yogurt can be healthy:http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/benefits-of-yogurt (it's lengthy) xD
-There are a number of ways to eat well around Pittsburgh! at the beginning of the Con while registering you should receive a booklet containing all the closest nearby places to eat, it will have an index that tells you were you can find the healthy places to eat as well as places for Pizza,Subs,Supplies Etc...if you need.
-Pack some vitamins also if wish! these will prove helpful to keep you from getting sick as well, or pack your own food if you can, it doesn't hurt and it's also cheaper too(saves money for art! xD) bring a cooler and can have cold foods like lunch meats for sandwiches or milk for your cereal!
**Medicine/Drugs (the good king of course!)
No, not Alcohol and such things! x3 I'm talking about those Vitamins from earlier as well as some helpful medicines to help aid with your sickness if you should so get sick or to help keep you from getting sick!
-Centrium Vitamins! There a helpful little pill that's jam packed with oodles of your daily requirement of vitamins! take on a day to help give your body a boost while at the Con. that said, it is NOT a meal supplement! take one in the morning before any daily activities and make sure you still bath and wash regularly as well as eating right and resting.
-Have a Cold? Or don't want to get one? here is a list of medicines that I've heard help Reduce symptoms and help keep the cold from coming:
-Cold Eeze http://www.coldeeze.com/what_is_cold-eeze/
-Cold FX http://www.cold-fxusa.com/
-Advil, Benylin, Tylenol and Bucklyes Cold and Sinus medications work also.
Not sure if these will work for the flu but I would assume you can find flu medication next to Cold medication on store shelves if needed :3
Also because of the recent H1N1, I would recommend everyone to take extra precaution this year to avoid it and to prevent spreading it it!
And if you have it, well... stay in bed for everyone's sake and visit a doctor as soon as you can. it's common sense really.
That's about all the information I'm able to share with you at the moment but I will be sure to update this when I can, so if you have any suggestions or updated you would like to make, please let me know =3
As MapDark said follow the 6-2-1 rule!
6 hours of sleep(at least), 2 meals(or more) a day, and 1 bath or shower a day!
Follow this Guide and the advice of Mapdark and others about Con Crud and I'm Positive you will help prevent your self and others from getting sick at AnthroCon!
And also I'm sure if you look around the site forums you will plenty of other information about Con Crud if you wish to seek more info
Hope your first AC is an enjoyable one with no sickness but with plenty of fun!
![The Knights who say "Ni!"](http://www.anthrocon.org/sites/all/modules/smileys/random_smileys/th_The_Knights_Who_Say_Ni_by_livius.gif "The Knights who say "Ni!"")
Ni!
*NOTE: I'm not taking entire credit for this information! I've found most of this information about this topic from other threads/blogs and sites! I've only updated this topic with some of my own advice and words!
Please contact me if you have any questions :3
Thank You!
Then give the post 5 stars with the rating widget like I did!
Very good information, it's helpful! I definitely try my best to follow this when I go every year. :3
Also, Airborne dissolving tablets are good too for boosting the immune system, I used those once a day last year and it kept me good to go. 
(just my two cents on some decent medicine)
*Two paws up* 5 star post!
-Gothic Siamese
Hate the rain on your parade, but almost every reliable source, both medical and holistic list "Airborne" high on their list of products that don't actually do anything. You're much better off with a good multi-vitamin each day and WASH YOUR HANDS
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David M Stein, DI
"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"
True, I just had a decent result with it and thought I'd mention it. Then again I follow pretty much everything the OP listed to begin with. Hehe.
-Gothic Siamese
Let alone the fact that they lost a class-action lawsuit for false advertising claims.
Only to be out scummed by the "Head On" people... amazing how much money people will put out for a "magic" stick of wax.
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David M Stein, DI
"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"
Ah, but "Head On" never made any claims about what the stuff was supposed to do. They only told you (repeatedly) to apply it directly to the forehead. They never said that it was going to do anything for you.
Utterly brilliant marketing tactic.
Actually they did. Each 'different' stick claimed to end headaches or drain your sinuses or change the oil in your car.
Later on, after numerous lawsuits, they just annoyed us with their slogan and made no claims to what it did.
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David M Stein, DI
"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"
Hard-On! Apply directly to the... XD
You mean dropping Airborne in my Captain Morgan wasn't actually helping? 
Scientific studies from the University of Pheonix have demonstrated that this combination results in piratitis in 36.4% of cases.
Store-brand Airborne clone works for me -- hooray for the placebo effect, I guess. I'll try Cold Eeze, I'd never heard of it.
Cold-Eez at least has clinical evidence to support its claims. The mechanism is still not understood, but it appears to inhibit the ability of rhinovirus to penetrate into cells. If taken at the first signs of a cold, it can cut down both the duration and the severity of the symptoms, as it gives the body a leg-up in fighting off the infection.
Note: The zinc ion has to be administered at the site of the infection. That is why lozenges work, but zinc tablets will not.
Cold-Eez has the additional advantage of simulating the flavor of licking aluminum siding! Yum.
---
Tom Brady/Duncan da Husky
Artists Alley and Con Store Manager
For fastest replies to questions about Artists Alley, e-mail me at
Hey, now, the Green Tea and Strawberries'n'Cream flavors aren't so bad.
The cherry, though...is.
It's the taste that let's you know it's working.
I've tried the zinc treatments for colds. Had a horrid cold and needed to function so tried Zicam. If nothing else it did dull down the symptoms and let me function, though it added a series of it's own effects which while not pleasent at least didn't seem to get in the way.
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David M Stein, DI
"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"
I used Store-brand Airborne at last year's AC, and wound up calling out sick to work when I got back because my throat was so sore I couldn't talk.
I take nothing and just suffer the horrible cold symptoms at their worst.
Then the people at work pity me and don't make me stay overnight in the lab for a week.
It's the only rest I ever get... ;_;
~Nova Caine~
Glad to see a few of you are enjoying the information I've put together :3
I hope everyone else will to ^-^
Thanks for the ratings!
Make sure to actually wash your hands the RIGHT way too. If you've ever worked service, they hopefully taught you how to wash your hands to minimize disease. It's soap and friction that does the job, not just a quick rinse under the water.
* Take off any rings, bracelets, or watches
* Soap the whole hand AND wrist
* vigorously wash for 30 seconds. sing happy birthday twice (in your head, please) and that'll be your 30 seconds
* rinse and dry thoroughly before putting jewelry back on. water under jewelry may just provide a nice damp place for bacteria to breed otherwise
* make sure to wash your jewelry too! (better yet, leave as much of it home as possible. less chance of losing it)
Be aware that various electronic items are often great ways to meet other people's germs. When was the last time you wiped off your cellphone? Your PSP? Ipod? Did you borrow your roommates devices? when did HE last clean them?
Wash your hands after using other people's devices.
Side note: for the video game room, a box of alcohol hand wipes to wipe down the controllers sporadically would probably help stop some of the germ spreading.
Hrmmm...i hadn't thought about it, but actually, putting a bottle or two of that antibacterial hand stuff in the gaming room isn't such a bad idea, if we can afford to keep it replenished. Certainly its the place where things get passed from hand to hand the most.
I mean, we probably can't force folks to use it (nor would we really want to), but just having it available might help reduce the spread of con crud.
Love love love the advice.
We always give tips such as these every year. One extra thing about eating healthy that has helped me quite a bit. At the convention, I try to start every morning with a piece of fruit, or a bowl of diced fruit. It gives me a quick pick me up, gives me some roughage (or ruff-age for the dogs out there), and gets you some natural vitamins. I also keep some yummy granola bars or trail mix handy. Now these are NOT a substitute for a good meal, but they are something I use to supplement a small breakfast and ensure that I'm getting some nutritional balance during the day.
This is a tip I learned from LARPing:
Remember: Body spray or perfume does not substitute taking a bath.
This is would assume would be especially true for fursuits since heat caused by the suits would magnify body funk.
Or to put it this way...
Stench + Heat = Stench Max
Oh how true this is. Over the years, fursuiters have discovered many things that can help reduce funk in a fursuit during the course of a convention. A lot of folks use EndBac or some other disinfectant spray, but these are toxic chemicals that really aren't designed to come in contact with your skin at any point.
I've found that a pump spray bottle of Isopropyl alcohol can be used to quickly disinfect a wet fursuit body and head. I turn the body suit inside out and spray it and let it dry. I also spray down the side of the head and have a cmall fan or airmover blow it dry. Using that method will suffice until you can get the suit home for proper cleaning.
And you are right, body sprays, Febreeze and other perfumes do not substitute for taking a shower! Although if I've just showered, a quick hit of Drakkar is soooooo nice.
KP
Sunlight itself is pretty good at killing many forms of bacteria. So while you've got your suit inside out to dry, hang it in the window of your room to get some light. (or set on the ledge) Since you've got it inside out, fading shouldn't be a huge issue. Plus sun will help it dry faster!
I thought most of the germ-killing UV from sunlight is filtered out by window glass...
Ron
Heh nice post! ^^
Much more info than mine
I might add "go to japanese way and wear a SARS mask" if you have a cold .. but that's a bit excessive
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I love you all ..
except for the people I don't like..
Not to mention you would look a bit silly x3 haha But I suppose anything to keep the sickness from spreading helps x3
*bumping it up* :3
I will usually come down with the crud a week or so before the con. (I'm just nearly coming out of it now.) That way I am free to enjoy the con with a built-up immunity.
Vitamins do help.
rech
servicing the furry flag community since 2009
Yes, con crud countermeasures are important this year---seeing as the bug going around could very well be swine flu. So if you don't want to go home feeling like a pig, be sure to protect yourself!
--
iSKUNK!
Swine flu isn't fun , but let's all remember that it is what it is : FLU
"Normal" flu would be as unamusing if everyone in the con got it.
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I love you all ..
except for the people I don't like..
The term for it now is H1N1 lol but none the less it still isn't very pleasant v.v I recived my vacine for it throught last week and my arm is still sore
Just a reminder:
WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS WASH YOUR HANDS DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE TILL YOU WASH YOUR HANDS!
Did I mention washing your hands?
yes, yes you did lol point well made xD
I know allot of people who do not have the common sense these day to do that x-x it's gross x3
Some signs have begun going up in rest rooms in Britain:
"Soap it off now or eat it later."
Effective.
lol well it's true
Apparently raccoons love hand washing:
Lol XD. I don't think I've gotta worry too much about contracting something myself, I mean, working in service, though it sucks, teaches you to wash your hands every once in a while, and going to china tought me to keep hand sanitizer on hand or pay the price!
*Charline de Lyon sliiiides in deviously* The best way to avoid getting con-crud is be eaten by a lion right after the con! This method is 100% guaranteed, as proven many huge randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials, to prevent con-crud!
And, as luck would have it, I'm a lion! And always hungry! It's a win-win situation! >:3
(disclaimer: Devouring may cause death.)
lol someone remind me to avoid lions at AC xD
That's a very excellent post, I suggest people heed your advice.
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David M Stein, DI
"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"
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David M Stein, DI
"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"