Is there really a way to prevent the common cold and flu?

Well, one retired local pharmacist-turned-author believes he has the answer to this age-old question.

In his new book, Finally!!! Stop Having Colds & Flu, Normandy Park's J. Albert Hermle shares what he learned through the years. The big news is that his antiviral breakthrough is surprisingly simple.

At a book signing on Saturday, March 15, from 12 to 2 p.m. at Burien Books, 643 S.W. 152nd St., readers will have the opportunity to meet Hermle. He will also sign books March 16 from noon to 3 p.m. at Walden Books, inside Southcenter mall.

After many years of trying, Hermle reports that he discovered - by accident - a natural and easy method to prevent catching both the common cold and influenza.

He also shares in this book his personal recollections, documented from 56 years as a retail pharmacist.

For over 40 years, customers at the Fred Meyer Pharmacy in Burien, Caldwell Drugs in Des Moines, PayRite Drug in White Center, and Thrifty Drugs in Boulevard Park, West Seattle and at Five Corners became accustomed to Hermle's familiar catch phrase: "Stay healthy so you don't have to take pills for your ills." In 1977, he gained national attention while at the Hi-Ho Pharmacy in Puyallup for the first Pharmacy Technician Certification Program.

Then came the morning when Hermle strolled out to get his newspaper and saw the headline, "Flu gets deadlier as nation gets older."

The article stated that about 90 percent of all deaths occur among people over 65, and those over 80 are 32 times more likely to die from side effects of flu as those between the ages of 60 and 65.

That was when Hermle knew he had to do something. Although he was three years into a happy retirement, he decided write a book to share with the world his antiviral discovery. It involves drinking a glass of grape juice and taking a good multivitamin every day.

He believes each day you are ill is equivalent to losing a day of your life.

Finally!!! Stop Having Colds & Flu is chock full of good old fashioned, common sense advice. It also features short humorous, anecdotal stories, and "out takes" at the end of the book.

Hermle recalled that as a pharmacist, he always used humor to make his point. He often thought of his pharmacy counter as "my stage to assist people with their health."

To celebrate the completion of his book, Hermle discarded two full 37-gallon plastic garbage sacks containing newspaper articles, health magazines and clippings on the common cold and flu.

The Center for Disease Control reports that seasonal flu accounts for an average of 36,000 deaths annually and 200,000 hospitalizations just in the United States.

Highline Medical Center infection control coordinator Steve Odachowski noted that since Sept. 29 they have processed 259 specimens for influenza testing.

Of those, 48 (18.5 percent) were positive for influenza "A" and 21 (8.1 percent) were positive for influenza "B."

Public Health-Seattle and King County have tested 426 specimens of which 135 31.6 percent) were positive for influenza "A" and 41 (9.6 percent) were positive for Influenza B.

Odachowski said people can take a few simple steps to help prevent the flu.

These include a flu vaccination, proper hand washing, covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing, avoiding proximity to ill people, and not touching your eyes, nose or mouth before washing your hands.

Hermle said he has not had a cold or the flu - while following his anti-cold and flu regimen - since 1969.

Recognizing that some people employ a variety of preventative measures to combat colds and flu, he adds, "If it works for them, great."

Hermle has been employed at, managed or supervised over 150 pharmacies and drug stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Illinois.

When he retired, he was director of pharmacies for Safeway where he oversaw 131 in-store pharmacies for the supermarket chain.

His pharmacy career began in the summer of 1944 when Hermle started work behind a soda fountain in a corner drugstore in Berwyn, Ill.

Those were the days, he recalled. It cost $2 to see the doctor or have a tooth filled. A hundred pills were 99 cents and $1.19.

But it was also a time when the drugs that were available did not always work.

Then there were the 1970s, when practically all prescriptions were paid with cash-out-of-pocket.

But times were changing and prescriptions were expensive, costing $8-$10 - an astronomical price at the time. He remembers wondering how people could afford this.

Today, the estimated average prescription price at one pharmacy chain is about $53. This does not include the price of insurance premiums paid by the patient.

Almost all prescriptions now are filled with the insurance companies setting the price the consumer pays.

Hermle and his wife, Joy have resided in the Normandy Park and Gregory Heights communities for the past 49 years.

At home, he will show you he practices what he preaches, by producing a bottle of one of his antiviral finds from the refrigerator.

His book also is available at Burien's Page 2 Books, Page Turner Books in Des Moines, Square One Books in West Seattle, Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle's Pioneer Square, Magnolia Book Store in Seattle, at the Swedish Hospital gift shop, and Amazon.com.

As for Hermle, he enthusiastically tells people he will be 78 in July, adding, "I feel no different than when I was 50."