Halloween carries a little extra scare this year -- the haunting prospect of catching or spreading swine flu while trick-or-treating.

The Miami-Dade Health Department offers these tips:

• Keep your kids home if they're sick. Buy some candy and hand it out at home.

• Tell them to do the ``vampire cough'' -- into the inside of their elbows.

• Have them wash hands before eating candy.

• If trick-or-treating, carry hand sanitizer for kids who can't wait for home to eat the candy.

• Let them accept only wrapped candy.

• Don't let kids share or trade masks.

• Don't hand out candy if you're sick.

• Drop the candy into the kids' bags rather than letting them reach into a bowl or bag.

-- FRED TASKER