According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than 164 million school days are lost every year due to illness.
During cold and flu season in particular it is helpful to remember some simple things one can do to stop the spread of germs.
How Germs are Spread
The flu and colds are usually spread from person to person when an infected person coughs or sneezes. In addition more serious respiratory illnesses like influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whooping cough, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can also be spread by coughing, sneezing and having unclean hands.
Coughing or sneezing can spray germs over quite a distance. In a study, led by Ruth Carrico of University of Louisville's School of Public Health and Information Sciences researchers showed using a a simulated-patient robot nicknamed “Puff Daddy” just how far particles released by a cough can spread. Their visual demonstration is helping health care providers to change their behaviors when interacting with patients who have respiratory infections.
Cover Your Cough
One of the first things that you can do to help fight germs and prevent the spread of infection is to be sure that you cover a cough *anytime* you need to cough.
There are two ways to cover a cough (or sneeze):
- Cough into a tissue and throw it away.
- Cough into your upper sleeve or elbow.
If you have a tissue, cough into the tissue, throw it away and wash your hands. If you don't have a tissue then cough into a sleeve (at the elbow).
By using either of these methods you can reduce the spread of germs and help stop the spread of germs and infectious diseases.
Why Cough in a Sleeve?
Over the past decade the technique of coughing into an elbow is one that schools and day-care centers around the country have gradually adopted to help ward off colds, flu, influenza, whooping cough and other easily transmitted germs.
Coughing into your sleeve or elbow helps keep the germs off of the hands and helps reduce the spread of germs. If you use your hands to block a cough or sneeze, the germs stay on the hands. Then the hands can spread the germs to doorknobs, desks, chairs and anything else you touch. If someone else contacts the doorknobs, desks, refrigerator handles or TV remote, then that person can pick up an infection and this is how the germs get spread.
More Ways to Stop the Spread of Germs
There are several additional simple steps that can be taken to stop the spread of germs and the flu.
- Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough.
- Wash or clean your hands often.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, especially during cold and flu season.
- Stay home when you are sick and check with a health care provider when needed.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
- Practice other good health habits.
Wash Your Hands
After coughing or sneezing into a tissue or sleeve it is important to be sure to wash your hands to wash off any germs that may be there.
To clean your hands after coughing or sneezing:
- Wash with soap and water for 20 seconds.
- Clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner
Make your home, office or school a No Germ Zone. Encourage everyone to sneeze into an arm or tissue and to wash hands frequently.
Here's hoping for a healthier cold season.
Resources
Dyer KA. How to Wash Your Hands and Not Spread Germs. The Suite 101.
Kirsti A. Dyer - Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS, FT is a respected physician, health educator, professor, author and lecturer.
