Stop touching your face to avoid flu: Study
Monday December 03, 2012 06:44:45 PM,
IANS
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London:
Something as innocuous as touching your face could infect you with
flu, especially after your hands brush with contaminated surfaces,
according to a study.
"There are many opportunities in between hand-washing episodes for
people to re-contaminate their hands. If a deadly respiratory
virus is around, this is something to really take into account,"
said Wladimir Alonso, from the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, Maryland, who led the study, according to Daily Mail.
Alonso and colleagues picked 249 people to observe in public
places on the Washington D.C. subway and in Florianopolis, Brazil,
the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases reports.
They found that people touched common objects an average of 3.3
times per hour and their faces 3.6 times per hour. "We are
therefore likely to get germs on our hands far more quickly than
they are washed off," Alonso said.
Alonso said that during flu outbreaks, people should be reminded
to try and avoid touching their faces as well as washing their
hands regularly.
But he added that while it was good to boost awareness, there was
no need to be in a constant state of alert because the immune
system offers good protection against disease. The advice is a
timely reminder as cases of both flu and the norovirus (vomiting
bug) peak over the winter months.
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