Flu – it’s nothing to be sneezed at
Pupils at Tui Glen School have been learning how to prevent the spread of the flu. A survey indicates plenty of adults also need to take heed.
The classroom exercise was part of SneezeSafe, a nationwide campaign to improve flu hygiene, sponsored by Kleenex.
Using a water spray, green glitter to represent ‘‘icky flu virus particles’’ and unwashed hands the children were shown how far a sneeze can travel, and how germs are transferred from one person to another.
Teacher Wendy Sutton told the pupils the best way to avoid the flu was cover their mouth when they sneeze and to wash their hands.
Kleenex has been backing a safe sneezing campaign for 11 winters in a row. The tissue maker said a survey conducted by Colmar-Brunton found the percentage of safesneezers in New Zealand’s population has increased from 36 per cent in 2013 to 47 per cent in 2015.
The survey also found only 31 per cent of 30 to 39-year-old males ‘always cover their mouth and nose when they sneeze’. That means 69 per cent of men who are 30-something admit to spraying their sneezes into the air for others to breathe.
While the survey showed that women are generally among New Zealand’s safest sneezers across agegroups, it also reveals 56 per cent of 30 to 39 year old females misunderstand how flu transfers from person to person.
Around 40 per cent of women in the age group incorrectly believed that people caught flu by touching flu droplets recently sneezed onto a surface, such as a computer keyboard.
New Zealand virologist Dr Lance Jennings said people catch flu less commonly this way. For the virus to lodge in the lower respiratory tract and get established, people have to rub the virus particles from their fingers into their eyes or up their nose.
People most commonly catch flu ‘‘by breathing in live, infectious flu particles that have recently been sprayed into the air from someone’s uncovered sneeze or cough.’’
Dr Jennings urged adults to follow the lead of the Tui Glen children and remember to ‘‘trap it (with a tissue, cupped hands or the inside of your arm), and bin it (your tissue) and wash it (your hands).’’