Forget sneezing – even breathing is enough to spread flu virus

FLU can be spread from person to person simply through breathing, casting doubt on Government advice.

An experiment on flu patients in the US revealed the virus’s capacity to linger “for hours” – significantly longer than previously thought.

While sneezing can transfer the virus, researchers at the University of Maryland observed that people with flu, which has killed at least 120 people in the UK so far this winter, rarely sneeze.

However, around four in ten will “aerosolise” the infection – or turn it into droplet nuclei – by breathing.

The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, question the relevance of some Public Health England advertisements which warn of the dangers of sneezing.

Flu sufferers who are overweight are also more likely to aerosolise the disease. This is thought to be because their airways are prone to closing up intermittently, meaning increased aerosolisation occurs when they reopen.

Dr Donald Milton, the university’s professor of environmental health and one of the study leaders, said: “Influenza generally comes on hard and fast.

“I would like people in my workplace who are coming down with the flu to please go home and not infect me. Staying home could make a real difference.”

The latest data from Public Health England show that cases of influenza have risen by 150 per cent in two weeks. The outbreak has reached epidemic levels in some parts of the UK, such as York – meaning 109 people have the disease for every 100,000.

Herefordshire and north Somerset are also approaching that rate.

Officials say the current flu season is the worst for seven years, with the “Japanese” strain now dominant.

A spokesman for Public Health England said: “Scientific consensus remains that important lines of defence against flu are to avoid having unnecessary contact with other people if you or they have symptoms of flu, and to adopt good respiratory and hand hygiene.

“Our advice to reduce the spread of flu is underpinned by the best available evidence and directed by multiple scientific papers.”