Face Masks and Hand-Washing May Stop Flu

Amy Norton

Face masks and clean hands may be key to preventing the influenza virus from spreading among family members, a study published Monday suggests.

The study, of 259 Hong Kong households, found that when family members wore face masks and minded their hand hygiene, the odds of catching the flu from an ill relative dropped by two-thirds.

The key was to start taking the two measures within 36 hours of the stricken family member's first symptoms. Flu symptoms typically include fever, sore throat, body aches and headache that arise suddenly.

The findings point to simple, inexpensive ways to curb flu transmission during both regular influenza season and during pandemics like the current swine flu (H1N1) outbreak, the researchers report in the online edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Some people may have the misconception that flu is so infectious that very little can be done to prevent household transmission," lead researcher Dr. Benjamin J. Cowling, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health, told Reuters Health in an email. "Our study demonstrates that this is not the case."

For the study, Cowling and his colleagues followed 259 households in which one family member had a confirmed case of influenza. The researchers randomly assigned each household into one of three groups: one that received education on a healthy diet and lifestyle; one that was instructed on good hand hygiene; and one that was instructed on both hand hygiene and face mask use.

In both hand-hygiene groups, family members were given liquid soap and told to wash their hands whenever they used the bathroom, sneezed or coughed. They were also given alcohol-based hand rub, to be used whenever they first arrived home and immediately after touching any potentially virus-contaminated surface.

Families in the face mask group were given disposable surgical masks to wear whenever they were not eating or sleeping.

Over the next week, family members in 19 percent of the study households developed a confirmed case of the flu. That risk was two- thirds lower in households where the hand-washing/face mask intervention was begun within 36 hours of a family member's first flu symptoms.

The risk was also somewhat lower in the hand-hygiene group.

The fact that hand-washing appeared effective, Cowling said, shows that the flu can spread via direct contact and, more indirectly, by touching virus-contaminated household objects like door handles, light switches and TV remotes.

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