Flu spreads via airborne droplets
Hand washing goes only so far in retarding transmission
By Tina Hesman Saey, 10:37 AM June 4, 2013
Half of flu cases arise when people inhale tiny particles that float in the air, an international group of researchers reports June 4 in Nature Communications. The finding flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which holds that nearly all influenza spreads by large droplets that sick people release when they sneeze or cough. Those large droplets, the theory went, get on people’s hands and transmit the virus from there.
While scientists knew that small particles called aerosols represent ...
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