Want to avoid the flu? Wash hands, clean counters, crack a window, consider a surgical mask.

In the United States, the flu virus causes about 200,000 people to be hospitalized each year.
Annual seasonal vaccinations are our best line of defense, but in recent years, mismatch in vaccines can significantly limit their effectiveness.
We study how the flu virus spreads between people.
While we strongly encourage everyone to be vaccinated against influenza, our findings on the stability of influenza viruses in the air can provide useful information for parents, teachers and health
Nursing officials limit the spread of flu in the community.
By using simple strategies to reduce the number of influenza viruses in our environment, we can reduce the number of infections every year.
Flu spreads in the community in three ways: ● direct contact-
When you shake hands or touch the infected person.
Indirect Contact
When a virus travels through a contaminated surface, such as a door handle. ●Aerosols —
When the virus is discharged from the air by coughing, sneezing, or breathing out, and then inhaled by susceptible individuals.
Both of these three pathways significantly promote the spread of influenza in each season, but the relative importance of each pathway remains unknown.
Scientists have always believed that the influenza virus in the aerosol will soon be inactivated at medium humidity and high humidity.
However, we have recently found that human respiratory mucus, regardless of humidity, protects influenza viruses in aerosol and surface droplets from decay.
In our study, we sprayed the flu virus into a rotating drum and tested for an hour after a variety of different humidity levels whether they were still contagious.
We did not find a loss in the number of infectious viruses at any humidity, which means that the discharged aerosol containing the influenza virus stabilized in the air for at least an hour.
Our other unpublished data suggest that in the presence of mucus, the flu virus can last for 16 hours on some surfaces, and there is almost no loss of transmission.
These data suggest that infectious influenza viruses are highly stable in indoor environments.
The following simple steps can help remove infectious influenza viruses from the surface and from the air.
Wipe the surface of the door handle, table, elevator button and faucet, etc. Simple alcohol-
Clean-based products can effectively invalidate the flu.
Classic advice for hands-
Washing also helps reduce transmission through direct and indirect contact.
Coughing and sneezing on a shirt, rather than using an elbow or hand, is a great way to prevent water droplets and aerosol from spreading in the air and depositing on the surface.
Increasing indoor air circulation can dilute the flu virus in the air and limit its transmission.
This can be achieved by increasing the exchange rate of the building ventilation system, opening the ceiling or portable fan, and opening the window if possible.
Air purifiers designed to remove particles should also be able to effectively remove viruses from the air, although this has not been tested directly.
A purifier with an efficient filter and a high flow rate will remove most of the particles.
Surgical masks are especially useful if patients wear masks.
This intervention will help prevent infected people from spreading the virus because the virus will appear even if you just breathe out.
If you are not sick but have flu patients around you, wearing a mask can help you avoid infection as long as it is appropriate.
If there is a gap between the two sides, that would be of little help.
Lakdawala is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Marl is a professor at Virginia Tech.
The report was originally published in the talk. com.