January 23, 2018.

According to a study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public HealthIn the United States, influenza can be transmitted through breathing, which is why it is said to be so contagious.

A simple breath contaminates the air

In the event of an influenza epidemic, health authorities recommend staying away from sick people and washing your hands regularly. But according to a study published in the medical journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we should be even more careful. According to this work, a patient with influenza can transmit the virus only by breathing.

To reach this conclusion, scientists sought to capture the influenza virus from contact with sick people when they breathed, spoke, coughed and sneezed. They were thus able to observe that the air exhaled by a person with the flu could contain viral micro-particles. The disease is even more contagious than previously believed.

The flu, a very contagious disease

” People with influenza generate infectious aerosols (tiny droplets that stay suspended in the air for a long time) even when they do not cough, especially during the first few days of the illness. Explains Dr. Milton, professor of environmental health and lead author of this study. Sick people are therefore invited to stay at home or wear a mask..

Washing your hands regularly is good, but clearly not enough, according to the researchers. It should be understood that while people with the virus contaminate the air around them by the simple act of breathing, when they cough or sneeze, the risk of contamination is increased tenfold. And to recall the importance of vaccination, which remains the most effective means of reducing the impact of influenza epidemics.

Marine Rondot

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