May 20, 2009 7:42 pm US/Eastern
Gesundheit: How A Sneeze Can Spread An Epidemic
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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With every sneeze, thousands of germ-filled droplets are released, which spread farther than most of us would imagine. Knowing how a sneeze works can prevent you from getting sick. (File)
CBS
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the sneeze travels at 103 miles an hour. With every sneeze, thousands of germ-filled droplets are released, which spread farther than most of us would imagine.
Knowing how a sneeze works can prevent you from getting sick.
It may seem silly, but as a 1948 health film shows, the simple sneeze is how world epidemics spread. Maybe it's not so simple at all.
"Sneezing is one route for this virus to spread," says Dr. Uttam Sinha, who adds that when people interact with each other, even over great distances, they can swap viruses.
It all starts when your nose wants to get rid of something that doesn't belong, be it pepper or the flu.
"It senses the foreign body and gives a signal to the brain that there is some foreign body [that] has entered, then the brain will ask the diaphragm and the chest muscle to undergo contraction," says Sinha.
And then you sneeze, sending 100,000 droplets of germs flying.
"Maybe one drop of water, along with other things like bacteria, virus, dead cells or live cells," he says.
A single sneeze could send droplets as far as 100 feet.
The best prevention – wash your hands frequently, and like the old film says, just bear in mind that viral particles can stay alive on surfaces for 24 hours or more.
So just because you don't see the sneeze doesn't mean you can't pick up germs. Seats and rails on the subway, taxi doors, and elevator buttons are hot spots for the spread of illnesses.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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