Handwashing 'could help curb flu'
Updated on 28 November 2007
Simple measures such as washing hands could help curb a flu pandemic, experts have said.
Wearing masks and gowns have helped slow the spread of respiratory viruses such as flu and SARS, according to a review of 51 existing studies.
Such interventions should be better evaluated and given "higher priority" in preparation for pandemics, the experts said.
The news comes less than a week after the Government announced it was doubling the UK's stockpile of antiviral medicines in preparation for a future pandemic.
The eventual stock will be enough to treat at least half the UK population if a pandemic strikes.
The latest research, published online in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), involved studies on the transmission of viruses from animals to humans and humans to humans.
Methods highlighted in the studies to prevent viruses spreading included quarantine, keeping social distance, barrier methods like gowns and masks, and hygiene.
Six of the studies looked specifically at measures used to halt the spread of SARS in China, Singapore and Vietnam in 2003.
The experts, including Ruth Foxlee, from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, said one driver behind pandemics is that viruses are highly infectious, and there is a need to reduce viral load.
"Mounting evidence suggests, however, that single measures, particularly the use of vaccines or antivirals, will be insufficient to interrupt the spread of influenza," the authors said.
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