Facemask, please...

Yesterday Newsweek dared to challenge conventional wisdom by publishing an article that called into question the effectiveness of hand-washing in regards to reducing the spread of influenza, including H1N1. Blasphemy!

Maybe not...

This debate is one that has been ongoing here at UC Berkeley. Just a couple of days ago I tweeted a NYT article citing a study performed here claiming quite the contrary.

The primary impetus behind Newsweek's article is Dr. Art Reingold (my epidemiology professor this semester). Dr. Reingold has not only worked at the CDC and is now chairing Berkeley's epidemiology department, but is involved in the Center for Global Public Health here on campus, the Center for Infectious Disease and Emergency Readiness, and the California Emerging Infections Program (Co-Director). He argues that there is no substantive evidence to prove that humans can become infected with influenza from microbes on their hands, rather, he argues that infection primarily results from inhaled microbes.

There is much evidence to link hand sanitation with prevention of rhinovirus (common cold), certain respiratory ailments, and many gastrointestinal infections, but Dr. Reingold is correct in his assertion that there is no evidence to link it with flu prevention. Much of the CDC's recommendations are based on 'general' respiratory infection guidelines.

Hand-washing is certainly an important public health practice, and fear of H1N1 acting as a motivator (however dubious) for the public to wash their hands more often can be a good thing. The concern however lies in the fact that with health departments nationwide prescribing hand hygiene as a primary barrier to flu infection, other more effective measures, such as facemasks, will be underutilized, if not ignored.

For my part, I've got a stash of 3M N95 respirators in my first aid kit, and I certainly won't hesitate to use them. [Don't get suckered into buying them for $500.00 on ebay, they're cheap, and not that scarce]

I'm still washing my hands though.

[Eduardo the H1N1 mascot working alongside me in the RI Dept of Health's 'Operations Center']