Catching public transport does not give you flu

[Evil Eye]

A new survey by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that catching public transport does not increase your risk of getting the flu.

Researchers who surveyed nearly 6,000 people found that actually that fewer people who caught public transport got ill than if they commuted in another way.

But they did find that for those who did feel ill, catching the bus or the train could make them feel worse.

The findings contradict the commonly held belief that tubes, train carriages and buses are the perfect place for disease to spread.

Filled with coughing and spluttering commuters, it is through that germs can easily infect other travellers.

However, Dr Alma Adler and Dr Ken Eames, experts on infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, their results dispelled this concept.

Indeed separate research released last year may help to explain why – commuters on public transport are exposed to more germs and so build up greater immunity.

Dr Adler said: “The findings will no doubt come as a huge surprise to the many workers who blame being under the weather on their daily commute.

“In London where most people take public transport, the level of infection was no higher than elsewhere and in fact was slightly lower.

“Flu tends to be spread by direct contact and so it is probably children who are tending to drive the spread more than public transport.”

Their research, which was unveiled at the Cheltenham Science Festival, used on online annual survey that is part of a Europe wide initiative to monitor influenza called Flusurvey.

They asked participants to record whether or not they had experienced flu like symptoms and matched their answers to information about their lifestyle.

They also found evidence that dispelled the idea of “man flu”, where men claim to suffer worse symptoms than their female counterparts.

“In fact we found that women tend to have an increased risk of reporting flu like symptoms,” said Dr Adler.

“Women who had symptoms also reported slightly worse health scores than men who had symptoms”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10104605/Catching-public-transport-does-not-give-you-flu.html


Well that's good.
Civilization IV knew all along.

 

[DrLeftover]

I like the 'man flu' line, but I am sure those that produce TV shows and commercials which depict any man with 'the sniffles' as a whining infant will ignore it.

 

[Evil Eye]

Undoubtedly, makes people feel better about themselves.