The Proper Way to Sneeze/Cough.

During these Winter seasons, I see more sneezing and coughing and it becomes more apparent that many people have absolutely NO idea on how to sneeze and cough in a hygienic manner in order to minimize the spread of germs. 

I am a nurse practitioner and have been working as a nurse since 1998. I have had many patients sneeze and cough on me where I actually felt the particles land on my face, eyes, and mouth- Gross!  I have even seen nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers commit the same hygienic no-nos. It is definitely not limited the general public. 

Sneezing and coughing inappropriately increases the chances of spreading germs that cause diseases, including, cold, flus, meningitis, measles, etc.  Measles is even easier to spread because it is also airborne.  This means that the virus is so light, that it can float or attach themselves to dust particles and stay in the air longer (ready to be inhaled by an unsuspecting passerby) and travel greater distances further increasing the contaminated area. 

Many have seen others sneeze/cough into their bare hands, no tissue- a lot of people do it. That is by far the worst way to sneeze! Think about it, if you sneeze into your hands, your hands are immediately covered with potential disease-causing bacteria. What do you do next, if you are lucky, you are able to grab a tissue from a nearby tissue box. You blow/wipe your nose with it. Most people think they are done and continue with their day.  However, your hands still need to be washed with soap and water, at the very least, with sanitizer.  Even you if they went directly to the bathroom to wash their hands, you still have to touch the doorknob to the bathroom, the soap dispenser, the faucet handle and maybe even the towel dispenser handle (if it exists). Congratulations, you have just spread your germs to at least those 3 or 4 different places- doorknob, soap dispenser, faucet handle and maybe towel dispenser handle.  So unless you have a maid following you around to open the door for you, squirt some soap on your hands, turn the handle to the faucet on/off and hand you some towels- Don't sneeze into your bare hands!

Remember, hands are used to touch, grab, handle, push etc, just about everything- buttons, pens, doorknobs, handles, rails, etc. 

Others will sneeze/cough to one side avoiding people and sneeze into the air and and that side of the room. Unfortunately, that too is not good. Now, that side of the room is covered with your germs. The particles that are emitted when you sneeze can travel up to 6 feet according to the CDC. That's a large area that you just contaminated.

One sneeze can emit over 40,000 droplet particles containing a great deal of bacteria, viruses, etc.

I would like to to take this time to introduce the proper and hygienic way to sneeze or cough without infecting others of what you might have.  Believe it or not, you can expel thousands of droplet particles while sneezing or coughing and they can carry bacteria, viruses, etc, that can easily spread diseases to others.

Here it goes.

How To Appropriately Sneeze or Cough:
As soon as you feel a sneeze or cough coming on, you should immediately reach for a tissue to sneeze into (hopefully, those who have an active condition that makes them prone to sneezing or coughing are prepared with a stack of easy-to-grab tissue), however, if tissue is not available, simply turn away from anyone and use the inside of your elbow AKA the crook of your elbow to sneeze into (see figure below).  It is important to make sure none of the potential particles that are projected out are contained in the crook of your elbow or sleeve as much as possible.  Your arm, sleeve can be washed afterwards or later that day.

Why the crook of your elbow? First of all, it is readily available almost always and can be accessed quickly, and somewhat large enough to cover your mouth and nose at the same time.  Second, and most importantly, we do NOT touch, grab, handle, push, etc with the crooks of our elbows, thus, keeping germ-spread to a minimum.

Viola.  There you have it.  A much more hygienic way to cough or sneeze without spreading our germs.  If we all taught our kids and others to sneeze or cough this way, the world would be a cleaner place to live.  And maybe, I won't have patients sneezing or coughing on me.  :)