I recently read an article that came to the conclusion that bird flu won't be a problem if everyone just washes their hands - and that article was written by a registered nurse!

While I agree that good sanitation practices can limit the spread of many diseases, that author's conclusions that H5N1 isn't likely to spread if we all just break out the Irish Spring is simplistic and wrong.

The author argued that diseases with high death rates were inherently self-limiting; people become very sick and are easy to isolate. This is somewhat logical, but a look at recent disease outbreaks indicates that handwashing alone is not enough. The SARS corona virus, for example, was difficult to control, and spread from China, through Asia, and to Canada. Although that episode was eventually contained, it took more than hand washing and isolation. And some people with latent or early stage infections were well enough to travel and spread the disease.

Masks are another good way of preventing the spread of infectious diseases. While hand to mouth contact is a good way to spread influenza, one good sneeze can put millions of virus particles in the air, and these can also spread infection.

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