Nov. 25--Judging by the hacking on almost every bus, "L" and Metra train ride, we guess that most Chicagoans either can't stay home when they're sick or choose to trudge to work with a cold or flu just to show their ... dedication to the job?
Ack!
People trapped in the same car or bus with these sneezers and coughers can't escape the clouds of germs expelled. Even if they hastily retreat to the corner of the bus or the last "L" seat. The pathogen-bearing droplets released in a cloud of invisible gas remain aloft, and within minutes virus-laden droplets can reach ceiling height and cover an entire room, according to research released last year by MIT sneeze scientist Lydia Bourouiba and her collaborators.
This year, Bourouiba is back with another bulletin: Sneeze droplets "are not all already formed and neatly distributed in size at the exit of the mouth, as previously assumed in the literature," she says in an American Physical Society news release. Based on a complex analysis of sneeze videos, researchers now say that virus-laden saliva "undergoes a complex cascading breakup" that continues after it leaves the lungs, producing droplets that churn into the air.
Why dissect sneezes? Because Bourouiba, chief of MIT's Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory, says a greater understanding of sneeze dynamics and droplet formation could help scientists thwart epidemics and unlock the mystery of why some people spread infection via sneeze more effectively than others.
And after that? Team Sneeze will study the equally enigmatic dynamics of "phlegm breakup" and examine how a sneeze spreads different pathogens. Ahem.
This research could eventually help architects and engineers to re-examine the design of ventilation in hospitals, offices and airports, among other places that airborne pathogens take flight.
We hope this research opens the watery eyes of all those who fail to sneeze into tissues (or into the crook of the arm) to reduce the airborne germ load. Etiquette, people. We know you learned it; now use it.
For that matter, we'd like to again encourage those who are sneezingly contagious to Just Stay Home. (P.S. No one believes you when you say you're not contagious.) Your colleagues -- bus and train mates too -- will be grateful for the courtesy. Ditto airline passengers who can't hastily retreat.
We've noticed a trend spotted a few years back in Japan that seems to be making the leap here: surgical masks as fashion accessories in public.
People wear the masks to protect themselves from germs, or because they're sick and seek to shield others. Many people also wear the masks to hide blemishes or even emotions, or just to stay warm, reports rocketnews24.com.
One 2011 survey of 100 people wearing surgical masks in a Tokyo fashion district found that roughly three in 10 wore masks not because they were sick, but for the above-mentioned reasons or just to be fashionable. Masks come in a variety of colors, with polka dots, flowers or other decoration.
Could this be the next hipster accouterment coming soon to America? How about masks in leather for the adventurous? Cashmere as a Christmas present? Festooned with superheroes? Flags? $100 bills (we're thinking of germ-phobe Donald Trump here)? The possibilities!
From wheezy inhale to blustery finish, the timbre and thrust of a sneeze can be as distinctive as a fingerprint. It's personal. So, please, keep it to yourself.
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