Wuhan virus prevention: Dr. Pham Nguyen Quy pointed out the harmful effects when sneezing covering his nose and mouth with his hands

This is extremely important content, related to the politeness of coughing, sneezing that health workers must guide patients with flu symptoms.

Acute pneumonia caused by a new strain of the Corona family (nCoV) is gaining worldwide attention these days. Said to have originated in Wuhan since the end of December 2019, this infectious disease has spread rapidly to many other cities, which have been reported to have appeared in Thailand, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Loan, Singapore and even the US. On January 23, 2020, doctors at Cho Ray Hospital also reported the discovery of two Chinese people infected with the virus in Vietnam.

The emergence of this new infectious disease makes it easy to think of a pandemic caused by two recent "cult" coronavirus strains . Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS ) in 2003 infected 8098 people and 774 died, while the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012 did 2494. people infected, 858 people died. Global financial losses are estimated at several tens of billions of dollars.

The actual number of cases and deaths due to the new virus are unknown, but many experts say "classic" methods of limiting spread are still a key way to end the epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends steps to be taken to reduce the risk of disease as shown in Figure 1 below, specifically including:

TSDoctor Pham Nguyen Quy (Hospital of Kyoto University, Japan).

1. Wash your hands with soap and water or rub your hands with an alcohol-based preparation
2. Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing with disposable paper towels / elbows
3. Avoid contact with people who have signs / symptoms such as colds, flu
4. Cook meat and eggs thoroughly
5. No contact with wild animals or live poultry / poultry without protective means

Figure 1. Ways to help reduce the risk of Corona virus infection.

In this guide, content No. 2 is something that many people may find confusing: "Cover your nose and mouth when coughing, sneezing with disposable tissue / disposable elbows" . Why should we do that?

Sneezing and coughing are two common symptoms of colds and flu. It is the body's natural reflex to get rid of the "invader" (in this case the virus) out. However, coughing and sneezing can spread the virus further, and we need to do it the right way to prevent the germs from spreading to many others.

This is extremely important content, relating to the cough / sneeze politeness that medical staff must guide patients with flu symptoms. Indeed, several television studies and visual experiments (video clips below) have shown marked "consequences" of different sneezing ways.

Sneezing without shielding

This is the most rude way of doing it. Sneezing without hands will disrupt the spread of the pathogen, 3-4 meters away, where the virus can live for weeks until it reaches another person.

Sneeze with your hand covering your mouth

Although this is a common, better "do nothing" way to prevent the virus from spreading everywhere, a number of germs will still be splashed and can be as far as 1-1.2 m. This is even worse if you don't wash your hands afterwards. because the germs in your hands will stick to computers, phones, doorknobs, or directly onto others when shaking hands.

So, if you use your hands to block germs, remember to wash your hands right away, clean with soap ; It is better to rub under the tap for at least 30 seconds. Use a hand sanitizer instead of washing your hands.

Sneeze in a tissue

Using a "catch" tissue then throwing it in the right place is the best way to prevent the virus from spreading. You also need to wash your hands afterwards so that "hitting a 10" allows courtesy to help prevent spreading the disease.

Sneeze with sleeves covering your mouth

When there's no tissue right next to you, using your sleeve (long sleeves) is a good way to "catch the virus ". As the video below, when sneezing with elbows bent, the pathogen is less far away (15-20cm) and the risk of transmission is also smaller. While this is not the best way to prevent the spread of germs, experts say it is better than using your hands because you will rarely touch the object or others with your sleeve. However, make sure you use most of your sleeves to cover your nose and mouth (otherwise the germs will still shoot as far away as usual!) And… change your clothes to wash as soon as possible .

Hopefully, this presentation will help readers understand why WHO recommends coughing / sneezing to help reduce the risk of infection (Figure 2).

Figure 2. "Good" coughing and sneezing: A. Using a tissue to cover your mouth and nose.B. Use the inside of your elbow when wearing long sleeves to cover your mouth and nose

However, the word "advice" to reality is a big gap. According to a 2014 US survey of 383 students, most had the habit of covering their mouth with their hands (53.3%) or not at all (23.5%)! The recommended cough / sneeze rate is less than 25%.

Although changing habits is difficult, if each of us tries to adhere to the above recommendations, especially to be polite when coughing / sneezing, we will create and maintain a solid line of defense in community, which helps to minimize human and property losses due to new pathogens.

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