Cold, Flu, and Personal Responsibility

Preventing contamination is up to your behavior....

I gave a presentation entitled Understanding Flu and Biological Events at Integrated Safety and Response Solutions to an enthusiastic crowd.  After the program, Captain Tim Mahar, EMTP, mentioned the Myth Busters clip below.

This clip is all about spreading contamination...in this case from a typical runny nose/cold scenario. The Myth Busters do a fantastic job displaying the potential for one person with a respiratory illness to spread that illness to others. You've read my postings and heard me talk on the podcast about the need to improve our non-pharmacological interventions to prevent disease spread...this clip proves my point! (For more on this, listen to Mitigation Journal podcast #179 and read the related postings on the blog)

The second half of the clip displays how just a little bit of personal responsibility when you're sick and prevent the spread of disease. This says a lot for non-pharmacological interventions...hand washing and respiratory etiquette are the real stars.

In this demonstration the disease was cold or flu. What if it were something worse?

If a person with respiratory illness can spread disease easily without trying...how much disease could be spread it were done intentionally?

This Myth Busters clip is about eleven minutes long. So, sit back and enjoy!
Special thanks to Captain TIm Mahar (Monroe Ambulance) for sending this to Mitigation Journal.