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" &amp;#039;Tis the season...for colds, flu, stomach bugs, and all those other ills that spread when people come together \u2014 whether by choice (at holiday parties) or circumstance (on airplanes). But don&amp;#039;t start calculating your sick days just yet. This year you can do more than wash your hands and cross your fingers. Recent research, some of it sparked by the scary H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009, has uncovered new steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. Most of these tactics are targeted at specific settings as scientists tease out what will safeguard you at the food court, for example, versus what works to bolster everyday immunity. Here&amp;#039;s what to try \u2014 and when and where to use it \u2014 to get through the holidays without sneezes, tummy aches, or flat-out-in-bed flu.  AT HOME \u2022 Pop a vitamin D supplement at breakfast. In a Yale medical school study, adults with high blood levels of vitamin D (at least 38 nanograms per milliliter) were 49% less likely to get a cold or other infection of the upper respiratory tract during the fall and winter of 2009 through 2010. Vitamin D boosts the ability of immune cells lining your lungs to fight off viruses. But without taking a supplement, it&amp;#039;s hard to bring your blood levels into the range that&amp;#039;s likely to increase resistance to viruses, says Michael F. Holick, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine. While the government upped the recommended amount of D last year (to 600 IU a day for most adults), Dr. Holick recently chaired a task force on the topic for the Endocrine Society, which issued the far higher guideline of at least 1,500 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily. It&amp;#039;s a dose that you can safely take in addition to popping a multivitamin containing D and drinking fortified milk, he says.  \u2022 Clean with bleach. Noroviruses, the microbes that cause stomach flu, are notoriously resilient, able to live on almost any hard surface for weeks. They also can survive many common household cleaners \u2014 except chlorine bleach, say scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So, beyond enforcing commonsense prevention measures (no sharing drinking glasses, for example), swab hard surfaces with a chlorine solution. &amp;quot;Focus on the most likely areas of contamination, such as bathrooms, but also objects everyone touches often, like doorknobs, remotes, light switches, and phones,&amp;quot; advises Christine L. Moe, Ph.D., professor of global health at Emory University in Atlanta. The bug-killing formula: \u00BD cup of chlorine bleach in a gallon of water. (Note: Most disinfecting wipes don&amp;#039;t actually contain bleach, and thus won&amp;#039;t knock out noroviruses.)  In addition, launder the patient&amp;#039;s sheets, towels, and clothes frequently, in hot water and bleach if possible. Noroviruses can live on rugs for weeks, as well; to decontaminate if a family member has thrown up on the carpet, steam cleaning appears to be more effective than wet shampooing, an English study reported.  \u2022 Sleep at least seven hours a night. A good night&amp;#039;s rest revitalizes you and lowers the odds you&amp;#039;ll wake up with a sore throat, cough, and runny nose. In a study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, participants who logged fewer than seven hours were nearly three times more likely to come down with a cold than those who got more rest.  Too little sleep triggers a drop in the activity of your immune system&amp;#039;s natural killer cells \u2014 a falloff of as much as 30%, a study from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm suggests. &amp;quot;Killer cells are one of your body&amp;#039;s first defenses against cold and flu viruses \u2014 they keep an infection under control until it can be eliminated by more targeted types of immune cells,&amp;quot; explains lead researcher Elinor Fondell, Ph.D. (For how-tos on extending and improving your snooze time, see &amp;quot;25 Ways to Sleep Better Tonight&amp;quot;.) Next:  AT WORK  \u2022 Keep zinc lozenges in your desk drawer. If you start sucking on these as soon as you feel the first sniffle (that&amp;#039;s why you want the lozenges at hand), your cold will be shorter and less severe, new research has found. But in order to reap the benefit, you need the right formula, which gets a little tricky. In a review study from Finland, lozenges that provide at least 75 mg a day of zinc reduced the length of a cold by up to 42%, while lower doses had no effect on symptoms.  You need a product that effectively releases its zinc ions \u2014 the active ingredient, explains study author Harri Hemila, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the University of Helsinki. &amp;quot;Some lozenges contain ingredients, such as citric acid for flavoring, that bind zinc, making it unavailable,&amp;quot; he says. Two brands that pass the &amp;quot;release test,&amp;quot; according to a recent analysis: Cold-Eeze and Walgreens&amp;#039; Zinc Cold Remedy Lozenges. To get a high enough dose (based on the milligrams of ions that are actually released), you&amp;#039;ll need to suck on 10 lozenges a day. You may want to keep taking them for one to two weeks, the treatment time used in most studies. The main side effect you can expect: a bad taste, which goes away once you stop taking the lozenges.  AT PARTIES  \u2022 Steer clear of coughers. In a German study, guests who hugged, kissed, or just talked with a sick teenager before&amp;amp;gt;she started to cough or show other symptoms of the H1N1 virus didn&amp;#039;t catch it from her. What&amp;#039;s more, even after the girl developed symptoms, such as fever and coughing, only those participants who chatted with her for 15 minutes or longer or who kissed her got infected. This isn&amp;#039;t the only study to suggest that you don&amp;#039;t need to be overly fearful of &amp;quot;silent spreaders&amp;quot;: When a team of researchers from the University of Hong Kong, Harvard University, and the CDC followed more than a thousand men and women during the 2008 flu season, the scientists estimated that only 1% to 8% caught the virus from people without symptoms. So don&amp;#039;t skip holiday parties, but if a guest is coughing or seems feverish or is complaining of a sore throat, cut your conversation short and blow a friendly kiss as you move on.  Next:   AT THE MALL  \u2022 Suds up before hitting the food court. The sanitizing hand goop in the dispenser at the food court (or in your purse) does a good job of killing bacteria and seasonal viruses like those that cause colds and flu. But it hardly makes a dent against the noroviruses that cause the stomach flu. In studies at Emory, hand sanitizers with 62% or 63% alcohol (the amount in most major brands, such as Purell, Infectigard, and Germ-X) killed only a fraction of noroviruses. Even products with alcohol content of up to 95% failed to wipe them all out. But the Emory research did suggest an effective tactic against these resilient bugs: physically forcing the virus off your hands with the help of running water. Dampen your hands, soap them, and rub together for 20 seconds (about as long as it takes to sing &amp;quot;Happy Birthday&amp;quot; twice), then rinse with warm running water. Just be sure to use a paper towel to shut off the faucet and to turn the doorknob on the restroom door after washing. That way, your hands will be norovirus-free when you grab hold of your burger, fries, or slice. WHEN FLYING \u2022 Keep nasal passages moisturized. An analysis of more than 1,100 airline passengers several years ago found that you are 23 times more likely to catch a cold on a plane than during normal daily life on the ground. The culprit is probably the low humidity typical of aircraft cabins: It dries out the sticky mucus in your nose, compromising its ability to trap and eliminate viruses, says study coauthor Martin B. Hocking, Ph.D., professor emeritus of environmental chemistry at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Moreover, most cold-causing viruses survive better when humidity is low, increasing the chance that a virus will spread from passenger to passenger. (Recirculated air in a plane isn&amp;#039;t to blame: A University of California, San Francisco, study found passengers were just as likely to experience cold symptoms if the cabin contained fresh air.)  There&amp;#039;s no proven way to lower your risk when flying, but products that combat the drying out of nasal passages may help, especially during flights lasting more than two hours, says Hocking. Some to try: saline nasal drops, sprays, or gels (brands include Ayr, Ocean, Simply Saline), or moisturizing nasal swabs (SkyCap). At the very least, they&amp;#039;ll help you breathe more comfortably, preventing nasal crusting, itching, and congestion. Next:  Surgical masks: Aside from being impractical \u2014 &amp;quot;You can&amp;#039;t wear a mask 24/7 for the entire flu season,&amp;quot; points out Ben J. Cowling, Ph.D., a public health researcher at the University of Hong Kong \u2014 masks don&amp;#039;t work. In a study in hospitals and dormitories, Cowling found little evidence of protection against infection. And when researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine sprayed 28 volunteers with live flu virus, all those wearing masks became sick. The problem: &amp;quot;Masks leak, allowing virus to enter from the sides,&amp;quot; says Cowling.  Antibiotics: Last year, a University of Pennsylvania study found that 67% of hospitalized adults who&amp;#039;d been given antibiotics for respiratory infections continued to receive them even after their illnesses had been identified as viral. Antibiotics destroy bacteria, not viruses, so taking them won&amp;#039;t help you get better any faster if a cold or flu virus is what&amp;#039;s causing your symptoms. If you or your doctor thinks you might have flu, ask about a flu test, which should give results in less than 24 hours. Rapid flu tests can be moderately expensive, but most insurers will cover them. Depending on what your doctor thinks is safer, you can either start antibiotics immediately and quit taking them if the test results are positive for a flu virus or just wait for results before filling your prescription.  Germ-fighting products: \u2022 UV-SANITIZING WANDS These handheld, battery-powered devices claim to stamp out viruses and bacteria on hard surfaces, with some saying they work in seconds. &amp;quot;But it&amp;#039;s unlikely that a quick pass with a UV-C light will thoroughly sterilize an uneven surface, such as a doorknob or a grocery cart handle,&amp;quot; says Charles P. Gerba, Ph.D., a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona. Gerba also worries about safety with these devices: &amp;quot;Prolonged, close exposure to intense, focused UV light can damage your eyes.&amp;quot;  \u2022 ANTIBACTERIAL GLOVES, SCARVES, AND OTHER GARB First, these offer no defense against cold or flu viruses. As for any claims that the fabric naturally kills bacteria &amp;quot;on contact&amp;quot; (including the notorious MRSA), almost nothing does that, says Gerba. &amp;quot;It always takes time, sometimes hours.&amp;quot;  Next:  While it&amp;#039;s not a guarantee that you won&amp;#039;t get the flu, a vaccine cuts your odds significantly \u2014 far more than anything else you can do to stay healthy. Think you have reasons to take a pass? We have research that explains why they no longer apply. &amp;quot;It hurts!&amp;quot; Now you can get your seasonal flu vaccine from a needle that&amp;#039;s 90% shorter than the traditional jabber. This hair-thin microinjection (Fluzone Intradermal) provides less-painful protection by depositing the vaccine right under the surface of your skin, not deep down in your muscle. Not ouchless enough? There&amp;#039;s FluMist \u2014 flu vaccine given with one spray in each nostril for anyone ages 2 to 49.  &amp;quot;I never get the flu&amp;quot; Besides the advice to &amp;quot;never say never,&amp;quot; there are fringe benefits to consider: In the first two months after getting a seasonal flu vaccine, adults 40 years and older had an 18% lower risk of having a first heart attack, an English study found. (Respiratory infections, even mild ones, may trigger a heart attack in adults with risk factors.) The shot may do double duty on another front, too: A U.S. Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center study found that the 2008-09 seasonal flu vaccine provided some protection against that spring&amp;#039;s H1N1 pandemic, lowering the odds of severe disease in particular.  &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m allergic to eggs&amp;quot; To make the vaccine, flu viruses are grown in eggs, but the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma &amp;amp;amp; Immunology now says that most people with egg allergy can safely receive the vaccination. Before getting your shot, though, see an allergist. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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