This season might be best remembered as the Great Flu Scare of 2004. The shortage of influenza vaccine in this country has created something of a crisis as Americans line up for shots (when and where they can be had) or pay exorbitant amounts to get jabbed in the arm.
But doctors keep reminding the public that there's a safe, cheap and decidedly old-fashioned approach to keep from getting sick: Wash your hands. Something so simple, they said, is really the best preventive medicine.
"It's virtually cost-free and, particularly as we're coming up on cold and flu season, one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from flu," said Barbara Hyde, spokeswoman for the American Society for Microbiology. "Wash your hands, and wash them often."
Most important The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoes the familiar doctor's warning: The most important thing you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands, the centers' Web site says.
It's not just colds and flu that can be lessened by good old soap and water -- diseases such as hepatitis A, meningitis and infectious diarrhea can be prevented if people make a habit of washing their hands.
"Cold and flu viruses are really spread hand to hand, more so than someone sneezing in your face," Hyde said. "You're much more likely to get it on your hands. You touch your nose or eyes much more frequently than you realize, and that's how you transmit the virus to your respiratory system."
The CDC recommendation is really quite easy to remember. It's important you wash your hands before, during and after you prepare food; before you eat and after you use the bathroom; after handling animals or animal waste; and, duh, when your hands are dirty. You should also wash more frequently when someone in your home is sick. Washing hands is basic: Wet hands and apply liquid or clean bar soap; rub hands vigorously; continue for 10 to 15 seconds; and rinse well before drying.
Hyde also recommends paying attention to the area under and around your fingernails. "People get the palms, but tend to neglect the nails," she said.
As many as 30 percent of travelers don't wash their hands after using public restrooms at airports.
Ninety-five percent of adults say they always wash their hands after using public restrooms; however just 78 percent were observed doing so.
Americans say they are most likely to wash their hands before handling or eating foods (80 percent) and after changing a diaper (75 percent). But many do not wash after coughing or sneezing.
Germs can live for a long time (some as long as two hours or more) on doorknobs, desks and tables.
Americans suffer a staggering 1 billion colds each year, and those colds are caused by more than 200 different viruses.
As many as 76 million people become ill each year from food-related illness in the United States, resulting in about 5,000 deaths.
Sources: Wirthlin Worldwide Survey for the American Society for Microbiology; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; U.S. Food and Drug Administration.