Hong Kong People & The Flu: Why?

Does Deborah live in the same Hong Kong I do? "Near the Equator"?? "Sunshine is strong all year"?? People catch the flu here because of cramped, crowded conditions and people sneezing with no attempt to cover their mouths or turn away. No amount of Vitamin D is going to fix that.

or people not washing their hands

The flu is spread by droplets in crowded conditions. Asia is more crowded and HK being a truly international city is a nice viral medium waiting to happen. Basically any international city that is crowded is a good medium whether it be HK, NYC, Paris etc.


As for the spread it is by contact. Contrary to popular belief droplets transmit very little disease. It's not the guy who sneeze on you that gave you the flu, but rather the guys whose hand you shook. Or the object that you picked up that someone with the flu just handled.


Sneezing and coughing without covering you mouth is unsightly, but no where close as bad as that handshake as far as being contagious. Which brings up those masks people wear. I have a good laugh everytime I see one.

One of two reasons:


He's an idiot. Well sort of. The studies proving the direct contact mode vs droplet mode was done in the 80's, thus Dr educated before that and didn't keep up may still believe that. The other factor is that even if the dr think it's full of crap, his patients may still be hanging on to those beliefs so he/she is doing it as a PR thing.


More likely, there is a second part to it. While it is contact, the nose and mouth area has a high concentration of viruses as well as a portal of entry for the virus into your system. We all touch our scratch our noses alot more often than we realize and the mask is to protect yourself from inadvertant contact during the course of the day and we ALL do that. But if the Dr washes his/her hand thoroughyl before of after each patient contact, it should be no problem. As long as the patient doesn't sneeze some snot directly onto him.