How to sneeze safely (+video)

Spray bottles, glitter and stickers are educating pupils at Lynmore Primary School how to prevent the spreading of colds and flu.
The school is using the SneezeSafe programme to teach 5- to 10-year-olds how they can help keep themselves and others well.
Principal Roger Dempster said teachers had been given a kit containing posters, stickers, a spray bottle, which is used to represent the spray of a sneeze and glitter to show how quickly germs could spread.
"Classes are using the SneezeSafe demonstration kit to show when you sneeze just how far it spreads and other classes are using the programme on the SneezeSafe website," he said.
"If you look in the past couple of years colds and flus were at a pandemic stage at schools, so we're trying to avoid that.
"Attendance equals achievement and we want to keep students in school as much as possible but also don't want them here when they are sick spreading their germs.
"Students are now using tissues more and washing their hands each time they sneeze.
"This type of programme is normal around this time of year, especially around the winter months, so we just want to get them into a healthy practice."
Leading virologist Dr Lance Jennings said schools that were taking steps to help protect their children from the ravages of flu with respiratory hygiene education were also helping children understand how to cut the risk of infections.
He said the general community also benefited.
"Children who grasp good respiratory hygiene at a young age will begin a positive flow-on effect in their families and communities and throughout their lives," he said.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board figures show 52.7 per 100,000 cases showed signs of influenza during the first week of May.
"We know that children have suffered from H1N1 09 [swine flu] in large numbers in the past two New Zealand winters," said Dr Jennings.
"We also know that children are the most prolific spreaders of flu.
"More than a quarter of New Zealand sneezes are left uncovered, potentially sending thousands of flu virus particles into the air for others to breathe."