Facemasks, hand hygiene, and influenza among young adults: a randomized intervention trial.

ABSTRACT:

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Limited vaccine availability and the potential for resistance to antiviral medications have led to calls for establishing the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical measures for mitigating pandemic influenza. Our objective was to examine if the use of face masks and hand hygiene reduced rates of influenza-like illness (ILI) and laboratory-confirmed influenza in the natural setting. A cluster-randomized intervention trial was designed involving 1,178 young adults living in 37 residence houses in 5 university residence halls during the 2007-2008 influenza season. Participants were assigned to face mask and hand hygiene, face mask only, or control group during the study. Discrete-time survival models using generalized estimating equations to estimate intervention effects on ILI and

SUBMITTER: Aiello AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3266257 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature