In the wake of the H1N1 flu pandemic, you would think everyone had learned to cover their mouths when they sneezed or coughed.

But researchers in New Zealand found that one in four people observed in a public setting did not. And of those who did, only 5percent covered their mouth in a way recommended by public health officials.

Those officials had been telling people they could avoid spreading infection if they would cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbows. This way, they wouldn’t get germs on their hands and spread them around.

Researchers did their study in three public areas in the New Zealand capital city of Wellington – a train station, a hospital and a shopping mall. This was after a bunch of public service advertisements in the newspaper and on radio telling people about proper infection control, much like public health officials did in the United States.

The most common response to a sneeze or cough was covering the mouth with the hands.
“This study showed a low prevalence of recommended respiratory hygiene behaviors suggesting that hygiene messages promoted in mass media campaigns have not been seen and/or have not been readily adopted by the public in this city,” said Nick Wilson of Otago University Wellington in New Zealand, an author on the study.

They presented the finding to the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, which was organized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Society for Microbiology, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the World Health Organization.

So, how do you cover your mouth? Or do you?