Infections can be passed from person to person partly through bad respiratory etiquette. Dr Arpana
Verma, senior lecturer in public health at the University of Manchester, says she was recently
involved in a project where a group of researchers covertly observed people's coughs and sneezes:
"We were amazed by how many people spit."

Respiratory                              = dechový

Etiquette                                  = dobré návyky

Involved in                              = zucastni (ceho)

Covertly                                  = skryte

Cough                                     = kasel

Sneeze                                     = kychani

Researcher                              = badatel

Recently                                  = nedavno


During the group's survey [=anketa] around the city of Manchester, they observed [=pozorovat] 154
people coughing, sneezing, or blowing their noses [=smrkat], and classified [=třidit] this
behaviour [=chovani] according to [=podle] the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
guidelines [=pokyny] . Only one person – 0.7% of their sample – had good respiratory etiquette,
coughing into their upper arm, in line with CDC recommendations. Four (2.6%) had acceptable
etiquette, and 149 (96.8%) had bad respiratory etiquette. None reached the bar [=dosahnout
lat’ky/standard] set [=nastavenou] for excellent etiquette. "People were sneezing, just out into
the open," says Verma, "and I'm sure you've seen that photograph of how far the droplets [=kapky]
from a sneeze go ..."

Another classic route [=cesta] for the spread [=rozsireni] of germs [=mikroby] is poor hygiene,
especially poor handwashing. Recent UK research [=vyzkum] found that 99% of people interviewed at
service stations [=benzinky] claimed [=tvrdit] to have washed their hands after using the toilet –
but recording device [=nahravaci zarizeni] revealed [=odhalit] that only 64% of women and 32% of
men actually [=skutecne] had [washed their hands]. In 2012, Ms. Cutler published research which
found faecal bacteria on 26% of hands in the UK; 11% of hands had as many germs as a dirty toilet
bowl.

This bacteria is passed to everything we touch. Cutler screened [=tridit] banknotes [=bankovka] and
credit cards and found 26% of the notes and 47% of the cards had high levels of bacteria, including
E coli. Analysis of mobile phones has shown [=ukazalo] that one in six are contaminated with faecal
bacteria. (Experts have suggested [=navhrli], as a guideline, that washing your hands properly
[=poradne] should take as long as singing Happy Birthday twice.)

In environmental terms, public toilets are obviously breeding grounds for germs in cities, and
Cutler says he'd like to see "ways of improving environments so they become easier to clean, easier
to manage – novel surfaces and structures, so there aren't so many nooks and crannies in public
areas. There's now a plethora of different toilet designs, none of which have been realistically
tested but which nevertheless show promise. What people forget is that when you flush a toilet,
there's a thing called a spray that goes something like two metres in the air and can contain
faeces, which means you could breathe in E coli and the rest."