Years ago, I was a volunteer guinea-pig for the virologists who were developing the first flu vaccine.

Years ago I went twice as a volunteer to the Common Cold Research Centre near Salisbury, Wiltshire. The virologists there were researching colds and flu and they developed the first flu vaccines. Volunteers spent ten days there and during that time we learned from the virologists some facts about these respiratory diseases and how they were spread.

I remember that we were told how easy it is to catch these diseases 'by hand'. - Say someone with the infection coughs into their hand, or in blowing their nose gets viruses onto their hand. - Then you shake or otherwise touch their hand. - You'd get the viruses onto your hand. - Or they open a door, say, and you later touch that same door-knob, and your hand picks up viruses from the door-knob. Then you rub your eyes. - People often rub their eyes. - The viruses from your hand/s enter your body through your rubbing your eyes.

If you have the habit of rubbing your eyes, it would be a good idea to try to cure yourself of it. Avoiding rubbing your eyes could save you from a bout of flu.