TY - JOUR T1 - Simple physical interventions such as hand washing and wearing masks can reduce spread of respiratory viruses JF - Evidence Based Medicine JO - Evid Based Med SP - 3 LP - 3 DO - 10.1136/ebm1001 VL - 15 IS - 1 AU - Benjamin J Cowling AU - Gabriel M Leung Y1 - 2010/02/01 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/15/1/3.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Jefferson T, Del MC, Dooley L, et al. Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses: systematic review. BMJ 2009;339:b3675.OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text Jefferson and colleagues reviewed the literature on the effectiveness of physical interventions to reduce the transmission of respiratory viruses. The review was ambitious in scope, ranging from individually applied interventions to population-wide distancing policies. The authors have added 9 papers to their 2007 Cochrane review of 49 papers describing studies of physical interventions.1 The main conclusions continue to support the importance of physical interventions, namely that hand washing is effective in reducing the spread of respiratory infections in hospital, school and community settings; face masks and other physical barriers are … ER -