MANY Australians will scoff at the very idea of wearing a face mask in public, yet it’s a highly effective way to protect yourself against swine flu.

The potentially life-saving accessory should be worn in all “crowded situations”, says University of NSW Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Raina MacIntyre.

This includes the bus and the train on your work commute and other confined public spaces like a plane.

“We’re one month away from the start of winter and we’ve already had suspected (swine flu) cases in Australia and New Zealand,” said Professor MacIntyre, a member of the Scientific Influenza Advisory Group to the Chief Medical Officer of Australia.

“I think any time from now, people who are in crowded situations, caring for sick people either as healthcare workers or in their own families, travelling on public transport, (they) should wear a mask.”

It’s a message Prof MacIntyre knows won’t be readily accepted with research showing many Australians would rather risk getting sick than wear a face mask.

Prof MacIntyre headed a study which took in more than 140 NSW children who, in 2006-07, had suffered a bout of the flu so serious they were taken to a hospital emergency room.

Their parents were given face masks in a bid to test their effectiveness at preventing the virus’ spread.

Parents who wore face masks during contact with their sick child were four times less likely to contract their child’s virus than those who did not.

The masks offered a “very significant degree of protection”, Prof MacIntyre said, but the study’s secondary finding was that Australians don’t like wearing them.

“Less than half of the parents actually complied with the mask wearing and they weren’t protected,” she said.

“But behaviour is always governed by perception of risk and this (swine flu) is going to be perceived as a serious risk, people will behave differently to when it is your normal winter colds and coughs.”

Prof MacIntyre said face masks would be vital in the event of a full-blown pandemic, when vaccine development was likely to be delayed and treatment drugs in short supply.

Until a human vaccine was matched to this strain of swine flu, people should use all other protective measures available, she said.

“I was on a flight recently next to someone who was coughing and sneezing the whole way and I put on my mask for the whole flight,” Prof MacIntyre said, confirming she is taking her own advice.

“This is the closest we have been to a pandemic in a long time.

“I think it is a serious concern because there is clear evidence that it is spread from person to person, that there is a high fatality rate, and it is a nasty infection.”

By Danny Rose | April 27, 2009  from AAP