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Have you heard? You should wash your hands to avoid swine flu. But there's a second part of that message you don't hear as often: Keep your hands off your face.
"Your hands can be laden with influenza virus, but if you're not touching your eyes, nose and lips, you are not transmitting that virus (to yourself)," says Mark Nicas, an adjunct professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California-Berkeley.

In other words, flu viruses do not have legs and cannot be absorbed through a finger. They will, however, ride along if that finger rubs your eye or touches your nose.

And, if you are a typical human, your finger will do just that, repeatedly.