Students Wear Masks to Try to Stop Flu

Hundreds of students on the University of Michigan campus are part of a research study that could change the way the world looks at influenza.

Researchers are trying to determine whether wearing surgical masks and hand sanitizing can prevent the spread of flu or other respiratory illnesses.

There's only one public place in his residence hall where Ken Miguel doesn't wear a surgical mask _ the cafeteria.

"It's kind of hard to eat with this thing on," the University of Michigan freshman said recently from behind the blue mask. "It's kind of hard to do a lot

of things with this on."

But every day, Miguel, 18, wears the mask while he studies, does laundry and sprints to class. It's gets a little uncomfortable, but it's for a good cause, he says.

Flu hit the university late last month and students in the study have since been divided into three groups: those who only wear masks; those who wear masks and use hand sanitizer; and those who do neither.

They'll fill out surveys every week, answering questions about their physical health and how often they wear the mask, which is optional outside the residence halls. The students will wear the masks until the flu outbreak has died down, but no longer than six weeks, the researchers said.

Funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the research is the first of its kind, said Dr. Allison Aiello, a Michigan epidemiology professor who designed the study with principal investigator Dr. Arnold Monto.

Scientists say the world is long overdue for a deadly flu epidemic, one that could emerge if the bird flu in Asia mutates to spread easily among people. A pandemic could kill millions of people. Right now there's not enough research to determine whether wearing masks and washing hands would be effective during such an event, Aiello said.

U.S. health officials have made no recommendation about wearing face masks. The government is stockpiling a vaccine officials hope would be effective against a pandemic flu strain but there isn't enough. Cotton masks and hand sanitizer could be a first line of defense.

"We know the clock is ticking, we just don't know when the alarm will go off," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University. "We already know there's going to be regular influenza annually, and even that's enough to grab our attention."

The results of the Michigan study "will be widely discussed, no matter the outcome," he said.

Schaffner says the study has important "real life" circumstances at its base. College dormitories, where students eat, sleep and study together, are the perfect breeding ground for airborne illnesses, he said.