We've long known that coughing and sneezing spreads cold and flu germs. Now, researchers are finding that so do singing, whistling and laughing, reported Reuters.
And if you're felled by the flu, especially don't bellow along to the music of Les Miz. (We're looking at you, Susan Boyle.) "I suspect that singing (especially trained operatic singing) will produce an even stronger, more penetrating plume [of infection]," Julian Tang, a virologist and consultant with Singapore's National University Hospital told Reuters.
The Singapore researchers are using a ginormous mirror and high-speed camera to watch the splatter and figure out exactly how far those flu bugs fly through the air. (Hopefully, they also have a spectacular amount of Windex.)
Once researchers learn the answer, they can better recommend how far apart to place hospital beds or quarantine patients with an airborne infection - and you'll know how far to stand from your coughing, singing, whistling flu-infected loved ones.
They'll also be looking at how effective coughing into a loosely clenched fist, a tissue or face mask actually is, Reuters reported. No word on the effect of Josh Groban on influenza.
Find The Body Odd on Twitter and on Facebook.
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.


Yet another person using Susan Boyle's name merely to attract hits to their article. Cheap.
Journalists may get more views by using a celebrity's name in a headline -- but as soon as I realize I'm being manipulated I stop reading. I don't have any idea what the rest of your article said. When you start using manipulation to get hits-- you lose. While I was writing this Ontario Bill's comment appeared. Get the message ... you might get views, but you lose readers for that article and future ones. I agree with Ontario Bill that this is a cheap tactic. You are losing any credibility you had as well.
Simple solution: brush your teeth. Follow it with antiseptic mouthwash. That should limit germs dramatically.
Do a lot of people feel like singing and whistling while they have the flu?
But I was told that, to the brain, music was the same as sex! Does that make the Flu a STD?
Probably.
Have they thought about to remind people to wash hands? And, they need to make sure sufficient hydration and sunlight and balanced diet. Remember good ventilation.
During flu season, high vit.c and high protein diet with extra hydration. Hand washing please.
Singing is actually a good exercise of lungs.
It is not the singing but the infection control and our well-being.
Stupidest thing I ever read. Who sings with the flu? Stop using Susan to attract readers. Makes you look stupid and it is sooo obvious.
I don't know about anyone else, but I usually get a sore throat with the flu and can hardly swallow, let alone sing or hum.
I am actually forwarding this article to my college-age daughter, who sings in multiple choral groups. Often, in groups with required attendance, students show up ill, sit close together, and spend the hour trying to sing and coughing instead. No telling how many viruses and infections are passed through groups in this way, especially with trained singers with stronger mechanisms. This is a good support for allowing sick students to stay out of class and rehearsal till they are not sick anymore...
I'm not in contact with many people that go around singing even when they are not sick. But I would think the last thing anyone would want to do when they are not feeling 100% is sing (unless singing is somehow incorporated into their profession).
Politicians making big speeches most likely spread all sorts of diseases. Especially recently spit has been flying from their mouths all over the nation.
Breaking news! Having the flu causes you to have the flu! I've got to study this more.
I think this has to be one of the dumbest articles MSN has posted. I don't know about the rest of the universe, but I am guessing they are not singing and whistling when they are down and out with the flu!