A short YouTube segment in which Aaron Hartman, MD, answers how to avoid getting sick when exposed to ill people. He shares a personal anecdote of being sneezed on by a flu patient but not becoming ill, and recommends sinus flushing (e.g., a neti pot with saline and sodium bicarbonate) immediately after exposure as one mitigation strategy.
Chapters
What are some ways you can keep from getting sick when you're exposed to sick people? How can you actually prevent getting sick if someone coughs on you, sneezes on you, or you're around sick people? This actually happens to me a lot. I remember once, back about 10 years ago, I was seeing a patient with flu, and I was examining them, they sneezed on me. I felt water droplets hit my face, and I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm going sick. I didn't get sick. So your question might be, what did I do that I didn't get sick from someone with flu that I was seeing in the office literally coughing right on my face as I was looking at them? I do lots of things. We'll talk about some of those. One of the basic things is actually get exposed to an infection using something basically like a neti pot with the basic salt and sodium bicarbonate mixture. Sometimes the packets come together and flushing out your sinuses right afterwards. When you get exposed to this, basically you breathe through your nose, it gets in your sinuses, and these.