The flu virus can survive on books and doorknobs for two to eight hours and virus-laden respiratory droplets from a cough or sneeze typically drop out of the air over a distance of about six feet, so keep your distance from someone with respiratory symptoms, said Nellie J. Brown director of the ILR School's Workplace Health and Safety Program.

As a certified industrial hygienist, Brown trains more than 2,000 workers annually, from firefighters, office workers and farmers to metalworkers, health care workers and cosmetologists on how to stay safe on the job.

When the "swine flu" surfaced earlier this year, demand for ILR-led H1N1 prevention workshops followed. "In my workshops, people are finding the background timeline on H1N1 useful for understanding why the victims are young, healthy people," Brown said.

Trainees are also interested to know how H1N1 and the flu season progressed in the Southern Hemisphere as a predictor of how the flu season might proceed in the United States, she said. This new variant of influenza first caused illness in Mexico in March.

More than 300 people have attended Brown's H1N1 workshops in western New York this year.

"But, in my other training programs across New York state, I am asked questions about H1N1, regardless of what the training topic is. With so much media attention on this issue, people want to be able to find out more," she said.

Insights brought by Brown to these workshops include the sobering, the scientific and the practical.

How to best prevent the spread of the flu? Stay home if you are ill until the fever is gone for at least 24 hours, Brown advises. Use tissues for coughs and sneezes, then throw them away and wash your hands.

If you don't carry tissues, she said, strike the "Dracula pose" when you sneeze or cough. That's right. Bend your elbow. Bury the bottom of your face in it. Emulate Dracula hiding his vampire fangs behind his cloak-draped arm.

Mary Catt is a staff writer at the ILR School.