Never mind the flu - French airports should take steps to combat garlic

There were a fair number of people who had opted for face masks this weekend at Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2E.  Stuck in the middle of the long snaking queue for passport control, I couldn't help thinking that this had more to do with trying to combat the heavy reek of garlic breath and assorted duty-free perfumery, than the threat of Mexican Flu. 

There are mixed messages out there in the media as to whether or not we should all be rushing to buy a face mask, or buy shares in a face mask company.  Whilst the latter would surely make a sound financial investment just now, there are many who say that masks are not really effective against flu.

In a BBC article, Professor John Oxford, a virologist at leading London hospital, The Barts and the London, said: "Really, there is very little evidence that masks actually offer much protection against flu. "I think handing them out to the public as has happened in Mexico just destroys confidence."

As a non-mask-wearer in the airport, I did wonder what others were thinking about my flagrant disregard for public health.  Had I missed the news, or was I raising the doigt d'honneur in the direction of the virus?  My own view is that if I'm going to get it then I will, whether I look like an extra from Holby City or not.  In any case, the virus is treatable when caught early enough, and believe me at the first sign of a sniffle I'll be checking in for hospital dinners.

Paranoia has certainly spread to the travelling public, and I may as well have skipped through the airport wearing a sombrero and yelling areeba! areeba!, when I inadvertently sneezed...hayfever you understand.  A muffled cough has you marked out as a suspect these days.

The two Scottish culprits who took the virus back to the UK are all set to turn their sniffly noses into hard cash, after newspapers bought their story.  But how much of a good read can a sore throat and runny nose actually be?  Surely there are only a limited number of ways to describe mucus.

There'll be many who laugh if I catch the virus after making these remarks, but that's not as funny as seeing the public at large wearing a manky damp patch of material over their cake-hole believing it will save their life.  In my opinion, folk should get on with their lives...and maybe cut back on the garlic before taking a flight.