If we all washed our hands regularly we would hit the spread of flu on the head, says a team of researchers from Queen Mary's School of Medicine, London.

Prof. J. Oxford and team say that even such threats as bird flu would spread significantly more slowly if we just washed our hands regularly.

Apparently, not many of us are too keen on handwashing, say the researchers.

Personal hygiene, the study found, is much more effective at stopping the spread of flu than using antiviral tissues. The researchers found that after hand washing, making sure surfaces are clean (using disinfectant) is also very effective.

Apparently, virucidal nasal tissues are the least effective.

We can catch flu by various means - through coughs and sneezes, touching an infected person and also touching something that an infected person has come into contact with. All you need to do to get infected yourself is to touch an infected object and then wipe your face with your hands.

Hand washing would ‘break the chain', said Prof. Oxford. He said that over the past few decades we have become lax about personal hygiene. Unfortunately, microbes are using this route more and more to spread infection.

Prof. Oxford put the following in order of importance:

1. Hand washing.
2. Cleaning surfaces with disinfectant.
3. Cleaning equipment that is shared, such as tables, telephones, door knobs, desks and arm rests.