Here's more proof that most people have habits that aren't very sanitary — and sometimes can be plain disgusting.

During a research study, medical students secretly watched hundreds of people cough or sneeze at a train station, a shopping mall and a hospital in New Zealand.  What they saw wasn't pretty, with most people failing to properly prevent the spread of infectious germs.

The work was done in the capital city of Wellington over two weeks last August, near the end of a wave of swine flu illnesses. It was a time when the virus was international news, and public health organizations were telling children and adults to be careful about spreading the virus.

The good news is that about three of every four people tried to cover their cough or sneeze, in at least a token attempt to prevent germs from flying through the air.

The bad news is that most people — about two of three — used their hands to do it.

"When you cough into your hands, you cover your hand in virus," said study author Nick Wilson, an associate professor of public health at the Otago University campus in Wellington.

"Then you touch doorknobs, furniture and other things. And other people touch those and get viruses that way," he explained.
Health officials recommend that people sneeze into their elbow.  But only about 1 in 77 did that.

Using a tissue or handkerchief is another preferred option, but only about 1 in 30 did that.

Wilson called the findings surprising, especially given that it occurred only four months after the virus was first identified, when it was still considered unusually dangerous.

Coughing into hands might be fine if everyone immediately and thoroughly disinfected their hands afterward, but no one believes that's happening.

A 2007 study by Harris Interactive done in public restrooms suggested that about one in four people don't even wash their hands after going to the bathroom. It found that men were the worst, with one out of three failing to wash up.