Scientists say GermBana's scarf or any scarf would likely reduce exposure to pathogens if it covers the nose and mouth while around sick people.

WSJ: Keeping Cold and Flu Germs Out

Her limbs flopped horribly and when at long last he managed to hoist her so her head hung over his shoulder it was to find her blonde hair straying across his sweating face, sticking to his skin, caressing his mouth, so that he spat and retched in sick disgust, staggering so that he and his burden nearly fell.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Hot as it was, my decorous mother had pulled a robe over her thin nightdress she too had been asleep and roused by the noise and she sat now on the sofa beside my father, her fingers over her mouth as though she were trying to keep from being sick.

NPR: Roth Rewrites History with a 'Plot Against America'

That argument is now reinforced by the realisation that trucking sick pigs the length of the country is a highly effective way of spreading the foot-and-mouth virus far and wide.

BBC: The pointless slaughter?