JUMPING GERMS PUT ALL WORKERS AT RISK.

Byline: Patricia Guthrie Cox News Service

They wheeze, you wince.

They sniffle, you snivel.

Can't your co-workers be sick at home instead of spreading their germs at work, around your copy machine, your water fountain and in your air?

During cold and flu season, parents know all too well that day-care centers and schools turn into jumping germ factories. So do workplaces.

Like dominoes, workers fall one by one from one respiratory illness after another, which make the rounds building to building, floor to floor, cube to cube. Depending on a person's general health, immune system and other factors, catching the office bug can mean dealing with anything from a bothersome but bearable, just-can't-shake-it cough to a knockdown, can't-move-for-four-days flu.

And when it comes to calling in sick, workers must balance their jobs and their germs, their bosses' demands, their guilt over work left undone, their sick leave and the likelihood that they or their children will be ill again before the year is out. A recent national study found that, more often than not, sick people drag themselves in to work even though many believe that's where they picked up their illness in the first place.

``Most people feel too guilty to call in sick,'' says Ann Marie Sabath, a Cincinnati-based business etiquette consultant and author of ``Business Etiquette in Brief.'' ``You end up feeling sicker just thinking about the guilt.''

It's best, Sabath says, to have a plan in place to cover yourself before you get sick. If you must miss a day, offer to work at home.

``Bosses more than anything just want to know the wheels will continue to spin,'' Sabath says. ``Everyone should have a backup plan. Tell the boss what you're going to do to manage the work and meet the deadline.''

Because people who get sick with a respiratory infection, cold or flu are most contagious during the first two days, that's when doctors stress staying home. A fever of 100 degrees or higher also is a signal that the body needs time to rest.

Most people know how a respiratory illness spreads - through tiny airborne droplets and by direct contact such as shaking hands - but not as many know the third mode of transmission: by touching surfaces that sick people have infected. Dr. Paul Blake, director of the Georgia state epidemiology office, advises people not to be as worried about the sneezers as the office's shared surfaces, such as fax machines, door handles and vending-machine buttons.

``Viruses can be anywhere, so I just assume every surface is contaminated,'' says Blake, whose own office went through the seasonal round of respiratory nasties recently.

Viruses can live on surfaces from several hours to several days. They generally spread after a person touches a contaminated surface and then touches his own eye, nose or mouth, the places where viruses typically enter the body.

``Keep your hands clean and away from your nose, face and mouth,'' Blake recommends. ``That's how people can best protect themselves.''

It could be the definitive example of what goes around, comes around, and it's in full swing right now in offices around the country.

``At this department, about half of us have been sick on and off'' for months, said Katie Moussouri, one of 20 employees in Delta Air Lines' corporate communications office at its Hapeville, Ga., headquarters. ``It hit us one by one. ... We've kept the nearby health clinic busy. The doctors there called it this year's `crud.' ''

In the office, but still sick

Why do people come to work sick?

The folks at the Wellness Councils of America, which gives health seminars for corporations, polled 1,004 full- and part-time employees to find out. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Half of those surveyed said they believed their bosses preferred that they come to work when sick; 40 percent revealed feeling ``too guilty'' to call in sick.

But nine out of 10 who said they'd been near a sick co-worker reported missing an average of 1.5 days last year because of a cold or flu.

Of those who admitted going to work despite a respiratory infection, only one-fourth gave inadequate sick leave as their reason. About one in six reported being ordered to work by their boss.

While 67 percent of those surveyed felt that coughing and sneezing co-workers should stay home, 84 percent admitted that they come to work with a flu or cold.

- Cox News Service

CAPTION(S):

2 Drawings, Box

Drawing: (1--Cover--Color) WHEN YOUR OFFICE IS A GERM FACTORY...

Do you call in sick or drag yourself to work?

(2) Jumping germs

Jon Gerung/Daily News

Box: In the office, but still sick (See Text)