Professor Paul Patterson from the California Institute of Technology has presented some data at a neuroscience conference in Melbourne last week, indicating that flu like illnesses in pregnancy can cause schizophrenia or autism later in life of the child. He leads by example. Savour this quote from an interview with the ABC’s Barbara Miller:

BARBARA MILLER: Women, pregnant women, hearing this would be extremely worried. Do you think they should be?

PAUL PATTERSON: I don’t think it’s a matter of alarm, I think it’s just a matter of commonsense really.
You know, I do it myself because I don’t like to get colds. So when I go shopping, after I get in my car I wipe my hands with a disinfectant and when my child is sick with a cold, I’m always washing my hands after touching him and contacting his clothes and so on, I wash my hands.
These are commonsense measures. It’s just that we don’t do them normally because we’re not hyper worried about a cold; we just accept it as a fact of life.

Now, this raises multiple questions about the good Professor’s life: does he use public transport? Has he ever visited London without a full body armour? How has he been able to procreate without getting exposed to evil viruses? Does he permanently smell of Dettol?
And how often does he cuddle his child when it is ill?

Eau de Dettol, the Aftershave for concerned hygienist.