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With H1N1 on the rise and flu shots hard to find, few things are as terrifying as [sneeze sound]. But now a report in the journal Psychological Science suggests that coughing and sneezing can spread more than viruses. They also spread fear, of germs and more. 

So you’re on line for a movie when the guy behind you lets loose a big, juicy [sneeze sound]. Maybe you hold your breath, or maybe you decide to skip the flick¹ and go home to scrub your hands like you’re Lady Macbeth. Well, psychologists got to wondering whether that well-grounded caution could snowball into an overarching skittishness² about disease and other things. 

So they stationed a colleague on a college campus and had her sneeze loudly as students walked by. They then asked those students to estimate the risk the average American runs of having a heart attack or getting killed in an accident. Sure enough, kids who’d heard sneezing were more doom-and-gloom than those who got away Scott tissue–free. They also found that folks who were coughed on were more likely to favor federal funding for flu vaccines³ than for the creation of green jobs. The findings, needless to say, are nothing to sneeze at.