Cover your sneezes, even if they’re just from allergies. Sneezing due to respiratory allergies could spread more bacteria than sneezing due to colds, researchers reported in the Oct. 15, 2006, issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. The team analyzed the airborne germs expelled by volunteers who sneezed after exposure to histamine, a major respiratory allergen, and then to cold-causing viruses. The researchers found considerably more staphylococcus among the upper-respiratory-tract bacteria in the hay-fever sneezes. They speculate that the intensity of allergic sneezing might help account for the finding.