15 Habits Infectious Disease Experts Swear By to Avoid Getting Sick

Dr. Daniel Griffin doesn’t like to get sick. The first reason why is obvious—the congestion, the aching, the cough that overstays its welcome, the unpleasant stomach symptoms. The second is a matter of professional dignity. "It's almost like a gardener with dead plants," says Griffin, chief of the division of infectious disease at Island Infectious Disease Medical in Long Island, N.Y. and president of Parasites Without Borders. "I really don't want to be sick—because then the infectious disease doctor got sick.”So what do infectious disease doctors and experts like him do differently than the rest of us when it comes to preventing illness? Not as much as you'd think. Infectious disease specialists aren't disinfecting every surface or hiding from the outside world. Instead, they've built a collection of practical habits into their daily lives—simple routines that reduce risk without making life less enjoyable.We asked six infectious disease experts which habits they never skip.Set up your kitchen so cross-contamination can't happenJill Roberts tries to take the guesswork out of food safety. "One of the major causes of foodborne illness is cross-contamination," says Roberts, a molecu...