In this age of mutant germs and vaccine voids, is resistance futile?

And what about chicken soup, vitamin C, echinacea, zinc, steam, and even — dare I say it — washing your hands?

Some doctors say they’re worth a shot this flu season, especially if you can’t get a shot.

“We always talk about doing all the common-sense things — then cross your fingers and hope they work,” says Dr. Eric France, a pediatrician and head of preventive medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Denver. “All that stuff your mother told you was important — wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough.”

France also adheres to a no-handshake rule when he’s feeling germy, and he thinks everybody else should, too.

Colds and flu are transmitted differently, however, and touching stuff isn’t as big a factor for the spread of the flu, says Dr. Ronald Turner, professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia.

“There’s some evidence that hand-washing may well be beneficial for prevention of colds, but there’s no comparable evidence that it has the same benefit for the flu,” he says.

Cold germs can lounge around on public restroom doorknobs for up to eight hours, but the flu is mainly passed around by sneezing and coughing, Turner says.

Not that it would matter if hand-washing did prevent the spread of flu. You’ll be thoroughly disgusted to hear that a study found that while 94 percent of adults said they wash their hands after using public restrooms, only 68 percent actually had.

Ewwww.

There are few things grosser than sitting in a bathroom stall and hearing the flush of a neighboring toilet and the pitter-patter of some lunkhead leaving the restroom without even a tiny pause at the sink.

Men are the worst: A survey in 2000 at a New Orleans casino bathroom found 55 percent of men washed versus 74 percent of women. At an Atlanta Braves baseball game, 36 percent of men scrubbed compared with 84 percent of women.

That does it: I’m not using the men’s restroom anymore.

Here’s a flu flash: If you want to avoid it, lock yourself in a closet until May. Or lock your child in a closet until May. Or lock both of you in the closet till May — just not the same closet.