Flu Season and Germ Reduction

Where are the germs?
While infectious viruses may enter a home from a variety of ways, children, especially those in a day care setting, are a primary source of infection. This is especially true in homes with children during flu season, where 60 percent of household surfaces may be infected with the virus.

Flu viruses can survive for approximately three days on stainless steel surfaces, two days on plastics and papers and one day on clothing, such as pajamas and handkerchiefs.

What to clean?
While regular cleaning maintenance helps prevent infection, more diligence is necessary during flu season or whenever someone in the household has a contagious disease. This is especially important in households where children coexist with an elderly member of the family; both children and the elderly tend to have weaker immune systems and are thus more likely to get sick.

Obviously every potential surface can’t be cleaned, but special attention should be given to those surfaces, which may be touched by all members of the household. Pay particular attention to cleaning steel, plastic and other hard surfaces, where germs tend to linger the longest. Items such as toilet handles and seats, kitchen and bath faucets and counters, refrigerator and microwave doors, light switches, telephones, remote controls, computer mice and keyboards and doorknobs often have infection rates higher than 40%.

Hand washing reduces transmission rates, but children and the elderly, the most at risk, are also the most likely to forget.