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Cleaning measures for a home safe from swine
flu |
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Studies reveal that the swine flu virus has a long survival
expectancy outside of a host body. If the cough of an infected person
were to release droplets containing the swine flu virus over a surface,
the virus would remain alive and able to infect anyone who touches the
surface, for the next eight hours. When someone touches the surface
inside eight hours, and then touches his eyes, nose or mouth, the virus
is transmitted successfully to the new person.The swine flu virus is
destroyed by heat between 75C and 100C. There are many chemical
germicides, chlorine, detergent, antiseptic cleaners based on iodine,
hydrogen peroxide and alcohol , that are good cleaning agents for
surfaces that are contaminated, if used in the right way, in the right
concentration. Sanitizing wipes and gels that contain alcohol are well
used in cleaning the hands. These should be rubbed into the skin until
dry.
When there is a swine flu- infected family member at home, care
providers should make sure that any tissues or other disposable cloth
used by the patient are thrown away in the garbage. The caregivers
should also make sure to wash their hands with soap after such a
cleaning-up chore. A good way to prevent the spread of swine flu around
the house when there is a patient
at home, is to make sure that all
surfaces around the home that could receive droplets from the patient's
coughs, are wiped down with disinfectant several times that day.
Caregivers in the home need to know that all personal effects of the
patient, bed linen, dishes and utensils, clothing, etc., do not have to
be treated separately. They can be mixed in with the regular household
stuff; but care has to be taken that everything is washed thoroughly
before being used by another family member. When linen and other
personal effects are picked up to be taken in for cleaning, they should
not be held close to the body. Hands should be washed properly
afterwards. The bed linen needs to be tumble-dried hot after a wash.
The lesson to be learned here is that families do not need to institute
special procedures that make the patient feel like some kind of
outcast. Only a reasonable amount of common sense care is to be taken.
It is easy to go overboard with cleaning and quarantining measures when
public alert is high for a new disease. The flu spreads by contact with
bodily fluids in some way; it is not like the pox that it should travel
through the air. A reasonable amount of caution is all that is
required.
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