Fighting Germs

Once the cold and flu season has officially started, moms across the country are arming themselves for their annual fight against germs in the home.

It’s a tough battle. School-aged children and those attending day care centers can be exposed to hundreds of cold and flu viruses from schoolmates and teachers. And they bring many of those germs right back home to you. Experts say viruses and bacteria can survive for up to 2 hours on the surface of countertops, tables, refrigerator door handles, light switches and door knobs around your house. All can be incubators for germ transmission.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year children across the country lose nearly 22 million school days because of the common cold. Now is the perfect time to review the CDC’s “Ounce of Prevention” tips aimed at making homes safer and healthier.

It may be impossible to kill all the germs in your home, but there are steps you can take to protect your family from catching and spreading colds and the flu. The best defense against the spread of bacteria and viruses in the home is regular hand washing with soap and warm water or an alcohol-based liquid hand sanitizer.

When should you and your children wash their hands? The CDC advises hand washing:

Before eating
Before, during and after handling and preparing food
After contact with blood or body fluids (such as vomit, saliva, nasal secretions, urine or feces)
After changing a diaper
After using the bathroom
After handling animals, their toys, leashes or wastes
After touching something that could be contaminated (such as trash cans, cleaning cloths, drains or soil)
Before dressing a wound, giving medicine or inserting contact lenses
More often when someone in the home is ill
Whenever the hands look dirty

Many children (and unfortunately adults too) simply run their hands under the water faucet in a rushed fashion and think their hands are clean. Not so. The CDC’s infection control experts advise taking a few extra seconds to insure that you are actually killing the germs.

That means thoroughly wetting the palms, wrists and back of the hands and applying soap (liquid, bar or powder). Vigorously rub the hands together, making a lather and scrubbing the entire hand. Don’t forget under the fingernails! Continue for 20 seconds. How long is that? You should be able to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice. And no you don’t have to sing it out loud. Thoroughly rinse the hands and dry them with a paper towel or air dryer, then use a paper towel to turn off the water (because it could have been contaminated when you turned it on).

When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the CDC recommends applying the gel to the palm of one hand and then rubbing the hands together. Continue rubbing until all surfaces of the hands and fingers are completely dry.

Other important measures include cleaning and disinfecting (they are two different things) kitchen and bathroom countertops and other surfaces regularly to kill germs. Give the kids some disposable sanitary wipes and have them wipe down all door handles (inside and out) and light fixtures a few times a week – more often if someone already has a cold.