How You Can Avoid Swine Flu: Instructions for Avoiding the H1N1 Virus

Is it possible to avoid the swine flu? There are some practical measures you can take to prevent exposure and help you avoid the H1N1 virus. You probably already know most of these steps because they involve common horse sense.  But in light of the H1N1 pandemic, let’s review them anyway.

The simplest defense is the most effective — and that is hand washing. Using hot water and soap is your best protection. During flu season you should wash your hands several times a day. This is a good habit to establish anytime, but it is doubly important after you have been exposed to any potential source of the virus. If you are not near a sink, you should substitute an antibacterial hand sanitizer.

Here is a list of just a few of the places you may easily become infected.  After coming in contact with any of them, sanitize your hands!

Doorknobs

One item that is high on the list of things touched by lots of people are doorknobs! Doorknobs are turned by everyone entering or leaving a room — which means each day thousands of people in a public building may have touched the same doorknob. Many of these folks may be carrying the H1N1 virus.

Grocery Carts

When you are grocery shopping, do you think about how many people have had their hands exactly where your hands now rest on your shopping cart?

Menus and Other Items in a Restaurant or Cafe

Or next time you are eating lunch at a local cafe, consider how many people have held the same menu you are now holding. How many people have picked up the same salt and pepper shakers you are using?  

Magazines In Your Doctor’s Office Waiting Room

If you want to avoid the H1N1 virus, ask yourself:  Do you read the magazines in your doctor’s waiting room?  Remember that hundreds of sick people have handled those same magazines.  You would be better off either using a Kindle or bringing your own book or magazines.

The Sponge in Your Kitchen!

Would you clean your dishes in water filled with bacteria?  That is what you are doing when you wipe them with your typical kitchen sponge which is estimated to have 20 million microbes on it.  To kill the bacteria, run your sponge through the dishwasher (make sure it has very hot water).  You can also “cook” it for 60 seconds in your microwave oven. Soaking it in a bleach solution, however, does not sterilize it according to research done by the USDA.

Your Computer Keyboard and Mouse

Do you regularly wipe down your keyboard and mouse with a disinfectant wipe?  You should, because chances are it is crawling with germs and viruses. The average personal keyboard has 21,000 germs per square inch! Compare that to the typical toilet. A “clean” toilet only has 41 germs per square inch!  

Phones, Remote Controls, Hand Straps, etc., etc.

Telephones are another potential place for germ and virus sharing.  And then there is  the remote control devices for your TV, stereo, game systems, etc.  Don’t forget the steering wheel in the family car, or the handstraps on the subway, bus or train you use to commute back and forth to work.  All of these things can be touched by many people in a relatively short period of time.

If you want to avoid the H1N1 virus, think about ways to either

A: Not touch surfaces other people have touched, or

B: Wash or disinfect your hands after you touch them.

Following this simple routine will help you avoid swine flu this fall and winter.