By Julie Stachowiak, PhD
Multiple Sclerosis Guide; Guest blogger
Back in the spring of this year, there were many accounts of schools closing after a student was identified as having swine flu (now known as H1N1). While I just assumed it was to keep students who were potentially infectious away from other students, other people had different assumptions.
"It's to give them a chance to disinfect the entire school," one of my friends told me when our local elementary school was closed down. "That will take at least a week of full-time cleaning," she informed me.
I never found out if that was, in fact, what was going on at the school during the week it was closed. If it was, it was a pretty big waste of time from an infection control standpoint.
Most viruses are pretty fragile outside of a host (in this case, an infected person), especially on inanimate objects after the fluid that they are in (such as droplets from a sneeze or cough) dries up. In the case of H1N1, studies have shown that the influenza virus can survive for only 2 to 8 hours on a surface. Contrast this to some bacteria, especially spore-forming bugs like Clostridium difficile, which can survive over 120 days on a surface and still be infectious.
Clearly, if a virus can survive even 8 hours on a high-touch surface in a crowded area, touching this area, then touching one's face could still be a pretty effective way to spread the infection. However, there is currently a heated discourse about whether H1N1 can infect people from surfaces, or if it is only transmitted through airborne droplets which are breathed in.
Despite information that seems to indicate that contaminated surfaces are not a big factor in the transmission of H1N1, it is still a good idea to wash your hands frequently. There are a lot of nasty things lurking out there that depend on your dirty hands to get them into your body and cause infection. Wash your hands, don't touch your face and don't give them a chance.
This is good to know and reassures me somewhat.
When I went to buy groceries tonight, the lady checking seemed obviously sick. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings and had my stuff on the counter already anyway but when I got home, I realized that everything I bought she touched! I’m not a phobic but I don’t what to get sick. It seems then, if I just leave these items alone until tomorrow, they should be OK.
I’m wondering still however about the refrigerated items.
One universal should be that if you are sick – stay home. Especially when you are in a position where you will be in contact with dozens of people every hour.