Newsletters
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Perspective Newsletters
Fall 2004
IT'S FLU SEASON
Page 7
With flu season upon us and the shortage of flu vaccine throughout the country, the
Center for Disease Control (CDC) has passed on the following information to help
us all stay healthy!
How to Stop the Spread of Germs
In a nutshell--take care to:
- Cover your mouth and nose
- Clean your hands often
- Remind your children to practice healthy habits, too:
 Cover
Your Mouth and Nose when Coughing or Sneezing
Cough or sneeze into a tissue and then throw it away. Cover your cough or sneeze
if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands and so every time you cough or
sneeze.
The "Happy Birthday" song helps keep your hands clean?
Not exactly. Yet we recommend that when you wash your hands -- with soap and warm
water -- that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. That's about the same time it takes
to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice!
Alcohol-Based Hand Wipes and Gel Sanitizers Work Too
When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel
sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores. If
using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work;
the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.
Germs and Children
Remind children to practice healthy habits too because germs spread, especially at
school.
The flu has caused high rates of absenteeism among students and staff in our country's
119,000 school. Influenza is not the only respiratory infection of concern in schools
- nearly 22 million school days are lost each year to the common cold alone. However,
when children practice healthy habits, they miss fewer days of school.
How Germs Spread
The main way that illnesses like colds and flu are spread is from person to person
in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. This is called "droplet spread."
This can happen when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through
the air and are deposited on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Sometimes germs
also can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person
on a surface like a desk and then touches his or her own eyes, mouth or nose before
washing their hands. We know that some viruses and bacteria can live 2 hours or longer
on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks.
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