Infection Control in Your Home

It's something that we all know. Germs and bacteria are everywhere. If you looked on your body, clothes, and everyday household items and appliances with a microscope, it would scare you stiff. Now I'm not saying at all that we should walk around wearing masks and gloves but a few simple lifestyle changes can greatly reduce the spread of germs and bacteria. Many of them may seem common sense, but many of them we don't think about at all when we SHOULD.

Your Body

Daily bathing is essential. Don't just assume that as long as you're not stinking, that you don't need to bathe. Take showers NOT BATHS. As warm and soothing as a bath is, you are literally laying in your own filth. If you truly desire a bath, take a shower first to get your body clean. That will minimize the muck that will be left in the water during a bath. A clean body promotes infection control.

Your Clothes

Wear clean and dry clothes. A clean body means nothing if your clothes are ridden with bacteria and germs. Clean and fresh clothes promote infection control.

Your Home

Two rooms in particular are your bathroom and kitchen surfaces. The bathroom for obvious reasons and the kitchen simply because that is where you are preparing food for consumption. Use bleach based toilet, bathroom and kitchen cleaners. Bleach KILLS bacteria! Get rid of any wood cutting boards you may have in your kitchen. You can scrub them but they will still have bacteria embedded in them. A synthetic vinyl or plastic one is easier to clean and it will not just LOOK clean, it will BE clean.

Household Surfaces

Sure this is part of your home but it's very important. I'm sure you clean your kitchen table, coffee table and night stands but what about your computer keyboard, door knobs, the toilet flush handle, the television remote, or the microwave control panel? These are commonly touched things in your house. Some of them are touched more than others or are touched by far more different people than others but they all contain germs and some of then you've likely SELDOM or NEVER cleaned before. Clean those surfaces with a bleach based cleaner and/or spray them with Lysol. Lysol kills bacteria too and promotes infection control.

Wash Your Hands!!!

Wash your hands! Wash your hands! Wash your hands! I can't say it enough. The number one cause of the spread of bacteria and other germs is lack of frequent and/or proper hand-washing. How long should I wash my hands? A good exercise in determining the proper time element is to sing a verse of the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". In the health-care profession, workers are trained to wash their hands before and after assisting each patient. It is said that if a busy CNA or nurse's hands and finger tips should look pruned like they just got out of the pool or washed the dishes. Good and frequent handwashing promotes infection control.

The spread of germs and bacteria is inevitable. You can't avoid it but following these simple rules and making these changes can make a considerable impact on yours and your family's health and enable you to help reduce the spread of germs and bacteria.