flu virus abounds
on countertops and remotes
don’t lick, two year-old!
In the summer of 2009, I personally visited Thai urban households to study influenza transmission in homes with a child infected with the flu. I measured the prevalence of influenza transmission, the effect of hand washing on the transmission, and associations with humidity and temperature. We found that homes with younger children (less than 8 years old) were more likely than homes with older children to have contaminated surfaces. Lower absolute humidity favored surface contamination in households with multiple infections. Increased hand washing was found to potentially reduce influenza contamination in the home. – Christina Cruz (Simmerman JM, Suntarattiwong P, Levy J, Gibbons RV, Cruz C, Shaman J, Jarman RG, Chotpitayasunondh T. Influenza virus contamination of common household surfaces during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in Bangkok, Thailand: implications for contact transmission. Clin Infect Dis. 2010 Nov 1;51(9):1053-61.)