Join Jake and the team from Studio10 when they reveal who has the germiest mobile phone!
Some really eye-opening stats in this article, as well as some great links to published research too. Well worth the read!
“People attending work while sick adds to the spread of disease and costs the Australian economy about A$34.1 billion each year through lost productivity. The cost of absenteeism in Australia is estimated at A$7 billion a year.”
“On top of all this you have the health impacts of unhygienic workspaces. Viruses can survive for hours or even months on surfaces like phones and computer equipment.”
Read the full article here: theconversation
Did you know the #1 reason people wear face masks in countries like China and Japan?
It’s usually because they’re sick and don’t want to infect others!
#flumask #consideratepeople #preventionisbetterthancure
What a great resource: FluTracking.net
Colds, flus and other similar illnesses are definitely spread more easily during the cooler months of the year. For us, here in Australia, that means we are moving into the season right now with the beginning of May. The issue with a whole half of our year being prone to the heightened spread of sickness, is that we rely so heavily on our ability to function properly, particularly in our workaholic society.
We all spend so much of our lives at work, interacting with colleagues, clients, patients, bosses, friends and acquaintances. This means it is highly likely that, this cold and flu season, we are going to contract an illness from work.
Whether you work in an indoor space like an office in the corporate sector, or outside in a childcare centre, bacteria and viruses are easily spread. Contracting sickness from work can mean days off, missing deadlines and heightening stress or having to work while sick, known as presenteeism, which lowers morale and productivity.
Colds and flus are highly contagious, we know that for sure. But most people don’t realise that they are already passing on the germs even before they know they’ve contracted them! Influenza is typically contagious for 24 hours before symptoms appear and continues to be contagious for up to seven days. Common colds are typically most contagious for the initial 2–3 days of infection and may be passed on to others up to a week later. Even before the symptoms, like a blocked nose or sore throat, become apparent, you are unknowingly infecting your workmates.
An airborne virus, for example from a sneeze or a cough, can float around in the air for an hour. Those respiratory droplets contain disease-causing germs that then fall and cover anything and anything in the vicinity, meaning desks, chairs, telephones and door handles. When you consider the frequent interaction between colleagues, people walking in and out of meetings, shaking hands, using the same telephone, it becomes very clear how easily the spread happens.
Considering all of this, it is very hard to avoid the spread of illness in workplaces and we need to think in terms of prevention, not control. The best steps to take in preventing an outbreak in your workplace are;
There are other precautionary methods, such as vaccines, healthy diet and signage to remind about hand washing and spread of disease. Very important though, is to properly clean and sanitise the problems areas of your workplace such as door handles, busy desks, the kitchen and bathrooms.
At Comsan, we go one step further than clean, we find out where the germs are hiding (in plain sight, most of the time) and safely neutralise them and reduce their ability to spread via surfaces in the future. Our advanced technology includes microscopic spikes that cover your surfaces to keep the germs away for weeks. This can have a great effect on cold & flu season, reducing the vectors for illness.
You can’t put a price on the health and wellbeing of the people in your company. And for winter this year, we want to reduce the number of sick Aussies and make workplaces safer, healthier and happier.
On this Earth, we are incredibly certain about the interconnectedness of humans to animals, plants, organisms and other humans. Viruses and bacteria can very quickly cross the globe, their vehicles board bigger vehicles, like trains or planes, and transport them thousands of kilometres in every direction from their starting point.
In his recent Guardian article, Jonathan Quick, reveals just how quickly viruses can spread.
“Once transmitted to a human, an airborne virus could pass from that one infected individual to 25,000 others within a week, and to more than 700,000 within the first month. Within three months, it could spread to every major urban centre in the world. And by six months, it could infect more than 300 million people and kill more than 30 million.”
He goes on to state that this isn’t alarmist or exaggerated, and that he is not scared of these facts, but angry at the lack of acknowledgement that this is a very real threat to our globe in the coming decades.
Quick then reveals his seven essential sets of actions we should be undertaking to try and end epidemics. Number three speaks to what we aim to do at Comsan, what he calls active prevention, constant readiness.
‘Epidemics can be stopped by prevention through healthy self-care habits, immunisation and fighting mosquitoes; early detection of disease through surveillance at all levels; and rapid response to treat the sick, prevent the spread and maintain routine health services.’
Read the full article here.
Image from The Guardian
We visited the studio of 2UE Radio recently to show them just how dirty and germ ridden their workplace can be. Needless to say, they were shocked at the high levels of germs on their microphones, in their biscuit tins and in the company toilets…
We are constantly exposed to a variety and multitude of bacteria. Every single day, our bodies come into contact with millions of what are known as ‘germs’. But to really know what we are encountering, we need to understand the types of bacteria; the good and the bad of it all.
There is a common thought that our environments are too clean, we should be exposed to more germs, more bacteria, to strengthen our immune systems. But there’s a big difference between exposure to the ‘friendly germs’ that help our immune systems, and the ‘pathogens’ – the ones that actually make you sick.
Even though germs have the reputation of an icky, unhygienic, illness-inducing, disease-causing microorganism, there are some that are actually beneficial to our being. In fact, our own bodies are home to over 100 trillion “good” bacteria. The majority of these are in our gut, helping us to digest and process foods, produce vitamins and even protect us from foreign invaders. Good bacteria also exist in the food we eat, creating texture and flavour and making it digestible.
On the other side of the spectrum, is the bad germs. This is bacteria and viruses that are flying through the air, or living in soil or on surfaces. This is the bad bacteria that our body works precisely against, using the good bacteria. Bad bacteria produce a range of illnesses, such as food poisoning or skin diseases, that can spread very easily with lack of care and hygiene.
Beyond bacteria, other germs that are going to have a detrimental impact on your health are viruses. The most common illnesses, such as cold and flu, are caused by highly contagious and easily spread viruses. A sneeze into one hand, that touches one door handle on the way out of an office one evening, can quickly turn into a whole team of ill co-workers, it’s that simple.
Germs have their reputation for a reason. Despite the necessary good bacteria existing and cooperating inside our bodies every day, the nature of living microorganisms means we don’t always have control on their growth and multiplication. However, we do have control of what we do in our everyday lives. This could be the decision to use hand sanitiser, or stay home from work when under the weather, or keeping your office space clean and clear of old foods.
It’s an age-old truth that the cold months of the year bring more sickness and ill health than the warmer ones. Winter is the season to beware the colds, flu and other viruses that are spiralling through the air at a heightened rate. However, in just the past few weeks, there have been quite a number of outbreak reports all around Australia. There’s been an influenza outbreak on The Sunshine Coast, severe norovirus on The Gold Coast and now there’s impetigo or ‘school sores’ spreading through schools in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. These are all examples that should remind us all… it’s not just winter we need to be worrying about.
While so many people are working hard to prevent another horror flu season this winter, there are outbreaks happening right beneath us, right now. It’s good to be aware, at all times of the year, of the risks of outbreaks in schools, workplaces and other communities and how to act in prevention and mitigation.
The unfortunate thing about something like the flu virus is that it’s contagious from the very beginning. You may pass on the virus to any number of people before you even know you have it. And in the warmer months, when we’re all blissfully unaware of the potential to have the virus, we aren’t alert to the symptoms like we are in winter. Not to mention the lag each year between new strains of flu and the availability of new and effective flu shots.
Of course, the sun and warmth are definite deterrents to the spread of colds and flu in warmer months in Australia. But we’re still humans, and humans wipe their nose, sneeze, rub their eyes and share food & drinks. No matter what time of year we are talking about, humans are creatures of habit.
This is particularly relevant in highly populated, indoor areas such as nursing homes, childcare centres, schools and businesses. Where there are more people, you’re going to find more germs. However, if you can eliminate the germs that are going to multiply and spread via surfaces, then there’s far less of an environment for their spread outside the body. Comsan emphasises the importance of desks, tabletops, taps, chairs and other commonly touched surfaces be properly cleaned and sanitised to remove the bacteria and other germs that can cause illness and infections.
No matter what time of year, we need to be thinking about ways to prevent our family, friends and colleagues from getting infected. We want to stop the spread, all year round.
