Okay, I need to pick your brains once again. Today I went to Walmart to finish up my preps. Spent hours shopping. Got to checkout and part way through checkout the cashier started coughing and admitted she was really, really sick. She had been wetting her fingers to open the plastic bags. Trust me, her germs are all over my stuff. I would have walked out right then but had spent so much time picking it all out. So. It is all a corner of my basement now still in the original bags. Don’t want to intermingle it with my other stocks until I know the germs are dead. So, how long can those nasty germs live on plastic and on cans? Thought of washing all the cans down with bleach water but really want to just avoid the stuff as much as possible for a while. Lots of really bad illness going around my town. Ironically the point of today’s shopping was to make it my last trip out to crowded places until spring. You know how to make God laugh? You tell Him your plans…
Nova,
This is from a BBC News Health posting, I do not have the link, only copied it to my hard drive, as i felt it was an important factor in how this pandemic will NOT be contained, IMO.
Common cold only a fingertip away Many everyday objects touched by dirty hands are harbouring and spreading the common cold virus, say scientists.
By analysing hotel rooms in America, researchers found that the virus was easily transferred to 35% of the surfaces touched.
Door handles, pens, light switches, TV remote controls and taps were all found to be contaminated as much as 18 hours after first contact.
The University of Virginia work was presented at a US science conference.
Contamination
Rhinovirus contamination of the sampled surfaces - 10 each in 15 hotel rooms - ranged from 0–80%
People who touched the contaminated surfaces during everyday activities, such as answering the telephone or turning on the light, had a 50% or one in two chance of picking up the virus.”
This is about the common cold, but both the documentary and the pandemic movie from last May showed the flu spreading my contamination of surfaces. Some of the scientists on Flu Wiki can gives us definitive answer.
I would let it sit for at least two days, unpack, and wash up well..
Excellent posts, these types. Important stuff that no one seems to know…but always worth warning them about minimum precautions…because if we all take precautions then LESS PEOPLE WILL DIE.
This subject only comes into importance if you decide to not SIP, totally.
To SIP totally would require a large amount of luck…
Therefore, I would think that this subject is highly relevant but there seems to be no specific answers to the question(s).
bump
I recall a thread a while back asking how long the virus would last on mail an how best to dissinfect it. don’t have time to hunt it down now but you might do some searching in the archives…
Can you spray the plastic bags and contents with alcohol, let them sit 10 minutes, and then wipe them down? Detergent and water should work as well for most viruses.
I have been trying to find the same kind of info — not much available on h5n1.
would like to find some definitive length of time to leave things in Ultraviolet and in sunlight to be sure microbes are indeed deactivated.
I have the sneaking suspicion that it might be really easy to stop the spread of bird flu with hyper cleanliness, soap and water, and sunlight, but so far no studies have been done that would confirm this, or give specific instructions how to make them most effective.
It depends on the particular organism. Some don’t survive well outside the body for long at all but others can live as long as up to a week on inanimate objects. The MRSA bacteria can live for days and can be shed from the nose of infected or colonized (previously infected but now well but carrying the bacteria)persons. Good handwashing with soap and water for 20 seconds or use of a waterless hand sanitizer and rub it in well and let it dry completely is adequate for hand cleansing. Cleaning most surfaces with Lysol wipes or Chlorox wipes at home is okay for most common stuff. The object it to cover the surface well and to let the cleanser air dry on the surface and not wipe it back off.
Hope this helps.
heddie- I have not read anything, ever that indicates that H5N1 is any “tougher” than any other influenza virus. I think handwashing, detergents like you said and alcohol will work as they always have with other viruses. try searching just “regular” influenza disenfecting protocols etc. I have read some on UV effectiveness and you need time and *proximity* to the UV light source. Naked virus particles, the ones that have been postulated of causing infection because of their ability to find their way deeper into the lungs (where the receptor sites are), will be destroyed quicker than if they are encapsulated with sputum. Naked virus are lighter and smaller and will stay afloat longer but will be more susceptable to a ceiling mounted UV light. The heavier “droplets” will fall out of the air quicker and theoretically be trapped in the upper airways where supposedly the key receptors are less concentrated. I think all of these methods will help. Unfortunately, it just takes ONE sufficient exposure.
bump
It’s a good idea after having a cold, or just ever so often to wipe down all surfaces - doorhandles, lightswitches, cupboard handles fridge, etc.,phones, lamps switches with a cleanser. It’s just better than catching a cold ( I’m on day 7 now since my roomante had a cold a week ago). thanks.
so, what’s better : NaOCl or ethanol ?
Better for what? You can’t drink bleach, but ethanol is the “kick” ingredient in most alcoholic beverages.
It’s much easier to find and store NaOCl(bleach) than ethanol. Much cheaper, too. Here are the write-ups for both, and you can make up your own mind:
This is a good topic, has anyone found any recent information on the subject?
I’m Workin…