Clean Hands

Companies like Ohio-based Gojo Industries who invented Purell, are experiencing high demand for their  best-selling hand sanitizer. Concerns of influenza and other illness are making the public more aware of the benefits of proper hand hygiene in the home and workplace.

 Here are a few tips to keep your hands clean during flu season:

• Wash hands with soap or water at a comfortable temperature for at least 15 to 20 seconds.
• Dry hands with a paper towel and use the towel to turn off the fauce.
• Although antibacterial soaps are widely advertised, they are not necessary to remove germs.
• Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to quickly and conveniently kill microorganisms on the hands if they are not visibly dirty.
• Hand sanitizers are generally less irritating to the skin and contain skin conditioners making it less likely your hands will become dry and chapped.
• Check to make sure the concentration of ethanol alcohol or isopropanol of your hand santizer is between 60 and 90 percent.

David Taylor, infection preventionist at The Ohio State University Medical Center, says, “Cleaning hands especially after sneezing or using the bathroom, and after touching things such as public phones, elevator buttons and doorknobs, allows us to get rid of germs we pick up doing everyday things and keeps us from spreading them. The most common mode of transmission of pathogens is via hands.”

Read more about hand washing and hand sanitizers.

OSU Medical Center Limits Visitors Under 13 Years Of Age

To protect patients, families, visitors and staff from the spread of seasonal and H1N1 influenza, Ohio State University Medical Center is limiting access to patient care facilities by visitors under the age of 13.

The restrictions do not apply to children at the Medical Center for medical treatment, nor for those 13-18 who are part of a patient’s immediate family and are symptom free.

The restrictions are temporary and in response to the higher than normal incidence of influenza in the central Ohio area. Ohio State and most area hospitals are limiting access to children due to them being more susceptible than adults to certain strains of the flu virus, particularly H1N1. Hospitalized patients are at higher risk if they are exposed to someone with influenza and respiratory illnesses.

University Hospital, the James Cancer Hospital, Ross Heart Hospital, Dodd Hall, OSU/Harding and University Hospital East all have restrictions in place.

For up-to-date information on the restrictions, additional limitations that might be in place at specific OSU Medical Center facilities, as well as flu-prevention information, go to http://medicalcenter.osu.edu or call 614-293-5123.

Frequent hand washing and coughing or sneezing into your sleeve helps to limit the spread of the flu virus. Flu-like symptoms include a fever greater than 100.4 degrees with a cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, headaches, fatigue, or body aches.  You can learn more at http://flu.osu.edu or on Facebook here.