Norovirus is spreading via clothes and soft-furnishings, experts warn

Norovirus is spreading via clothes and soft-furnishings, experts warn

 

Yes, there's a lot of it about.

I had a food delivery yesterday where some of the items had probably been touched by numerous people. I had to wash my hands four times in the midst of putting it away because I had an itchy nose and kept needing to scratch it.

 

Having had 4 bouts of likely noro virus caused gastroenteritis in one year's span I will go to these lengths:

I am going to wear gloves going into the market, carefully removing them upon exiting store by the cuff (turning them inside out, wadding into a ball and discarding into a special bag).


Wash my hands first thing when arriving home, double amount of usual time (virions removed 45% by handwashing, so double the handwashing time).

Then wipe all things bought with a bleach disinfectant solution (9 parts water, 1 part bleach). Including fruits and veg. Everything.

Same thing for delivered items. Gloves for handling the bags or box of items from the delivery, then disinfect bought items.

Double wash hands afterward.

All it takes are ten virus particle to cause infection.

 

Our GP recommended Clinell spray and wipes when it was going round our company.

You can use the spray on your hands if you need the clean them but aren't near a sink. I once decanted some into pocket-size bottles and gave them to team members.

 

What’s in it?

 

I haven't got any at the moment to look at! It doesn't contain hypochlorite, though, so it's safe for fabrics.

 

Yes I think this is pretty well known. But I wonder if this might be a bit forgotten after the promotion of hand sanitizer for when there’s no sink available during the beginning of this Covid pandemic.

 

Alcohol-based sanitizers and cleansers do not kill norovirus, but hypochlorous acid can. To protect myself against norovirus when I'm out shopping, I use an HA-based spray for my hands, Clean Republic, which is available from Byoplanet or Amazon. I like that it's unscented.

 

More about Clinell, which is used in medical and catering contexts:

 

Do you use household chlorine bleach for this?

 

I don't know if this is too off topic, but has anyone here definitely had norovirus this year? I have been feeling very weak and nauseous past few days. Wondering if I have a mild case on top of ME making me feel pretty dreadful. On the other hand I seem to have episodes of this feeling coming and going since I caught something five years ago. Norovirus can can cause persistent infection in some people according to wikipedia.

 

I can't get this here in Canada. What is the percentage of hypochlorous acid needed?

 

Someone on X posted this:

I have a bottle of 180PPM Hypochlorous acid, and it gives the following times for killing various pathogens including norovirus: Time on surface to disinfect:

Norovirus (10 minutes)
SARS-CoV-2 (2 minutes)
Salmonella enterica (10 minutes)
Staphylococcus aureus (10 minutes)

 

Yes, household bleach (the approximate dilution depends on the percentage of chlorine in the product, some vary but you can add a tad more bleach to the dilution --1 pt bleach or a bit more to 9 parts water, that should be adequate).

 

Since Norovirus is so widespread, the public should be made aware that alcohol does not kill it. I didn't know that until recently. I'm so used to thinking that alcohol can kill just about anything, and I'm sure a lot of other people think that, too.

Our nephew, his wife, and their baby flew recently to visit family in Florida. All three of them got sick with norovirus when they got home.

The next time I fly, I'll take a small spray bottle of HA and use it to clean the tray table and also to protect myself in the bathroom. I could also use gloves for the bathroom door and dispose of them the way you do, @shak8.

It's terrible that you've had norovirus or something similar 4 times!!! I'm sure you'd do anything to avoid it again.

 

If you can't get a stronger formulation, you might be better with a clinical disinfectant that will work much quicker. They're also fine on skin.

They're used in lots of settings, from vet surgeries to food preparation, so they'll be easy enough to buy. They tend to have more than one type of biocide in them, so they work against viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.

 

I also use HA formulated products, called DEW, been using them since before the beginning of the pandemic & I use all their products, they do a range of pet care things too, & the air sanitiser is amazing too in a really fine mist. We have a thread here where i was asking if the claims about HA effectiveness were true because i couldnt believe it, but it seems they are.

It's more effective than bleach (at 240PPM) and it's food safe so I think safer to use on food & food packaging if you can get it @shak8 . They do an all purpose Disinfect, & a hand sanitiser all 99.995% effective at killing microorganisims (bacteria viruses & Fungal, compliant with EN14476- which includes certification to kill norovirus). When shopping is delivered I wipe every item with a cloth soaked in it, then wipe the table & wash my hands, it takes seconds if you use old fashioned thin jay cloths.

It takes 2 minutes to work though so you have to leave it on for a while.

The other thing is you need to ensure you dont expose it to heat or leave the lid off, because it will lose it's power.

For that reason i like to buy mine direct from Dew rather than from amazon etc because they may not be storing it correctly.

 

That’s such helpful information @JemPD!

I also use HA which I buy online from a supermarket with my groceries, and I do experience a lack of confidence about how long it’d have been hanging around before I get it.