Handwashing
Can Prevent Swine Flu

”Stomach flu” is actually a virus that is passed along in food. This happens because someone handled your food after using the bathroom without washing their hands! Viruses in food come from human feces.

Photo courtesy of Alisha Vargas

Swine flu, avian flu or seasonal flu can be passed from person to person in several ways.

You can become infected if someone sneezes or coughs toward you. And flu viruses can be spread when virus germs from a sick person end up on hard surfaces like door knobs, tables, children's toys, library books, etc. after being touched with contaminated hands. Or by droplets from sneezes or coughs.

Simply touching a contaminated object does not make you sick. You get the flu from touching a contaminated item and then touching your eyes, inside your nose, or inside your mouth.

How to Wash Your Hands

• Wet your hands with warm water.

• Use a small amount of soap or use a bar of soap (Don't let a bar of soap soak in water and get soupy—the damp soap can harbor germs.)

• Rub your hands together, making sure you get soap in between the fingers and under the nails. Do this for about 20 seconds. If you don't know what 20 seconds feels like, you could hum the “Happy Birthday” song quietly.

• Rinse your hands thoroughly to wash away the soap and germs.

• Turn off the faucet, using the back of your hand--or leave the water running and use the paper towel (that you use to dry your hands)--to turn off the faucet.

• Dry your hands with a paper towel.

You're not done yet. You have clean hands and still need to get out of the bathroom without contaminating them again.

Take the paper towel and use it to open the door. Hold the door open with your foot and toss the paper towel into the trash if you can reach it. Otherwise, take it with you and dispose of it in a trash can outside of the restroom. The most important part of all this is that, once you have clean hands, make sure that you don't make them dirty again!

Handwashing only takes a minute or two of your time. And it is so important when you are trying to avoid getting a flu virus. Take the time to wash hands properly when you use the rest room and teach your children proper hand washing as well. And make sure that your children know when to wash their hands .

Just by doing this one simple preventive action, you will greatly increase the chances that your family will stay well and avoid getting the swine flu--or anything else.

More on Flu Prevention

Flu Prevention for In Home Care

Home Hygiene

How to Kill Virus Germs

Infection Control

Raw Pork

Social Distancing

Swine Flu in Children

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