Hand Sanitizers, Norovirus, and Emetophobia

(If you stumbled onto this blog because you want to learn about preventing the stomach flu, a.k.a. norovirus, a.k.a Norwalk virus then please stick around and read this)

Recently, I wrote a brief post about Wet Ones hand wipes posted here http://fearsandphobias.blogspot.com/2008/12/good-newswet-ones-brand-anti-bacterial.html and here http://writersblock15.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/great-newswet-ones-brand-anti-bacterial-kills-norovirus/. 

Most of those who read my blog are fellow emetophobia sufferers.  What surprised me though, was not only how many hits I had on that blog post, but where I found the link posted at.  Normal, average, community web forums by non-emets who live in areas where norovirus is rampant.  Frankly, I couldn’t be more thrilled to learn that so many normal people are researching the internet to find ways to prevent getting the stomach flu. 

Let’s face it, if every single person took the same steps to prevent catching the norovirus as us emetophobes, there would be no more norovirus.  I don’t expect this to ever happen but the more people who educate themselves and implement good hygiene and noro-prevention, the less epidemic it becomes, and one less worry for us.

So I’m dedicating this blog post to the public who are just as concerned about catching this bug as we are.

If you are one of those who found this blog googling key words, then I’d like to explain briefly that myself and most of my readers are emetophobic.  Emetophobia is a god awful, terrifying fear of vomiting and while we have different degrees of this phobia, but all of us emetophobes are incredibly anxious this time of year because it’s prime season for norovirus.  For more info on emetophobia either read my earlier blog entry’s or visit the International Emetophobia Society’s web page for a blow by blow description at www.emetophobia.org.

A Stomach Flu is caused by the Norovirus which is also known as Norwalk Virus

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus but with easy and inexpensive precautions, it can be prevented.  

Norovirus is NOT airborne.  It CANNOT be transmitted merely by standing next to someone who has it, sneezing, saliva, urine, or blood.  The virus DOES exist in vomit and feces only and is spread when someone who is sick has virus particles on their hands because they did not wash them after using the toilet or after vomiting and then touches a surface.  That surface then becomes contaminated. 

It is unclear exactly how long the norovirus lives on surfaces but according to the CDC, the virus may still live in someone’s feces up to 2 weeks after the symptoms of norovirus have subsided which means, they can still spread it after they are feeling better and after they returned to work or school.

What’s the best way to prevent getting Norovirus? 

Wash your hands with plain soap and water after using the bathroom and before eating meals or touching your face.  Make sure you wash every nook and cranny of your hands for at least 20 seconds.  Plain soap does not kill anything but it washes the germs off of your hands and down the drain.  Yes, it’s that easy.  Good personal hygiene.

Hand Sanitizers

Washing your hands is the best defense but if you’re traveling, at the gym, or soap and water are unavailable; hand sanitizers are the second best method of preventing norovirus.  Before going out and stocking up on Purell or any other product that labels themselves as an anti-bacterial claiming to kill 99.99% of germs, listen up!

Most of these gels, wipes, sprays or foams have alcohol based ingredients such as triclosan, ethanol, or ethy alcohol.  While these products will kill 99.99% of the bacterias, they DO NOT  kill viruses, nor do they claim to.  Other issues with these ingredients is that alcohol based products are drying and there are safety concerns about using triclosan.

Benzethonium Chloride and Benzalkonium Chloride kill norovirus

Products with either of the above active ingredients WILL kill norovirus in addition to all of the bacterias Purell claims to kill.  You can also find these ingredients in household cleaning products such as Lysol.  Wet Ones brand wipes have Benzethonium Chloride as the active ingredient and it’s widely available in most stores.

If someone in your household is sick, clean the bathroom with a disinfectant and any other place they may have spent a lot of time in and don’t forget the door knobs and light switches.  Show them this blog and convince them to repeatedly wash their hands after doing their bathroom business so as not to spread to anyone else.  Keep them home from work or school until they are feeling completely better, usually a couple of days.  One of the main reasons norovirus spreads in offices is because those struck with it, don’t want to take the time off from their jobs.

IF EVERYONE WHO READS THIS BLOG POST SPREADS THE LINK TO THIS BLOG AROUND, THEN MAYBE LESS PEOPLE WILL BE SPREADING NOROVIRUS AROUND.

 

Other resources:

Norovirus Facts
 http://emetophobiahelp.blogspot.com/2007/07/norovirus-facts-dont-be-afraid-get.html

My two blogs
http://fearsandphobias.blogspot.com
http://writersblock15.wordpress.com/

Dear Santa…

I’ve been exceptionally good this year. Well, except for the parking lot incident yesterday at Oxford Valley Mall which concluded with me flipping the bird at the old fart who stole my spot. But other than that, I believe I deserve to have what is on my Christmas list.

But before I reveal my gift list, there’s a few housekeeping guidelines I’d like to extend to you.

1) You’re far too fat to fit down my chimney so you’ll have to use the front door. I’ve spent an hour cleaning and sanitizing(with Lysol) all door knobs and light switches so I would appreciate it if you kept your gloves on when touching them.

2) Please park your reindeer at the far end of the parking lot since lyme disease is carried by deer tick and is prevalent in my area. A friend of mine spent 2 weeks very sick when she caught it last summer.

3)I would appreciate it if you wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water just prior to entering my home since at least one of the millions of homes you have visited will have a norovirus carrier living there or one of the thousands of kids that sat on your lap at the mall probably had it or just got over it.

4)There’s a reason why the Purell is conveniently located next to the cookies I baked for you. Please use it.

My Christmas list

Germ Control 24 – The CEO of this company was interviewed by Geraldo Rivera on Fox News where he made the claim that this product not only kills norovirus, but it is environmentally safe and developed from silver. Physicians, also on Geraldo’s show, backed up this claim. Best of all, it’s available in Home Depot and other retail chain stores.

Ginger People brand Ginger Chews. This hot and spicy ginger taffy has worked miracles on my stomach and my frame of mind. I buy them at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods market but since moving some 30 minutes away from the closest TJ, I can only get there once every other month or so. I’ve yet to try their other flavors or their chocolate covered ginger but I’m hoping Santa delivers them.

As tough as it gets financially, I’ll always find a way to cough up $30 for this 30 day supply of illness prevention.

Great news…Wet Ones brand anti-bacterial kills norovirus

In case you didn’t know, most store bought hand sanitizers labeled as anti-bacterial gels and wipes don’t kill norovirus. They are alcohol based and have ingredients such as triclosan or ethanol. While they may kill bacterias, hence the name anti-bacterial, neither of these kill norovirus and that’s because alcohol based ingredients won’t kill viruses.

There is an ingredient that is occasionally found in anti-bacterial products that kills both norovirus and bacterias. It’s called Benzethonium Chloride and it’s easier to get your hands on this then you might think. The well-known brand of wipes called Wet Ones contains this ingredient.

I found a very interesting write-up about Benzethonium Chloride on wikipedia. Here’s the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzethonium_chloride but I’m going to highlight one paragraph that is the most important:

Benzethonium chloride exhibits a broad spectrum of microbiocidal activity against bacteria, fungi, mold and viruses. Independent testing shows that benzethonium chloride is highly effective against such pathogens as: MRSA, VISA, Salmonella, E. coli, C.diff, Hepatitis B and C, Herpes, HIV, RSV, and Norovirus.

I still maintain that the best tool against norovirus and other illnesses is washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds but when traveling to far off places, or you just can’t get to a sink, Wet Ones should do the trick.

Wet Ones are inexpensive and widely available in most stores in the United States.  I bought mine at K-Mart.

A touch of germophobia in emetophobia

While sprinting through the extremely crowded mall (no sign of economic troubles here) to pick up my last holiday gift, the idea that a germophobe and an emetophobe have one similar characteristic and that is a fear of germs. There is a minimal difference on how both groups fear this. For example, germophobes are terrorized by ALL germs, whereas emetophobes are only fearful of germs that have a potential to cause vomiting. If someone next to me has a cold, I’m not afraid to be near them, but a brief mention of a stomach virus, and I’m flying in the opposite direction.

The holiday season tends to be tough for emetophobes for a number of reasons. The two F-words - food and flu. I have a hard time eating or overindulging for fear of vomiting. The food fetish begins with Thanksgiving, continues past Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and ends with New Years. The thought of consuming excess cookies, candies, fruit cake, egg nog, large dinners, and champagne in a mere 4-5 week time frame not only sends shivers down my spine but reminds of the necessity to stock up on the Alka-Seltzer. The saving grace is the peppermint candy canes.

If that isn’t enough to stress us out during the holiday season, another factor is that it happens to be stomach virus season. Being in large crowded malls where any number of people could be carrying and passing this germ leads to more anxiety. And it never fails to pass that halfway through that Christmas dinner, a relative in close proximity reveals this is the first meal they’ve been able to eat since the norovirus attacked them the previous few days.

HoHoHo