How can we as individuals protect ourselves from each other, our friends and family and still live together successfully?  To understand how to do this we must understand how these diseases are spread.

The potential for the spread of infections at work or in the home depends on many factors, number of people, proximity to each other, sharing of equipment from computer key boards to steering wheels on cars/ vans and all points in between.  In the case of the current swine flu pandemic, the vast majority of the cross infection have been shown to be spread from hard surfaces to hands.  “Frequent hand washing is probably the single most effective and simplest intervention you can do to protect yourself and your family,” according to Dr. Judy Daly, spokesperson for the American Society for Microbiology.

Some viruses can survive for weeks on hard surfaces before being picked up on hands and then to the mouth/ nose etc.  In a recent study from Hong Kong hand hygiene was shown to be the most effective way of preventing the spread of Swine Flu.  Wearing masks showed no real additional benefit.   So “Catch it – kill it – bin it” seems to be good advice.   Advice from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has for a long time been that hand hygiene is the most effective way of preventing many diseases spreading including E coli, MRSA and Listeria

Q Shield™ Hand Sanitizer

Q Shield™ is a new concept in hand sanitation.  The active chemical 3-TSP has the most affective broad spectrum microbial kill of any hand/ skin sanitizers available today.  It kills viruses like Norovirus and Swine flu.  It kills  fungi as well as bacteria such as MRSA and C Difficeal.  The most important differences between Q Shield and any of the hand gels, hand wash, hand sanitizers, is that it is persistent.  In independent laboratory testing    Q shield out performed all other tested anti microbial agents, and continued to do so for almost 3 days on the skin.  In real life the difference this makes to any individual is enormous, as there is always an antimicrobial layer ready to kill microbes that come into contact with the skin.  The Q Shield™ barrier can not be washed from your skin, so frequent hand washing with or without soap is to be encouraged as normal.  As with all anti microbial technology, reducing the bio burden on the skin before the active chemicals get to work allows the chemicals to work more quickly and more effectively.  Although Q Shield™ is new, it is being purchased by NHS staff, private hospital groups and large companies such as BMW and Opitcal Express, to help protect their staff from catching Swine Flu.