Hand Hygiene

The nursing student was searching for a formula that could provide near instantaneous cleansing of an environment where there is no time to find a sink and wash with soap and warm water. The young aspiring RN knew that such a solution could be a lifeline for hospitals and doctor’s office, where 24/7, non-stop caring […]

The hands that feed America are the hands that bacteria loves to cling to. And in America’s fruit and vegetable fields, orchards and packing facilities, produce farmers are turning to hand sanitizer to defeat dangerous bacteria. Already a trusted weapon in America’s schools, healthcare centers, work and social places, alcohol-based hand sanitizers are now working […]

2016 Healthy Hands Survey shows more people than ever practicing smart hand hygiene. We all know that clean hands save lives, but many of us don’t take seriously just how many lives dirty hands take each year. The Centers For Disease Control estimates 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from […]

If only respiratory viruses had an off season. Alas, even the healthiest kids and families who survived the flu season unscathed have to be aware and on alert for the viral infections of spring. The changing of the seasons ushers in a new flock of unpleasant viruses into the mainstream, including many which take direct […]

Influenza rarely goes quietly into the night. From coast to coast, the 2015-16 influenza season is going out like a lion after coming in like a lamb. From October through mid-December, the Centers for Disease Control report influenza activity was mild in most regions of the United States. Activity began to spike in late December […]

In the brutal cold and snow of winter comes yet another adverse weather condition: Dry skin. And the bad thing about dry winter skin: You can’t escape it just by retreating indoors. For many Americans, winter time means dealing with dry and cracked skin. Winter’s harsh environments put a heavy burden on skin. The reduced […]

It’s a puzzling flu riddle straight from Medicine’s X-Files: How do the smallest flu threats sometimes pack the biggest and sickliest punch? Scientists have found minor variants of flu strains not typically targeted on vaccines carry a more potent viral punch than previously realized, Medical News Today reported in early January 2016. Authors of the […]

As if facing work dead in the face on a deadline-heavy Monday in the cold dead of winter wasn’t scary enough … Welcome To Germville, USA (AKA: Your Office). The average American office houses a thousand times more germs than its computers house emails and a sometimes unrelenting avalanche of health threats. Germs lurk on […]

One important health truth every parent should know this winter: Bronchiolitis is a pediatric-centered virus that is anything but child’s play. And bronchiolitis is targeting America’s children this flu season. A extremely and easily contagious viral based-infection that impacts young children, mostly under the age of 2, bronchiolitis is a swelling and mucus buildup within […]

Winter’s barrage of colds, flus and dangerous infections are a bear on everyone, but no one feels the fury of winter’s brutal elements more than senior citizens. Winter’s heavy onslaught of bacterial and viral illnesses can be particularly threatening to America’s golden generation. An alarming one third of seniors die as the result of infectious […]

For all we’ve learned about the influenza virus over the last 100 years, there still is so much we don’t know about the dastardly flu bug. And outside of the medical community and the front lines of the fight against influenza, America’s common knowledge of the flu, how it works and how it’s transmitted might […]

The 2014-15 flu U.S. season was a sickly influenza storm that never relented. The source of so many people’s flu misery last winter was H3N2, a resilient strain of influenza that had been quiet for several years and not included in the Centers For Disease Control’s official vaccine for the season. The strain spread to […]

Hear the Facebook news report about how it only takes one flu shot to give you flu immunity for a lifetime? We’ve all well versed on the universal truth that hand dryers are more sanitary than paper towels, right? And everyone knows that innocent double-dipping into the salsa doesn’t spread germs, correct? In a germy […]

Back To School markers, crayons and Trapper Keepers? Check. New clothes and backpacks? Got them. But what about a winning plan that will allow your kiddos to beat the back-to-school germs? Parents’ back-to-school planning isn’t complete until they have a smart game plan to keep their favorite students safe from the harmful pathogens that can […]

It’s a harsh, eye-opening and alarming truth for young parents: It’s a germy world and your babies and toddlers are enthusiastically trying to explore every bacteria-soaked inch of it every day. Try as you might, it’s Mission: Impossible to try to protect your babies and toddlers from all germs and bacteria. Ever hear the story […]

Some of our favorite summertime activities and hot spots are also breeding grounds for germs. Let’s take a look at germ hot spots during the summer months.

We don’t need to be Superman, Iron Man or Wonder Woman. We all have the power to help save lives. It’s as easy washing our hands. Clean hands save lives. That’s the important message the World Health Organization is sending worldwide May 5 during World Hand Hygiene Day. Clean hands prevent infection and stop illnesses […]

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” – Native American Proverb We only have one Earth, one planet we call home. And we’ve learned over the last century, our behavior can have a lasting, damaging effect on the future livability of our planet. Through green initiatives, education, community […]

A parent walks into her daughter’s kindergarten class during a parent visit day in the middle of one of the worst flu seasons in recent U.S. history. Knowing that germs and bacteria love to hang out in America’s schools more than kids love recess, the parent heads to the sink to wash her hands. At […]

This winter’s flu season has come in like a lion, and is already neutralizing the effectiveness of some flu shots and could lead to a large increase in deaths and hospitalizations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in early December that an aggressive type of influenza is circulation and some strains aren’t covered […]

“Winter either bites us with its teeth or lashes us with its tail.” -Proverb Harsh winters, especially the polar vortex-fueled bitter cold seasons that have been attacking much of the United States lately, take no prisoners when they settle in. Winters can be brutal on sensitive skin, causing itching and irritability during the year’s roughest […]

“Schools are germ candy stores.” – Dr. Harley Rotbart, author of “Germ Proof Your Kids.”   They hide in plain sights on keyboards, on desks, in the cold air on playgrounds, on the water fountain in the hallway and even on the covers of books in the library. As parents and teachers of sick children know […]

As we all know too painfully well, harmful germs live almost everywhere. These freeloading troublemakers (seriously, mobsters make better neighbors) hang out in nearly every public location imaginable and live with the devious mission of spreading their infectious and dangerous bacteria to any life source they come in contact with. Their parents must be so […]

“(This) could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of severe cases.” – Mark Pallansch, virologist and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Viral Diseases, on Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68). On the eve of the 2014-15 American flu and cold season, doctors and health care professionals are working to […]