What are the most common causes of infection?
Germs are the main cause of infection. They live both inside and outside our body and can be easily transferred to surfaces and other humans. Good germs can keep our body in balance and build our immune systems, but bad germs can cause illness and infections. These are some of the most common germs we can find in homes and preventive measures we must take in order to avoid getting infected.
Cold & flu viruses
Cold & Flu have very similar symptoms and are the most common infections during the flu season (mainly during cold temperatures). The flu has usually more severe symptoms, such as high fever, chills or sweats, sore or aching muscles, headaches, weakness, sore throat and sometimes even loss of appetite. When you have a cold, you may experience many of these symptoms, but it rarely causes a high fever.
To prevent catching a cold or the flu during flu season, ensure you wash your hands properly and quite frequently and avoid sick people. Don’t touch your mouth, nose or eyes to avoid getting the virus into your body. Be sure to disinfect surfaces in your home and at work to kill cold and flu traces. Cold and flu germs can live on surfaces for up to two days, so ensure you are disinfecting your home daily to prevent spread the virus.
If you or any member of your family is experiencing either of these symptoms you should stay home to prevent spreading the virus. We might even want to avoid any hugs and handshakes, even sharing objects or food, just as a preventive measure.
Coronavirus/ COVID-19
SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus that was identified during an outbreak in Wuhan, China, and later spread through different countries around the globe. This new form of virus has provoked a sanitary crisis, with a high quantity of infections and deaths, that has provoked a high impact on society and an increase in the need of disinfecting all surfaces in order to avoid the spread of this virus. The most common symptoms for Coronavirus are high fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. If you experience these symptoms call your sanitary center and ensure you get checked out.
Sanitary authorities have recommended to wash more frequently our hands. Even if we ensure we are getting our hands washed as much as possible, truth is we sometimes need an on the go solution for when we are out of home or out of the office and can’t wash our hands, for example, while doing the groceries or commuting. Ensure you always use hand sanitizers that have the correct amount of alcohol to kill Coronavirus recommended by the World Health Organization (above 60% of alcohol content). Check the range of Wyx hand disinfectant gels and sanitizers that have been developed to kill Coronavirus and stop spreading the virus.
Learn how to disinfect correctly the different surfaces and areas of your home in order to kill Coronavirus, bacteria and other germs.
Bacteria
Some bacteria can be good for our body, as they help the digestive system and prevent bad bacteria from moving in. Other bacteria, the commonly known as ‘bad bacteria’, can cause sore throats, ear infections and cavities.
Fungi
Despite many fungi are not harmful to healthy people, people with weak immune systems (such as patients with cancer) may have more risk of getting fungi infections like athlete’s foot and yeast infections.
- Published in Disinfection Guide
Why should you disinfect your home? Cleaning vs. disinfecting
Despite our best efforts while cleaning our home, it is important to consider that when we clean we are only removing dirt, grease and grime from surfaces, but we are not disinfecting them and therefore we are not removing bacteria, germs and viruses from our home.
This is the reason why cleaning is not the same as disinfecting. Using general household cleaners around the home is not enough to keep yourself and your family protected from common infections and viruses that may appear in your home. Instead, try using household disinfectant cleaners as your usual cleaners to ensure you always keep your home not only clean but also germ and virus free. Check all the information regarding the range of Wyx XtraHygiene disinfectant products.
Bear in mind that there are certain areas around our home that we must disinfect, such as bathrooms, door knobs and handles, cooking areas, baby and kids’ rooms and pet areas. Though you cannot see the virus and germs around home surfaces, it can stay there for days. If we don’t disinfect them properly, we might touch infected surfaces with our hands and get them into our body (via our mouth, nose and eyes) or onto other surfaces and infect other members of our home, that might have a higher risk, such as pregnant women, babies or elders.
Consider the following hygiene guidelines when disinfecting your home to ensure you are doing the job correctly.
- Published in Disinfection Guide
Where are germs usually hidden?
As we have mentioned, bacteria and viruses are invisible to human eyes and can be hidden in different surfaces around home, public places and personal items. Ensure you disinfect correctly all areas mentioned bellow with Wyx XtraHygiene disinfectant products.
Public Places
- Public transport: tube, buses, taxis, etc.
- Airplanes and airports.
- Restaurants and pubs.
- Workplace
- Theaters
- Doctor’s office, dentist, etc.
- Shops and supermarkets.
- Elevators & escalator handrails
- Public restrooms/ bathrooms.
- Gyms: changing rooms, machines, water dispensers, vending machines, etc.
- Schools & universities: school bus, playground, stationary, toilets, etc.
Ensure you always carry Wyx Disinfectant hand gel while being out of home. You will be able to apply some disinfectant on your hands to kill any virus or bacteria that might have gotten onto your hands while being on public places.
Home
- Door handles & knobs
- Light switches
- Kitchen surfaces and items.
- Bathroom surfaces and items.
- Remote controls
- Workspace: Computer, keyboard and computer mouse.
- Other devices, such as tablets, laptops and earphones.
- Calculators
- Stationary
- Books
- Pet toys
- Toys
Personal Items
- House & Car Keys
- Glasses
- Handbags, wallets and backpacks.
- Credit cards, IDs and driver’s license: only necessary if you have used them.
- Mobile Phones and cases.
- Other devices, such as tablets, laptops and earphones.
- Money.
- Umbrellas.
- Watches and jewelry.
- Pet accessories: dog leash, bag dispenser, clothes…
Use WYX Disinfectant All Purpose Cleaner, WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner or WYX Disinfectant Spray to disinfect your home and personal items. It is highly important to follow the directions for use in order to ensure a correct disinfection of the items. When using WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner spray on a damp clean cloth and then rub the item. Leave to act for 5 minutes to kill Coronavirus and rinse with a damp clean cloth. Ensure to dry technological devices with a dry cloth. Always test on a hidden area before using the product.
- Published in Disinfection Guide
How to disinfect your kitchen
The Kitchen is a place of high traffic for many homes. Not just for cooking but also for getting together after a long day at work, leaving the groceries when you get back home or a place where kids can do their homework.
Germs can be found in many kitchens, caused by food residues, cross-contamination and greasy leftovers. Simply cleaning and removing grease from cooktops and worktops won’t do it. It is important we disinfect correctly all surfaces and objects around the kitchen to ensure a healthy home.
Sponges & cloths
To avoid accumulating bacteria and mal odours at the end of the day, ensure you wash and disinfect your cloths and sponges every one or two days, depending on how much you use it at home. Check our latest post on how to disinfect sponges & cloths.
Bins
Empty your bins daily to ensure bacteria does not build up from food remains. Once every week clean and disinfect your bins to remove any germs and food remains or grease spillages.
Chopping boards & knifes
Try to clean and disinfect them before cutting different ingredients. For example, if you cut raw meat or chicken and afterwards you need to slice some vegetables, ensure you disinfect first your chopping board and knifes. We can cause cross contamination of pathogens from raw meat to vegetables, which will end up in our body.
Cooking worktops
We commonly place our groceries here before storing them. We also tend to manipulate food on our worktops and this can cause cross-contamination. Ensure you are disinfecting correctly your kitchen worktops before and after preparing any meals.
Kitchen sinks and taps
Food remains are sometimes left on kitchen sinks if we don’t clean it correctly after doing the dishes or emptying a beverage or coffee. This, together with humidity, will eventually cause the growth of microorganisms. Ensure to clean and disinfect your kitchen sinks and taps on a daily basis to prevent the growth of germs.
Fridge
We should clean and disinfect our fridge occasionally. Food remains can fall from their original packaging and hide in our fridge, causing bacteria, which will then pass to other food and directly to our body. Ensure we clean and disinfect our fridge at least every once a month.
Door handles & Chairs
Fridge, oven, microwave, cupboard handles and chairs are touched by every member of the home. Disinfect them daily to prevent germs being spread through all family members.
Use WYX Disinfectant Kitchen Cleaner or WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner to tackle touch grease and dirt while killing 99,9% of bacteria and killing Coronavirus from your kitchen surfaces.
- Published in Disinfection Guide
Don’t forget to disinfect these virus & germ hot spots in your home | Coronavirus
In every home there are areas where virus, bacteria and germs are allocated. It is important to disinfect them correctly to ensure a healthy, safe and virus-free home.
Even though we do our best while cleaning the house and doing the laundry, there are certain areas in our homes that are usually cleaned less frequently. It’s not only important to clean and disinfect what our eyes can see, but also what is hidden on surfaces and objects, such as germs, bacteria and viruses, as they can eventually end up infecting our family.
Here you will find the 13 most common areas in your house where germs, viruses and bacteria can be hidden. It is also what we like to call the “hot spots” in your home:
- Door knobs, door handles, door bolts and railings.
- Bins: remember to disinfect all bins in your house, such the ones from your bathroom, workspace or kids’ room, not just the kitchen bin.
- Kitchen sinks and taps.
- Chopping boards & knifes: Try to clean and disinfect them before cutting a different ingredient. For example, if you cut raw meat or chicken and afterwards you need to slice some vegetables, ensure you disinfect first your chopping board and knifes. We can cause cross contamination of pathogens from raw meat to vegetables, which will end up in our body.
- Sponges & cloths.
- Washing machines rubber door/ door seal.
- Toothbrush holders/ tumblers.
- Soap dispensers & holders.
- Bathroom taps, tubs and toilets.
- Workspace: stationary, keypads, computer mouse, tablets, etc.
- Personal items: remote controls, keys, wallets, etc. Check the following article to learn more on how to disinfect personal items.
- Toys & kids accessories
- Pet toys & accessories
- Light Switches
Use WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner or WYX Disinfectant Spray to disinfect hot stops in your home. You can also use specific cleaners depending on the area of the house, such as WYX Disinfectant Kitchen Cleaner or WYX Disinfectant Bathroom Cleaner. It is highly important to follow the directions for use to ensure a correct disinfection of the items and surfaces in your home.
- Published in Disinfection
How to disinfect your personal items | Coronavirus
Don’t forget to disinfect correctly your personal items, especially during the Coronavirus crisis.
Even though we need to stay at home during this crisis to stop spreading the Covid-19 (Coronavirus), sometimes we need to go out for work, to have a walk with our dog or to go to the groceries. It has been proved that the virus can easily get on our personal items and stay there for hours and even days, so it is important we consider all items that need to be disinfected immediately once we get back home.
These are the most common items we might need to disinfect when we get back home:
- House & Car Keys
- Glasses
- Handbags, wallets and backpacks.
- Credit cards, IDs and driver’s license: only necessary if you have used them.
- Mobile Phones and cases.
- Other devices, such as tablets, laptops and earphones.
- Money.
- Umbrellas.
- Watches and jewelry.
- Pet accessories: dog leash, bag dispenser, clothes…
We should not forget to disinfect also the items that we only use around the house or at the office. If there is a house member suffering Coronavirus or might have symptoms, it is very important we do this on a daily basis. If we don’t have any COVID-19 cases at home, we might want to disinfect them once or twice every week just as a preventive measure. Some of the items we need to consider are the following:
- Remote controls
- Computer, keyboard and computer mouse.
- Other devices, such as tablets, laptops and earphones.
- Calculators
- Stationary
- Books
- Pet toys
- Toys
Use WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner or WYX Disinfectant Surface Spray to disinfect your personal items. It is highly important to follow the directions for use in order to ensure a correct disinfection of the items. When using WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner spray on a damp clean cloth and then rub the item. Leave to act for 5 minutes to kill Coronavirus and rinse with a damp clean cloth. Ensure to dry technological devices with a dry cloth. Always test on a hidden area before using the product.
- Published in Disinfection
How to disinfect your groceries at home | Coronavirus
Tips on how to handle correctly your groceries when you get back from the supermarket during the Coronavirus crisis.
Even though we need to stay at home during this crisis to stop the spread of Coronavirus, one of the moments we do need to go outside is to do the groceries. It is important you ensure your products are disinfected to remove any trace of Coronavirus that may get into your home. Here you can find some tips to follow at home:
- Shopping Bags & Trolleys: if we are using our own shopping bags or trolleys we should wash them correctly once we get home. For those that can be placed in the washing machine we recommend washing them at 60ºC or higher with Wyx Laundry Detergent. If you use Wyx Disinfectant Laundry Cleanser there is no need to set the washing machine at high temperatures as it has been formulated to disinfect and kill Coronavirus at 20ºC and 30ºC.
If placing the items in your washing machine is not possible, just use Wyx Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner to clean and disinfect them. Don’t forget to rub correctly the wheels of your trolley to ensure the virus does not spread all over your floors.
If you are carrying shopping bags from the supermarket, specially for paper bags that are quite tough to disinfect, we recommend discarding them. Do not reuse them during the Coronavirus crisis.
- Groceries:
- For products that contain secondary wrapping or trays we should remove it and throw it away before storing the groceries. For example, carton wraps on yoghurts and milk, plastic shrink wraps on beverages or plastic trays for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. You may need to place some of the products in your own food containers, specially meat, fish, eggs, etc.
-
- We should disinfect correctly those products with packaging that we can’t remove, such as bottles, bricks, cans, etc. Spray Wyx Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner on a damp cloth or kitchen paper and rub the product. Leave to act for 5 minutes and then rinse with a clean damp cloth before storing.
- Hands: Once you finish storing all your groceries at home ensure you wash thoroughly your hands before touching any other items.
We hope these tips have been helpful to ensure a healthy and protected home when you get back from the supermarket or local markets. Regarding your personal items remember you also should disinfect them once you get home (mobile phone, keys, glasses, etc.). Check this post for more information.
- Published in Disinfection
How long does coronavirus stay on surfaces
Here you can find an analysis of the survival capabilities and periods of time of Coronavirus on each surface, outside the human body, according to a study published by The New England Journal of Medicine.
The new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is spreading all around the world at the same speed scientists and virologists are investigating on its capability of survival and infection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its sanitary authorities have informed that people can get infected when inhaling drops of secretions from a COVID-19 patient, which have been produced while speaking, coughing or sneezing. This is why it is highly important to maintain the safety distance and wear a mask when possible. But, what about when these drops get into a surface and those who are not infected touch it? It has been proven that the virus can live in different surfaces for several hours, even days. Therefore, it is highly important to maintain a good hygiene and wash your hands frequently. Avoid touching your face after touching any surface that might or might not be infected with the virus.
However, note these are the surfaces that The New England Journal of Medicine have investigated, and the results obtained regarding the period that Coronavirus remains on them:
- Paper and paper tissues: Coronavirus remains up to 3 hours.
- Copper: Coronavirus remains up to 4 hours.
- Carton/ Cardboard: Coronavirus remains a whole day, up to 24 hours.
- Wood: Coronavirus remains up to 2 days.
- Stainless Steel: Coronavirus remains from 2 to 3 days.
- Plastic (Polypropylene): Coronavirus remains up to 3 days.
- Glass: Coronavirus remains up to 4 days.
There are no solid studies of the survival periods of time of Coronavirus on clothes and fabrics, therefore it is important to disinfect your laundry on the washing machine as soon as you get home. You can use WYX Disinfectant Laundry Cleanser for this.
Despite this results, temperature and humidity may vary the period of time the virus survives out of the human body. This is why it is important to ensure a correct disinfection of your home and hands during this crisis. Always use our range of WYX XtraHygiene products that are proven to kill Coronavirus. WYX Disinfectant Multipurpose Cleaner and WYX Disinfectant All Purpose Cleaner are great for covering a wide range of surfaces around the home, but you can also find more specific products for the Bathroom and the Kitchen in our range.
- Published in Disinfection
How and when you should wash your hands
Washing your hands is the best way to prevent spreading Coronavirus and other illness. You can either wash your hands with liquid soap or with Wyx Hand gel, depending on the place and the time.
As we are constantly touching everything with our hands, we recommend washing your hands very frequently during the day. Ensure you are doing it correctly, covering all areas, specially the most forgotten ones such as between fingers and under your nails. It is highly important you take your time while washing your hands, approximately for up to 1 to 2 minutes.
Make sure you wash your hands after the following moments of the day:
- After visiting the bathroom
- Before, during and after travelling in public transport.
- Before, during and after visiting stores.
- After sharing any object with another person: pen, calculator, mobile phone, etc.
- Before and after preparing or eating food.
- After blowing your nose, sneezing or coughing.
- After touching animals or handling animal waste.
- Before and after touching someone sick.
- After handling money or paying by dataphone.
- After handling garbage or waste.
- Any other moment you feel you might have been in contact with germs.
- Published in Disinfection Guide
Disinfect your hands while going out
In order to stop spreading Coronavirus (COVID-19) and avoid getting infected, sanitary authorities have recommended the whole world to wash more frequently our hands. Even if we ensure we are getting our hands washed as much as possible, truth is we sometimes need a on the go solution for when we are out of home or out of the office and can’t wash our hands, for example, while doing the groceries or commuting.
Our Wyx Hand Gel is the ideal solution for hand disinfection when you cannot wash your hands with water. You will find two available sizes, a more convenient one to carry always on your handbag or backpack, and a bigger size for your home or your workplace. No need to use water for disinfecting your hands with these products.
Just apply a small quantity of product on your hand palm and rub for around 30 seconds until your skin has completely absorbed the gel. Ensure you spread correctly the hand gel on your hands and there are no hidden areas left without being disinfected. The most forgotten areas while disinfecting your hands are usually the space between your fingers and under your nails. Ensure you don’t forget to rub these areas.
Get hygienically protected hands thanks to the range of Wyx Hand Gels that will provide disinfection without water thanks to its alcohol content.
- Published in Disinfection