Rhinovirus
What is it?
- The virus resides and spreads from the respiratory tract of infected people.
How does it spread?
- Spread in droplets ejected when an ill person coughs or sneezes, and in mucus via hands.
- The virus can settle on surfaces etc. from the air or be deposited via hands on things people touch, tissues, fabrics etc.
- Survives for long periods of time on surfaces.
- Other people become infected by breathing in contaminated droplets or by touching contaminated hands and surfaces and putting their hands to their eyes, nose or mouth.
Symptoms
- Causes over half of colds
- Difficulty breathing through the nose
- Swelling of the sinuses
- Sneezing
- Sore throat
- Cough
- Headache
Prevent the spread
- Treat your hands as potentially contaminated and avoid putting them to your mouth - wash them thoroughly using soap and water after going to the toilet, touching contaminated items, preparing food and before eating.
- Ensure frequently touched surfaces are regularly cleaned and disinfected.
-
Use a bleach based
cleaner, such as Domestos Bleach Cleaning Spray to decontaminate surfaces especially if there is an outbreak of vomiting or diarrhoea in the vicinity.
-
Squirt bleach around the toilet regularly. Keeping the toilet hygienically clean becomes more important when
someone in the house has diarrhoea. In these instances the toilet should be hygienically cleaned after each time they use it.
- If there are children around make sure high level of hygiene standards are maintained.
