Flu Season is loud and obnoxious in my home right now. My kids have been steadily sick since the onslaught of school. We started with various versions of a respiratory system issue, but now, we are battling our first stomach bug. In the name of killing all the germ snot-monstrous bastards… I write. I prepare. And I no longer will procrastinate battle. I shall fight the flu.

Immune Systems

Flu Shot

The first major step to preparing for flu season is to work the immune system. I’m not a fan of the flu shot when it comes to my kids because one kid is allergic to eggs, and the third kid is allergic to all kinds of food. In addition, nurses tell me that the flu shot is less effective on young children and the elderly. The best way to use the flu shot to prevent illness in the home is for the middle aged people to get it. The less apt they are to get sick, the less the disease they introduce to their children and other loved ones.

Vitamins

Now a nurse explained to me that Vitamin C is often not absorbed properly through the digestive tract, but most methods of obtaining Vitamin C is via the digestive tract, so I think that’s why everyone is all about how you cannot possibly get enough Vitamin C to fight the germs.

According to my pharmacist, Zinc really only kills the germs in the mouth, and echinacea is only a temporary boost to the immune system. He also implied that too much zinc is bad for your health; however, what is supplied in vitamins are a safe amount. I searched for Air Borne products, but they didn’t have any for children under 12.

Vitamins for my Family

Halls DefenseVitamin C Drops
Lil Critters Immune C Vitamins (it has zinc and echinacea)
Orange Juice and Oranges

Disinfection Systems

This is where the real war is for us moms. You can’t plop Vitamin C on the sofa and expect it to kill germs. The first important thing to understand is that we aren’t trying to create a germ free environment because there’s a lot of good germs out there, and some of the bad germs are necessary for building a healthy immune system. We are engaging in what I call Germ Management. We tolerate certain germs, but the ones we have zero tolerance for…

It helps to understand the main germs that cause most illnesses. Here’s a nice little table I created for you. I hope you like it because it took a minute to compile. Sources are at the bottom of the article.

Name	Type	Hard Surfaces	Soft Surfaces	Hands	Symptoms	Transmission	Incubation	Duration
Rhinovirus	Cold Virus	3 Hours to 2 days	1 Hour	> 1 Hour	runny nose, nasal congestion, sore throat, headache and cough	Air, Surfaces, Direct Contact	48-72 hours	2 weeks
Influenza A & B	Flu Virus	3 Days	1 to 2 Days	15 minutes	fever, headache, muscle aches, soreness, sore throat, runny nose,	Air, Surfaces, Direct Contact	1-4 Days	1-2 weeks
Rotavirus	Stomach Virus	> 60 Days	> 60 Days		nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fever	Poop	Less than 2 days	4 to 9 Days
Norovirus	Stomach Virus	2 plus weeks	2 plus weeks		nausea, vomiting, diarrhea	Poop and Vomit	12-48 hours	12 to 60 Hours
Salmonella	Stomach Bacterium	1 – 4 hours	1 – 4 hours		nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever, chills, headache, blood in the stool.	Raw meat, eggs, unwashed fruit	2 hours – 2 days	4 – 7 Days Bowels may take months to return to normal

The important thing is to germ chase. When your kid is sick, identify the type of germ you are up against, and then hit the places that little bastard is most apt to be. I identify germs in two main categories. Poop Germs and Snot Germs.

Poop Germs

You want to start at the toilet, then work your way around the bathroom hitting the knobs on the sink, the door knob and side of the door, and anything people touch a lot. The mentality is to hit the places a person will touch after they poop, and the places they touch a lot regardless. Work your way out through the house hitting hot spots of touch, and anywhere there might be a poop or vomit trail.

Launder underwear separately. I usually add socks to my undies. Add a little bleach to the wash and use hot water. Do not wear your pretty undies that can’t be washed in bleached hot water during stomach flu and for a week after. If you are concerned that bleach may destroy Dora the Explorer’s hair-do, don’t. Most of the time, the cartoon characters on the undies (even the dark black Monster High Ones) survive a cup of bleach per load. If they don’t, better they die with the germ bastards.

Poop germs, you want to fight it like it’s norovirus. Either leave the places you want to disinfect in bleach for 10 minutes (wet), and then wipe it up, or get the awesome Clorox products that kill norovirus (linked below).

After the symptoms improve of the flu, then clean out your freezer. Dump your ice completely. Wash everything in hot water or with bleach.

Make sure you have a good soap near the bathroom sink, and make sure all people in your house knows to count to 20 when they wash their hands.

Norovirus is the most diabolical of viruses

They are saying hand sanitizer doesn’t kill the norovirus. You need to wash your hands for 20 seconds in warm water vigorously. It doesn’t die easily in the laundry either. Poopy undies in warm water will spread it to all the clothes in the load. You gotta use hot water plus bleach. It can stay on the dishes after being washed restaurant style. It can last indefinitely frozen, and months to years in contaminated water. If you get it on an ice cube, that cube can make you sick 3 years later in a drink. It doesn’t take much of it to make you sick. It’s a bitch to kill these bastards. And you can re-infect yourself with it, like you can catch it moments after getting rid of it. You are also contagious for like 3 days AFTER RECOVERY. It’s like this virus watched Chuck Norris.

Water 60 degrees Celsius will “kill” the virus according to the Guardian. According to the CDC, If you can’t find a cleaning product that is EPA approved to disinfect norovirus, “you can use a solution made with 5 tablespoons to 1.5 cups of household bleach per 1 gallon of water.” You can find products that kill norovirus, but beware, just because one product with hydrogen peroxide will disinfect it doesn’t mean hydrogen peroxide disinfects it.

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Snot Germs

These are the germs that cause respiratory issues: runny nose, clogged sinuses, cough, congestion… They are not as difficult to defeat as the gastrointestinal ones.

The easiest way to kill these germs is to use Lysol Spray. A study was done to compare disinfecting techniques. Lysol Spray “reduced virus infectivity by greater than 99.99% after a contact of either 1 or 10 min.” Bleach “(800 ppm of free chlorine) reduced the virus titer by 99.7% after a contact time of 10 min.” Remember, Lysol doesn’t kill Norovirus. But it disinfects a lot.

Unlike the poop germs, these germs generally only last a couple days on hard surfaces.

Aim for places people touch the most: door knobs, cabinets, tv buttons, cell phones, purse, refrigerator handle, chest of drawer handles, etc.

Launder blankets, coats, and pillow cases soon after the cold or flu… places on which people cough, breathe, or wipe their face. You don’t have to do it like you’re killing lice. Just think “hey they just wiped their nose with their coat sleeve, I’ll spray that with some Lysol and wash it in a couple days when the kid gets better.”

It also helps during the snot monster colds to use thick tissues to where the snot won’t bleed through to the fingers and hands. In addition, proper hand washing or frequent sanitization is a good idea.

Other Prevention

Health Briefing

The best way to prevent the sick is to have a “health briefing” with your kid, frequently (as they forget everything the first, second, third, and fifth time you say it). Teach them to wash their hands in water as hot as they can stand it, to use soap, and scrub all over including under fingernails, and rinse while rubbing hands rigorously under the water for at least 20 seconds. Tell them to avoid picking their nose or rubbing their eyes, and if they have to, wash their hands first. Always wash hands before eating and after using the bathroom.

Schools

The number 1 place kids get sick and bring it home is the, duh duh dummmmm, schools. It’s the germ magnet for everything yuck and suck your community has to offer. If the cold was an STD and lice were like crabs, the schools would be a whore house.

I like to leave little notes for the teachers about proper disinfection techniques. I also talk to them about it as well. I constantly remind them that we have to work together to improve the safety of our children. When the teacher lectures me that absences are affecting my child’s learning performance, I remind them that classroom cleanliness affects absences.

Some teachers use over the counter options to clean the room. Clorox wipes you get from Walmart just isn’t going to cut it. You need EPA approved disinfectants for the things listed on the table above, norovirus killer being the most rare item to find. If you see a Walmart version of Clorox Wipes sitting in the classroom, buy the good kind and give it to the teacher as a “gift.”

If you have your child’s teacher’s email address, go ahead and email a link to this article. Apologize for my vocabulary because I won’t apologize for it.

Read and Absorb Information

Read on this subject. I know it’s boring, especially when you get into credible sources that aren’t web md. The CDC, the EPA, the FDC, and medical journals offer loads of information regarding disease and disease prevention. Viruses and Bacteria are considered pests (like roaches), hence the EPA.

In addition, listen when your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist speaks. Ask lots of questions. They actually love it when you look more stupid than they are, so ask questions no matter how stupid you feel asking them.