America has recently seen a resurgence of whooping cough (pertussis), a scourge of western societies until the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) vaccine was developed. A good Cleanlink article by Kassendra Kania, emphasis thorough touch-point disinfection:
"To kill whooping cough bacteria as well as cold and flu viruses, BSCs should use an EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectant with a kill claim for influenza A and B. Cleaning protocols for preventing the spread of whooping cough will be the same as those used during cold and flu season. “You need to spray the surface and thoroughly wet it. If it starts to dry out in 10 minutes, you should respray it,” says John Thomas, sales manager and healthcare specialist for Philip Rosenau Co., Warminster, Pa."
We've used a Diversey hospital grade, quaternary ammonia based disinfectant for years, in restrooms, lunchrooms, and medical facilities generally; we've trained our folks on proper dwell time. We also take to heart the article's emphasis on soil removal; you don't want to give the critters a place to hide. We first use a hydrogen peroxide based cleaner/sanitizer, on a disposable wipe, to clean surfaces and limit cross-contamination, thus getting a fair pathogen kill along with soil removal, prior to disinfection. We figure the disinfectant finishes the job.
The article also mentions proper A/C filters, to limit airborne pathogens. We add to that HEPA filtration on our vacuums (we vacuum both carpet and tile) for the same reason: catch the germs before they get airborne, and inhaled.
Should you follow the media, however, the primary reason for the current resurgence of whooping cough, and a number of other communicable diseases thought only a few years ago to be irradicated in modern societies, is what I'd term superstitious parents refusing to vaccinate their children. For all of the media hoopla about the dangers of various vaccines (autism is the most common claim), there is no scientifice evidence for any such danger. In many of our more affluent communities (think Marin County, California), vaccination rates have fallen below the 90 to 95% threshold needed to maintain "herd immunity".
Curiously, the major outbreak in Arizona of late has been in Colorado City, a tiny farming community along the Utah border in the Arizona Strip, the inaccessible territory north and west of the Colorado River and its Grand Caynon. (Some areas you cannot get to from the rest of Arizona. My first non-dishwasher job was for the Photogrammetry and Mapping Division of the Arizona Highway Department; we were plotting a 20 mile stretch of four lane highway across the corner of Arizona between LA and Las Vegas. We had to send our results to the Arizona Highway Department at an address in Utah.)
Colorado City used to be called Short Creek. It was (and still is) the habitation of a fundamentalist offshoot of the LDS Church, practicing polygamy. Back in the '50s, Arizona Governor Howard Pyle led a DPS raid into the area; convicted a bunch of husbands of having more than the usual number of wives, and re-distributed scores of children to more "main stream" families in the Mesa area. The convictions were eventually overturned; husbands, children and wives (multiple) were reunited, mostly. The state has been a bit hands-off ever since.
But - to get back to vaccinations. The recent outbreaks in Colorado City (assumed to be due to aversion to vaccinations) are in a community at the other end of several spectrums from mostly politically liberal, northern California communities. Fascinating how irrational, superstitious behavior lurks on both fringes.
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