Protect your child
against the flu
There are many ways to become infected. This is the reason why the flu is a disease which is rather difficult to guard against. This is especially true in the case of children, whose immune systems are much weaker than those of adults.
You do everything you can to protect your child from cold and flu, and yet again your little one has a hoarse throat, stuffed nose, and is exhibiting the first signs of fever. In autumn and winter this scenario can repeat itself even a dozen times in a row, because the child’s immune system is in the proces of ”learning” to recognize disease-causing microbes up to the age of about 15. Only at that age, the child’s resistance to disease becomes similar to that of an adult. How, then, to effectively protect your young offspring from the flu? First, you need to learn, what causes it, and then you need to focus on eliminating exactly that.
There are two main ways in which a person may become infected with the flu. The first one is through droplet infection. The infection happens upon inhalation of droplets of either saliva or the upper respiratory tract secretions, which hang in the air after an infected person sneezes, coughs, or even just talks. The second cause of a flu infection is equally common, but much more difficult to be aware of. After all, it is difficult to see with the naked eye flu viruses on somebody’s hands.
To become infected by hand touch, one does not need to come into direct contact with a sick person; it is enough to touch a contaminated object – a toy, door handle, elevator button, etc. From the skin on the hands the virus becomes transferred to the respiratory tract when a person touches their mouth, nose or food. And the next thing you know, you have the flu.
While it is not possible to entirely isolate a child from infected persons—after all, children most often catch infections from other children at kindergarten or school—becoming infected through hands can be relatively easily avoided. If you instill in your child proper hand hygiene habits, you will greatly reduce not only the risk of a flu infection, but also of foodborne illnesses and other diseases. The first step is to inform the child about all those situations, when washing hands is necessary. The second step is to teach the child to use hand gels, when it is not possible to wash hands under running water.
Hand gels CleanHands will help you and your family to maintain proper hand hygiene in every situation.
Bacteria on hands
“Even if your hands look clean, their surface is a home to many bacteria strains, some of them harmless, ensuring proper functioning of the skin, and some of them causing diseases.”
Małgorzata Ściślewska, MD, Medicers Center
Did you know…?
The body of a child keeps “learning” to recognize disease-causing microbes until the age of about 15. Only at that age the child’s resistance to disease becomes similar to that of an adult person.
Teach your child proper hand hygiene:
- before eating food
- after using the toilet
- after playing with animals
- upon returning home from school or backyard
- after travelling by bus or tram
- after sneezing, coughing or using a tissue
- after a contact with a sick person
- before treating a wound
