Spring Means Petting Farm Season – Tips to Prevent Illness from Poor Hand Hygeine
NatraSan wins press release of the month here, with their timely reminder about petting farm hygiene this coming spring.
Poor hand hygiene at community farm visits can result in various infections including Cryptosporidium, E. coli and Salmonella.
While some of these infections will result in watery diarrhoea and stomach pains, E. coli can cause the life threatening condition Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS).
Cryptosporidiosis can be caught by anyone, but it is most common in children aged between 1-5 years in spring due to handling animals.
Fay Watt, Managing Director of first aid and healthcare specialists NatraSan, offers parents helpful top tips to keeping inquisitive hands germ-free at a farm visit:
Keep a close eye on kids and animals: Children will quite happily feed a salivating lamb and straight away put their fingers in their own mouths, even if you’ve told them not to! Pay close attention when feeding animals and give hands a good spritz of NatraSan when the need arises.
Pack an effective disinfectant: Packing a safe disinfectant that has the ability to sanitise a number of different surfaces is vital to keep your family clean at farms. NatraSan First Aid spray kills 99.9999% of germs – great for picnic benches.
Always wash with soap and water: As well as having a handy bottle of NatraSan with you, it is wise to ensure everyone washes hands with warm soap and water after petting or feeding the animals and again before eating.
Spritz hands regularly: There will always be the risk that someone doesn’t clean their hands properly with soap and water, and then touches items in the play or eating areas, for example, thus spreading bacteria. Using the versatile NatraSan spray will help to reduce the spread of any germs.
Don’t forget about your mouth: Little fingers are always going in mouths and this is a common way for germs to be spread. Always clean little hands egularly just in case your child touches an animal and then sucks their thumb, for example.
NatraSan costs £10.00 for 250ml and £7.00 for 100ml
www.natrasanuk.com