There is no way to prevent your child from coming into contact with microbes, but at least at home you can make sure to clean and disinfect those places where you know bacteria tend to reside. But what about when your child is at school?
The places with the most microbes and bacteria in a school
Bathrooms, tables, and drinking fountains are shared by hundreds of little ones who don’t always wash their hands, so can you imagine how much dirt comes and goes, from hand to hand, and from mouth to mouth?
According to several studies, the greatest threat in this regard is the cafeteria table, since that is the place where the most microbes accumulate in schools.
Now do you understand why it is relatively common for your child to come home with a ?
— Some bacteria can cause infection and tend to accumulate on frequently touched surfaces, especially areas where there is a lot of hand-mouth contact, like the cafeteria table, — explained Aliza Lifshitz, MD, an internist at he .
Every day, millions of students and employees attend more than 130,000 public and private schools in the United States. In fact, some 38 million school-age children in the United States missed school in the last twelve months because of illness or injury.
Is it possible to avoid contagion at school?
First of all, it is necessary to identify which are the places where the most microbes accumulate.
Researchers at the University of Arizona analyzed classrooms and common area surfaces at six K-12 schools to determine the relative numbers of heterotrophic and coliform bacteria on the most frequently touched hard, nonporous surfaces.
According to this study, these are the most contaminated places in schools:
- Cafeteria table.
- Computer mouse, which harbored almost twice as many bacteria as desktops.
- Toilet paper holder handle.
- drinkers.
- Bathroom faucets.
- Library table.
- Computer keyboard.
What can you do to protect your children?
Dr. Lifshitz explains that the job of parents is to instill good hygiene in children.
To help your children reduce the spread of germs, parents should encourage frequent hand washing or the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, especially when sharing school supplies or taking turns using the computer.
Dr. Aliza offers the following tips to help keep the classroom clean:
- Disinfect areas where many accumulate: Even if the classroom is clean in the morning, microbes breed throughout the day.
In fact, evidence of the influenza A virus was found on 13.6% of the surfaces tested in the morning, a number that increased to nearly 50% in the afternoon.
Frequent disinfection routine
That’s why teachers should practice a routine of frequent disinfection of classroom areas where germs accumulate the most, such as desks and doorknobs, with disinfectant wipes, according to instructions.
This can help supplement the work of the school custodians.
Provide the right tools
Parents may bring hand sanitizer or sanitizing wipes to school to make cleaning easier for teachers.
Avoid touching bathroom surfaces
Parents should teach children to use paper towels to flush the toilet and turn faucets on and off. If the toilet has a lid, they should lower it before flushing.
Lead by example at home
Children return from school with much more than homework. That’s why it’s important for parents to adopt the same routines at home, like wiping down high-touch surfaces like remote controls, countertops, phones, and light switches.