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If you are not taking this year’s flu outbreak seriously, you should be. Reports keep coming in about how strong this flu virus is and just how many people have been affected. The flu virus is highly contagious and can lead to extreme illness and, unfortunately as we have seen, even death. ABC News reports on just how bad the flu is this year, “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said 14,676 people have been hospitalized with influenza since the flu season began in October, double the number from all of last year and the highest ever recorded…The CDC’s latest influenza report shows that at least 53 children have died from the flu this season, including 16 just last week.” There are many person hygiene precautions such as washing hands and covering when you cough or sneeze that should be taken to help prevent the spread of the flu but many times that simply is not enough. If your home, school or office has been hit by the flu it is imperative that you take every precaution to stop it in its tracks. Chemical cleaners use harsh chemicals that are often not safe to be breathed in by adults or children and should not even be touched for fear of skin contamination. And, what about carpeted areas? What do you do if bodily fluids such as vomit are in the carpet – can you truly clean and disinfect carpet? With a steam cleaner, you can!
Steam cleaning is the best cleaning method for a variety of applications from industrial settings, to hospitals, to schools, to homes. It is quick, efficient, and effective for cleaning just about anything. But, steam cleaning is more than just a great cleaning method, it can actually disinfect surfaces. It doesn’t just get rid of some of the bacteria like a lot of cleaners, it gets rid of up to 99% of bacteria without a single chemical! Because it does not use chemicals to disinfect it is ideal for use in hospitals, food preparation areas including both industrial settings and kitchens, and more. People are often skeptical that just water can actually disinfect so well but it is actually the safest and most effective way to disinfect just about any surface. Below we explain how steam cleaning disinfects things like bacteria and even MRSA.
If your home has already been hit by cold and flu season, brace yourself, it might not be over. This cold and flu season has proven to be particularly bad and many are saying it could be very severe. Today describes how bad cold and flu season is, “The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that the flu is spreading across the country: Activity has increased in twelve states, compared to just seven last week. There was “high activity” of flu in four states: Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. And it’s still just the beginning of the season. Dr. William Schaffner, who is involved in the CDC’s flu surveillance network in Tennessee, has noticed cases of influenza picking up “dramatically.”Even worse, it appears the dominant strain will be H3N2, which can produce more severe illness, said Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center…“It is possible that we will experience low vaccine effectiveness against influenza A (H3N2) viruses and a relatively severe influenza season if they predominate,” Fauci and colleagues wrote in an article published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine.”
When you think about all of the cleaning projects you should tackle with your steam cleaner, cleaning your shoes is probably not one of the first things to come to mind. After all, a steam cleaner can be used to clean your house from top to bottom, be used to clean your car, be used to clean sports gear, be used to clean patio equipment, and so much more. The possibilities for cleaning and disinfection are endless! If you are like most households, at least one member of your family (or more!) have a pair of stinky shoes. Even if the shoes are in great condition, the interior may have unpleasant odors locked into the fabric. And that means the every time that person wears those shoes, the minute they take their shoes off, that unpleasant odor will invade your home. Do not throw out of a perfectly good pair of shoes when all you need to do is reach for your steam cleaner!
If you, a loved one, or your household pet has begun to show symptoms of ringworm, it is important to get treatment right away. Ringworm is highly contagious and easily spreads through human to human, pet to human, or object to human contact. Mayo Clinic describes what exactly ringworm is, “Ringworm of the body is a fungal infection that develops on the top layer of your skin. It’s characterized by a red circular rash with clearer skin in the middle. It may itch. Ringworm gets its name because of its appearance. No actual worm is involved…Mild ringworm often responds to antifungal medications that you apply to your skin. For more-severe infections, you may need to take antifungal pills for several weeks.” If someone in your home has ringworm antifungal medication should be used as soon as possible but it is also a good idea to thoroughly clean and disinfect your home so that the infection is fully eradicated from your home. Because ringworm is so contagious and can be spread through so many different ways, cleaning must be thorough and the best way to do so is with a steam cleaner.
If you have had your drapes or curtains for any length of time they have probably accumulated some dust, absorbed some odors, and may even have gotten some stains on them. They can look perfectly “clean” from a distance but once you get up close you will see a heavy layer of dust just like any other piece of furniture in your home. But, while you may remember to dust your countertops you probably are like most homeowners and you forget to regularly clean your drapery or curtains. Did you know that dirty curtains are not only unsightly but they can actually impact you and your family’s health? If anyone in your home suffers from allergies or is immunocompromised, those dusty curtains could be triggering allergy symptoms and could contribute to lung infections!
Many homes today have granite or other natural stone countertops such as quartz or marble. And, while many of these stones are not only beautiful but durable, they do require care and maintenance to look beautiful for years to come. Additionally, countertops come in contact with a lot of dirt, grime and bacteria. Many homeowners may reach for their chemical cleaning products to clean and disinfect but those products can actually damage many granite and natural stone countertops. Chemical cleaning products leave a residue behind that can stain countertops. And, not only that, but chemical cleaning products can also create a biofilm which actually traps bacteria on your countertop and slowly grows, becoming harder and harder to eliminate. For these reasons (and more!) it is best to clean and disinfect your granite countertops with a steam cleaner. Steam cleaning is safe for your countertops, eliminates 99% of bacteria, will not stain your countertops, will not create biofilm, and will not leave hazardous chemicals on your countertops which means you do not have to worry that your food will be contaminated with chemicals or that chemicals will get on your skin.
Concrete floors have become very popular in both home design and in restaurants and retail spaces. Additionally, many industrial settings have concrete floors. And, even if your home does not have concrete floors, you probably have concrete flooring somewhere on your property such as your garage or your patio. Cement flooring may just be poured and left to set, it may be stained and/or sealed, or it may be stamped or painted in unique designs. Though concrete flooring is very durable, all flooring is susceptible to stains and getting dirty. Some spills or shoe scuff marks are easier to clean but if something stains your concrete flooring or difficult to remove substances such as grease get spilled on concrete the cleaning task if far more difficult if not impossible to complete resolve.
Your flooring sees a lot of wear and tear. You walk in and out of your house, tracking whatever chemicals, dirt, and other residues that are on your shoes from the outside world and bring them right into your home. You walk all over your home every day, your pets walk around, your kids walk around, and the list goes on and on. Needless to say, your floors are not only dirty but probably crawling with bacteria. Chemical cleaning products often don’t thoroughly clean flooring because they can’t get into small crevices and porous surfaces that flooring often has but it will also leave a chemical residue behind that you will then track throughout your home. Fortunately, there is an alternative to chemical cleaning products – steam cleaning. People can be hesitant that steam will not do as thorough a cleaning job as chemical will but steam can actually heat water to such a high degree that it is capable of killing 99% of bacteria. Using a steam cleaner is the most effective, efficient, and economical way to keep almost any flooring type clean and disinfected.