Things we do to prevent Norovirus

[2ptu/000]

I thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the things we all do to prevent Norovirus.

 

I start by carrying wipes with me and wipe down tray and armrests in the airplane. When we get to our cabin, I wipe down that too. I give special attention to the bathroom, bedside tables and the remote.

 

I have a cover for my toothbrush so the room steward doesn't touch it.

 

I don't use the ice from the ice bucket in our room. I'm not sure these are changed between cruises.

 

I also don't let the stewards in the Lido carry my food or get me anything. They clean up other peoples dirty dishes and don't wash their hands. I know the same thing happens in restaurants but it isn't such a closed community.

 

Of course, I wash my hands like crazy every chance I get. Use the gel too but really think the hand washing is what does the trick.

 

Just a start. What do you do?

Edited September 12, 2015 by 2ptu/000
forgot something

[RuthC]

I wash my hands.

When using an elevator, I press the buttons with my knuckle.

 

That's about it. So far, so good.

[Bailey & Sophie]

I wash my hands.

When using an elevator, I press the buttons with my knuckle.

 

That's about it. So far, so good.

Actually, we don't do any of it, except be diligent in washing our hands.

So far, so good.

[kazu]

Wash our hands, use a bit of common sense and take Cold FX. That's about it for us too. Never had Noro yet and hope we never do ;)

 

I am a believer that Noro can start on air flights so we start taking Cold Fx a week before the flight (if we are not taking it already).

[81Zoomie]

In an airplane I wipe down the tray table, armrests, recline button, air vents, seat belt buckle, and head rest. I flush with my foot and use a paper towel on the water faucets and when exiting the rest room. Even with this I have picked up some nasty upper respiratory bugs in Europe. On the ships we carry a travel size Lysol spray. We spray the remotes, door knobs, light switches, telephone, etc. I try to avoid contact with hand rails and elevator buttons. And yes, wash with soap while mentally reciting my ABCs 😀.

[OlsSalt]

I thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the things we all do to prevent Norovirus.

 

I start by carrying wipes with me and wipe down tray and armrests in the airplane. When we get to our cabin, I wipe down that too. I give special attention to the bathroom, bedside tables and the remote.

 

I have a cover for my toothbrush so the room steward doesn't touch it.

 

I don't use the ice from the ice bucket in our room. I'm not sure these are changed between cruises.

 

I also don't let the stewards in the Lido carry my food or get me anything. They clean up other peoples dirty dishes and don't wash their hands. I know the same thing happens in restaurants but it isn't such a closed community.

 

Of course, I wash my hands like crazy every chance I get. Use the gel too but really think the hand washing is what does the trick.

 

Just a start. What do you do?

 

You raise good precautions but are missing several key elements in expanded overall passenger wellness (not just for noro infections): the actual contact between your well-washed fingers tips to your mouth, nose and eyes. Hand-washing is the best prevention no question, but that is only one of a two part infection prevention equation. It never just stands alone. Plus for general passenger wellness it is important to distinguish between the noro-virus which is a 24hr gastrointestinal bug and the more common transmission of upper-respiratory infections.

 

While you appear to be primarily blaming the crew for careless transmission, noro can easily be brought in from port visits by other passengers. To be serious about the chain of infection, you need to be aware of every single surface your finger-tips touch, and then also every possible contamination source for anything you put into your gastrointestinal system. Which is virtually impossible.

 

Sometimes "tourista" just plain comes along with the adventure of traveling. Always has and always will. It is too bad what was considered a normal travel affliction took on such a dreaded spectre when it hits a cruise ship. Daycare centers at home are actually far more contaminated than cruise ships. No one wants it but probably few has escaped it if they are widely-traveled.

 

CDC offers the best guidelines for these common travel afflictions. As well as how to best treat them. Pepto-Bismol and black tea are also suggested as curing responses to this 24 hour noro bug. And it is good you point out the recent findings that the airplane trip to the ship is often the dirtiest part of the whole travel enterprise. CDC also offers realistic assessments of what it takes to actually decontaminate surface areas.

 

I would also add the extra precautions of using a fresh tissue when leaving any public bathroom when opening the door (HAL provides receptacles for tissue disposal for this task), using your knuckle to push elevator buttons, cover your hand with your sleeve when using stair rails or resting only the palm of your hand on the stair rail.

 

Again being aware of where your fingers-tips are because those become the vectors, not any other part of your hand.

Edited September 12, 2015 by OlsSalt

[DocF]

DW and I wash hands after using head and before eating. In other words, good, normal sanitation procedure.

 

Doc

[Krazy Kruizers]

Main thing for us -- WASH HANDS!!

I have to carry my own Purell as it has aloe in it. The ship's Purell doesn't and one time I had a problem using it so much that my hands dried and bled.

We touch as little as possible.

[Vict0riann]

About ten days before a cruise, we start taking a small dose of zinc every day, to help boost our immune systems. I think that may help more with URI's though.

 

I have to hold on to the railing when going up and down stairs, but I try, unless it's rough, to just use my arm above my wrist to balance myself. If I do have to hold on, I try to remember (!:)) to use a cleanser or wash my hands. We very seldom use the elevators, except to get my daily photo of the day-of-the-week mats, but if we do I use a knuckle to push the buttons.

 

Definitely lots of hand-washing!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Wash hands, wash hands, wash hands!

 

I'm not a big believer in the gels, as they kill mostly bacteria, and noro and the flu are viruses. Wipes are better because they take stuff off your hands. Gels mostly push it around. But I use them at the entry to restaurants/Lido because it's easier to use them than to explain why they aren't much good. (We generally go to meals from our cabin where I have washed my hands properly. I have used the hand-washing stations near the Lido. I don't know what's in the water, but they're kind of fun, like a Jacuzzi for your hands.

 

I try to be aware of things that lots of people touch. I push elevator buttons with the back of my hand or my knuckle, as Ruth mentioned. I also don't grasp stairway railings unless the ship is in rough seas. I sort of run the heel of my hand along the railing, so I can grab it if I need to.

 

I try not to use the public restrooms if at all possible.

 

We go to the Lido for breakfast, but since we get up early, not too many people have been touching things, so we feel pretty safe about that.

[OlsSalt]

Center for Disease Control (CDC) - cruise ship travel:http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/cruise-ship

[OlsSalt]

CDC: Cruise ship vessel sanitation program and ratings: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/public/public.htm

 

CDC: cruise ships getting scores of 100 for sanitation program - yes HAL ships are right up there: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionWith100Score.aspx

Edited September 12, 2015 by OlsSalt

[frankc98376]

Wash our hands, use a bit of common sense and take Cold FX. That's about it for us too. Never had Noro yet and hope we never do ;)

 

I am a believer that Noro can start on air flights so we start taking Cold Fx a week before the flight (if we are not taking it already).

 

We both got it one Xmas at friend's house. Never EVER EVER want it again. You are very fortunate!

[Hlitner]

Have spent more then 3 years on cruise ships (as passengers) and never had Noro (knock on a bulkhead). So what do we do? Simply wash our hands as often as reasonably possible with warm soap and water. That is it. Years ago we met a CDC Physician (training the crew on a RCI ship) and that was his advice. On the other hand, DW and I are probably the opposite of a germophobe in that we do not worry about germs and viruses but simply use basic common sense.

 

Hank

[3rdGenCunarder]

CDC: Cruise ship vessel sanitation program and ratings: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/public/public.htm

 

CDC: cruise ships getting scores of 100 for sanitation program - yes HAL ships are right up there: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionWith100Score.aspx

 

Yes, they are right up there. Veendam scored 100 on our embarkation day. And three days later, the captain announced that they'd had a few cases of GI distress, so PLEASE wash your hands! And the next morning or the morning after that, we were in Code Red. The captain did say that it might have been excessive caution, but nobody was complaining. Considering the timing, I'm guessing a passenger (or it could have been a crew member) picked up the virus in port and brought it back on board.

 

So the crew can do only so much to keep the ship itself clean.

[Mrsosci]

If you happen to be in UK they have a super/duper GermX product. It even kills viruses. We use it when we travel. Recommended to us by a UK passenger. Bought it at the airport the first time and there after at a London Pharmacy. Had the Noro once when we were new cruisers. It was nasty. Imodium didn't even help!! Now I have a prescription med Dr. gave me for travel illness. Hope we all stay healthy!! Great suggestions.

 

Mrsosci

[casamariposa]

I wash my hands as often as I can and try not to use the public washrooms. On shore excursions I carry hand wipes and small bottles of Purell. I do try to keep my immune system in top condition by watching my nutritional intake. Sure, I love beautiful desserts, but I don't gorge myself on them as I've seen many PAX doing, especially on the shorter cruises. I'll consume more than I would at home, but there is a limit to the strain I'll put on this ole bod! (The only time I've suffered from "tourista" was from a shore excursion that served a boxed breakfast that was not properly refrigerated by the tour company. The poor medical staff on board had to do some investigating to find out where 650 of the 1200 PAX picked up the "bug." We all recovered within 24 hours.)

[OlsSalt]

If you happen to be in UK they have a super/duper GermX product. It even kills viruses. We use it when we travel. Recommended to us by a UK passenger. Bought it at the airport the first time and there after at a London Pharmacy. .......

 

Mrsosci

 

"The active ingredient in Germ-X sanitizer is ethyl alcohol. The active ingredient in Germ-X hand soap and soft wipes is benzalkonium chloride. The brand's advertising slogan is "Kills 99.99% of germs".

 

It is available in the US - read the label for claimed "active ingredients". For benzalkonimun to be an effective disinfectant it needs to be in surface contact for a minimum amount of time, otherwise it is merely being used as superficial wipe of potential contaminates like any other liquid. Benzalkonium is used as "cold sterile" solution in medical/dental offices but requires at least 20 minutes to be 99.99% effective as a disinfectant- not a sterilizer.)

 

(aka: ethyl alcohol is vodka)

Edited September 12, 2015 by OlsSalt

[cabinluvn]

We take Airborne the day we leave. We wipe down everything we can around our airline seats. We also put a smear of bacitracin under our noses to capture any errant germs. We wipe down everything in the cabin and use the hand sanitizer the ship provides. We wash our hands when we get back to our cabin. We never, ever touch our mouth or eyes unless we have washed our hands first. That is the port of entry of most viruses and germs. We had many intra continent flights when we traveled China and Tibet and failed to do that a couple of times. We both got very sick the day we left to fly back. Talk about a miserable flight home! I felt badly about flying sick, but there was no possible way we could have stayed an extra few days in Beijing by ourselves. That is the only time we have been sick during travel and we do not want to repeat the experience.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[OlsSalt]

We take Airborne the day we leave. We wipe down everything we can around our airline seats. We also put a smear of bacitracin under our noses to capture any errant germs. We wipe down everything in the cabin and use the hand sanitizer the ship provides. We wash our hands when we get back to our cabin. We never, ever touch our mouth or eyes unless we have washed our hands first......

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

The nose is the more common entry for upper respiratory infections - keep fingers away from the nose. Even if you think you got protection from a smear of Bacitracin.

 

NIH warns against using Bacitracin in the nose. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a601098.html Only use this medicament for its proper purposes. If you want just a physical barrier in your nose - vaseline would work just as well.

Edited September 12, 2015 by OlsSalt

[janmcn]

Make sure you disinfect any money you use, too...don't forget that has been touched by loads of people! ;-)

 

Sorry...but only hand washing...and have never in all our cruises caught noro.

[Viv0828]

We wash our hands after using the bathroom and use the provided disinfectant before eating.

 

I am very careful where and what I eat when ashore in a third world country.

[Keith1010]

Wash hands thoroughly and I mean thoroughly with warm water, soap and wash for one minute.

 

Keith

[summer slope]

And remember to not drink the water, including the ice. A friend had a mixed drink and got the revenge. As everyone has said, wash in warm/hot water and use lots of soap. Recite the ABC's or sing the Birthday song. Never touch any opening!

[OlsSalt]

CDC: Show Me The Science: How to wash your hands. A minimum of 20 seconds will do it, while singing an appropriately timed tune.

http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html

 

We use Yankee Doodle, CDC suggests Happy Birthday. Pick your favorite and time it.

Yes, I also love those new Lido hand washing stations too. But even better are the power hand dryers that are now starting to show up in the US - saw them abroad first and now slowly becoming the norm here too.

Edited September 12, 2015 by OlsSalt