“I think we can expect some disease presentations to be out of the ordinary '' said Petter Brodin, a professor of pediatric immunology at Imperial College London. Something has happened to our immune response, it has weakened in an abnormal way in the last two years because of the Covid Pandemic. A study showed children in the second year of the pandemic have far less antibodies, it's a time where we as a global community have to take extra care of our health, and this of course includes our everyday hygiene and cleaning habits. The recent Hepatitis A outbreak has been a sign of this weakness on the immune system and we think that Jan/San companies have a duty to help prevent the spread of the disease. We want to tell you what you and your company can do to achieve this.
How is Hepatitis A usually spread?
The hepatitis A virus is transmitted primarily by the fecal-oral route; that is when an uninfected person ingests food or water that has been contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Hepatitis A can easily spread from one person to another by putting something in the mouth (even though it may look clean) that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A.
What does this outbreak have to do with the Jan/San industry?
We need to know that infected stool particles can be found in places you never thought of: from the surfaces we touch every day to our toothbrushes and kitchen items. Now, you can only imagine how this affects public spaces, including stores, malls, large buildings, etc. This is something that most people are unaware of, so our first advice would be to make sure your company is somehow sharing this information and helping spread the awareness.
Along with this information you should absolutely share and promote all of the products from your company that could help prevent the spread from happening. Of course we can immediately think of essentials like paper towels, wipes and hand sanitizers, but there's a broad variety of products that could help people keep their space and body safe and disinfected.
It is a critical time to share all this. The Jan/San industry goes way beyond washing windows and sweeping floors. It has become the symbol of a culture of health.