What has COVID-19 taught us so far?

If the global COVID-19 pandemic spreading across our world right now has taught us anything, it's that good personal and environmental hygiene and a deeper understanding of cleaning procedures is of the utmost importance in controlling the spread of pathogens.

We know that having a thorough cleaning regime and the right cleaning equipment is important but how do you know which equipment is right and what a thorough clean actually is?

Understanding more about the potential pathogens is a good place to start. Firstly, do you know what the difference is between antibacterial and antimicrobial? An antimicrobial agent protects against various types of microbes, including bacteria, viruses, mould and fungi, whereas an antibacterial specifically protects against bacteria.

Knowing that an antimicrobial cleaning agent will work well for cleaning in a situation like the one we now find ourselves in is useful, but we also need to know which products are best to use alongside that cleaning agent as manual cleaning is still vital. Some pathogens work in different ways and some will survive in different conditions and on different substances for different lengths of time and variations in temperature.

For example, did you know, MRSA can survive up to 8 weeks on a mop head and 7 months on dust, and around 7% of outer packaging on whole chickens in supermarkets has tested positive for Campylobacter? (Food Standards Agency, 2015).

Listeria Monocytogenes, (aka Listeriosis or Listeria) which is known to cause fever, diarrhoea and can even affect your nervous system, also has a long incubation period. If ingested, symptoms may not show for around 3 weeks, and some records have even shown a 2-month incubation period.

Listeria is what is known as a resilient bacterium. That means it can harbour on seemingly clean surfaces and create a protective biofilm over itself that chemicals alone cannot remove. This is where the right cleaning equipment comes into play.

Using a high-quality brush with the correct chemicals when cleaning surfaces will allow filaments to get into the crevices where bacteria may be harbouring and clean it away, creating a hygienic surface.

Using the right combination of equipment is often the best way to ensure a thorough and effective clean. Go to hillbrush.com/am to find out more about the highest quality, anti-microbial brushes available for the job.