It seems like every sneeze in the office these days is followed by some kind of witty swine flu remark and general guffawing. No doubt thats something to be relieved about - if we’re making jokes it means things aren’t serious. So far the virus has been relatively well contained so far, with worldwide cases under a thousand to date and deaths a rarity. But it would be stupid of us to get complacent about this. Clearly the risk of the spread escalating is still a serious one. In the UK the health service recently distributed a leaflet to every household in the country about how to prevent the spread of swine flu germs. This leaflet can basically be boiled down to one sentence: “always sneeze into a tissue, then throw it away, wash your hands and bathe yourself in a vat of boiling elephant milk”. (fine, that last bit was made up). I guess my point is that if governments are willing to take their public education that far it means they too see it as a real threat, worth potentially upsetting us.
Well, tissues aside, a UK company that specialises in air conditioners has come up with a novel and potentially important way of preventing swine flu. According to JS Humidifiers’ blog, an air purifier could be effective in trapping and removing particles of swine flu virus from the air before it has a chance to spread.Usually, people use air purifiers to prevent allergic reactions and cleanse the air of pollutants. However the HEPA filters fitted on many air purifiers are able to trap particles of as small as 0.3 micrometers. The minute particles that make up the swine flu virus are just like normal flu particles, at approximately 100 nanometers in size - an air purifier would be able to trap and stop these particles in their tracks.The purifiers that have an ultra violet lamp inside them are virtually guaranteed to stop the flu, as the UV light kills all airborne viruses.
This is really a remarkable discovery. Instead of relying on people who may be infected with swine flu to sneeze into a tissue and constantly wash their hands, imagine the increased containment of having air purifiers fitted in public places like schools and offices! Perhaps the UK government could consider this as part of their strategy for dealing with the spread of the virus. And maybe this summer when you are considering buying a portable air conditioner for the home or workplace, you might think about cleansing the air as well as cooling it.
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