Bloomberg — Swine flu vaccines under development by drugmakers may not provide immunity until the last week of November, too late to hold off outbreaks triggered by infected students returning to schools in the U.S. and Europe.

Just 45 million of 195 million doses ordered for the U.S. will be delivered by mid-October, said health officials who lowered their estimates yesterday. The vaccine will probably require two shots given three weeks apart, and the body won’t produce antibodies for two additional weeks, according to an Aug. 7 report by the Department of Health and Human Services.

H1N1 has reached more than 170 countries and territories in the four months since being identified, the Geneva-based World Health Organization said.

Protection Priorities

Authorities want to ensure adequate supplies to protect health-care workers, pregnant women, people at risk of developing severe complications from flu and children, whose close contact in tightly packed schoolrooms and in other social settings makes them the biggest spreaders of the virus.

Part of the U.S. plan to vaccinate children is to encourage state and local health departments to set up school-based vaccine clinics. In the U.K., most shots will be given by family doctors and nurses who provide routine health care including seasonal flu shots, according to the Department of Health.

Schools that arrange in-house immunizations will face logistical hurdles, said Mel Riddile, the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ associate director for high school services in the U.S. Riddile, a former principal at a Fairfax County, Virginia, high school, said it typically took a month just for all 2,500 students to turn in their emergency medical information forms at the beginning of the school year.

Along with hand washing, washable keyboards are a great way to help stay protected against viruses, such as the flu. Since keyboards are the other thing you touch all day, being able to wash and disinfect them helps decrease harmful germ contamination. Get a washable keyboard at WETKEYS.com. 

Swine Flu Shots May Be Too Little, Too Late to Halt Outbreaks

WETKEYS “How to Clean” FAQ

 If you know how to wash your hands with soap and water, washing your keyboard can be just as easy. Please consult our

 WETKEYS.com offers many brands of computer accessories.Please refer to the specific product manufacturers’ information for details on how best to clean a particular item.  Always observe the preparation instructions and use of all cleaning fluids and wear the appropriate protective clothing, rubber gloves or safety glasses as necessary.

 Note:  In order to maintain sanitary conditions, your keyboard and mouse should be washed prior to initial use.  It is also important to wash a keyboard and mouse on a regularly scheduled interval appropriate for your use environment. 

 General Washing Instructions

         1.     Log out and turn OFF the POWER to your computer if your product is corded (not wireless).  Wireless units can be washed with batteries inside - be sure to disable the connection to the computer or accidental keystrokes may enter or delete important data.

         2.     Disconnect the Keyboard / Mouse. (If you are using a USB - PS/2 adapter, please remove it completely before cleaning.)

3.       It is important that before you wash a CORDED product you ensure that the USB Plug (connector) is safely away from the sink and remains dry.

4.       Clean the surface of the product by wiping, gently brushing, spraying or dipping it. DO NOT “SOAK” Units.  Use only rags, sponges or soft bristle brushes. DO NOT USE ANY BUFFING PADS, SCRUBBING PADS OR OTHER ABRASIVE CLEANERS.

DO NOT place the USB or PS/2 connector into the fluid.

5.       Either wipe with dry cloth or shake gently and allow to air dry.  Never hang a keyboard or mouse by its cord or damage to the watertight seal can occur.

6.       Reconnect the keyboard/mouse.

7.       Restart Computer.

 Best Practice Wash Procedure For Healthcare.

 Read more about how to clean your keyboard. 

The summertime outbreak provides an education for school districts and universities, whose administrators are bracing for illness. Hundreds of children have been sent home from summer camps across Southern California in recent weeks with flu-like symptoms, and camp counselors and directors are taking precautions to prevent the spread of the H1N1, or swine flu, virus in cabins and mess halls.

But officials say the sight of children arriving at sleep-away camps armed with the anti-viral medication Tamiflu is probably just a harbinger of what awaits schools in coming weeks as students move into dormitories, and elementary and secondary students begin classes. Health officials predict a resurgence of the flu in the fall, and a vaccine effective against H1N1 is not expected to be available until long after the start of school.

School closures would occur only by order of the superintendent or the county health department and only if so many children were sick that it was impractical to keep classes running, said Dr. Kimberly Uyeda, director of student medical services at the Los Angeles Unified School District. “If we prepare for the worst, then we’re going to get a better outcome,” said Grace Crickette, chief risk officer for the University of California. Educators plan to work in the coming weeks to prevent the spread of the virus in classrooms and dorms, but they said it ultimately comes down to education and personal responsibility.

“Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands,” said Crickette.

Keep your hands clean when you return to your keyboard - get a washable keyboard. These keyboards have proven to reduce the spread of germs and infectious diseases. Washable keyboards can be fully submerged in soap and water or cleaning solution. WETKEYS.com has a great selection of cleanable keyboards and mice.

Swine flu goes to camp. Will it go to school next?

International governments spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect their citizens in the event of a sharp rise in H1N1 Swine Flu. Proper hygiene includes frequent hand washing and using a washable keyboard and mouse that can be easily disinfected to reduce the chance contracting the virus.

 

 

South Korea to Amass Swine Flu Vaccine for 13 MillionJuly 3 (Bloomberg) — South Korea plans to secure enough swine fluvaccine for 13 million people, or 27 percent of the nation’spopulation.The government expects to spend about 193 billion won ($152 million)for the vaccine, which will be provided to medical and militarypersonnel and primary and secondary school students, the healthministry said in an e-mailed statement today.South Korea had 238 confirmed cases of people with swine flu, known asH1N1, as of today, with 196 cured and discharged from hospital. Thirty-three of the patients caught the disease through “close contact”with infected people, according to a separate health ministrystatement today.A second South Korean school will suspend classes to halt the spreadof the disease, Yonhap News reported today, citing the Office ofEducation of southwestern Jeonbuk province. The school will close forone day today. A nearby school became the first in the nation to shutafter a student there was found to be infected, the Korean-languagenews agency said.

Bloomberg reported the vaccine being developed to combat a pandemic of swine flu will require multiple shots to provide immunity from the new virus. Because swine flu is a new virus, most people have no natural immunity. This new infectious disease is not going away,” said Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; scientists have used laboratory tests to confirm 27,715 cases of swine flu in the U.S.

Stay healthy - avoid swine flu and other illnesses by washing your keyboard with soap and water - just like washing your hands. Using a WETKEYS keyboard is one way to avoid the H1N1 virus.

 Swine Flu Multiple-Shot Vaccine May Overwhelm States

You use your keyboard all day; you wash your hands, and then use your keyboard again…where are the germs?

Many reports from the CDC, The WHO, and other news agencies suggest that washing your hands regularly and wiping your keyboards are adequate prevention measures.  However, wiping a keyboard does not eliminate all flu viruses and bacteria.  Since a keyboard and mouse are things you touch all day, a washable and sanitary keyboard and mouse are essential to staying healthy.

As you know, frequently washing your hands is important in reducing the spread of illness.  However, washed hands become completely ineffective if they return to touching the same contaminated objects, like your keyboard and mouse. Our washable keyboards can be easily cleaned in the sink just as a kitchen utensil and are an inexpensive solution to this problem.

WETKEYS offers the largest selection of washable, sanitary and easy to disinfect keyboards and computer mice.  Wash your hands AND your keyboard – and Stay Healthy!  WETKEYS products are Your Key to Good Health