How A Household Appliance Could Be The Solution To Swine Flu

You can’t sneeze these days without some clever so-and-so in the vicinity making a joke about having swine flu, with a smirk on his/her face. I guess if we’re all joking about it it can only be a good thing – things haven’t gotten bad yet. 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.The basic message of the pamphlet is this: “if you sneeze, do it in a tissue, then throw it away, then wash your hands, then wash your body, then cover yourself in paraffin and let it evaporate off your body”. (OK I made the last bit up). But the point being, if government officials are willing to take things this far and risk general panic, they must be really concerned about this spreading.

Well, tissues aside, a UK company that specialises in air conditioning 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.The normal usage of an air purifier is for things like removing bad smells, pollution and allergens.But with most purifiers, fitted with HEPA air filters, they can block particles as tiny as 0.3 micrometers. The swine flu virus particles, just like ‘normal’ influenza particles, are aroun 80 to 120 nanometers in diameter, and therefore within the range of what a purifier would pick up.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. Imagine if, rather than counting on people to make sure they don’t spread their germs to others, you could take the germs out of the air altogether with some strategically placed air purifiers in schools and workplaces! Is it time for governments to ensure that air purifiers are installed in large public buildings. 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.