Norovirus and Clorox Wipes

I've been doing a lot of reading on here and it seems that some cruisers bring Clorox wipes with them and wipe down areas of their cabin to avoid getting sick. Is this entirely necessary seeing as the cabin steward cleans the room a couple of times each day? Also, do you think this might help reduce the chance of getting the dreaded Norovirus? I caught Norovirus on the last day of my last cruise (the infamous outbreak on the Crown Princess in January 2012 where hundreds if not over a thousand people were ill) and I REALLY don't want to get it again! I was incredibly diligent in always washing my hands, using hand sanitizer, not touching my face, etc. on my last cruise and still managed to catch it.

So I'm thinking of bringing a container of Clorox wipes with me this time and wiping down all the surfaces of my cabin.....thoughts?

It might be a good idea for things like germs on the remote or phone, but it's my understanding sanitizers and wipes do nothing for the noro virus. If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be corrected. :)

The only thing that can help with the Noro is soap and wash hands regularly. 60 seconds of scrubbing with soap followed by 60 seconds running water over the hands . The main thing don't use public washrooms .

After watching some of the ways the stewards clean the rooms I will be picking up some wipes also

Every cruise I seem to catch a cold or upper respirator infection ...I know the wipes may not help for those but it may make ne feel better

Just watch the room stewards take the bucket of cleaning water from your room to the next cabin & the next cabin without a fresh bucket of water ....:eek: what germs are they spreading

IMO

Wipes could not hurt

Thanks! I think I will take wipes to be on the safe side. It says that these wipes do kill some viruses but it doesn't list Noro. From the website it says this:

Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes kill 99.9% of germs including viruses that cause colds and flu.* Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes are also effective against common bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (Staph), Salmonella enterica, and E. coli.

* Rhinovirus and Influenza A2 - See more at: http://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-disinfecting-wipes/#sthash.d6JdwhSY.dpuf

I always take the travel sized Lysol spray for our cabin. It seems easier to just spray everything than to wipe it all down.

I always travel with some cleaning wipes. I clean up the door handles especially the ones on the bathroom and the telephone, tv remote control and any other shared items.

I have traveled a great deal for many years and have never seen a hotel room clearner clean the door handles.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Nore can be spread via air, as well as surfaces! If someone has it, and vomits, the spray that lingers in the air has the virus, too.

Just wash your hands, and don't touch your face....it's really the best you can do. I've had it, too...and I agree...once was MORE than enough! But, if you're going to catch it, you'll catch it. Hopefully, your immune system is up and running!

In preparation for our October trip on the Summit, which had a bad Noro outbreak on the cruise before ours, I went looking for disinfectant wipes that might help. At CVS pharmacy, I found disinfectant wipes which claim on the label to kill Norovirus as well as many other nasty things such as flu virus, staph bacteria, etc. These are probably a formula similar to the hand santizer the ship uses onboard - which is NOT the same as the cheap stuff we can find in any convenience store. When people claim that the sanitizers don't work - they're right that most don't, but apparently there are some advanced formulas that do work. Some combination of our precautions (the wipes, constant hand washing, not touching surfaces or our faces) as well as those put in place by the ship (sanitizers, buffet restrictions, library closed, etc.) worked - no one that I heard of got Noro on our cruise.

By the way, there was a Noro outbreak at a high school sports tournament near us over the Christmas holidays, so it can happen anywhere.

Bleach is mentioned on the CDC website as a preferred method of disinfecting against Noro:

"After throwing up or having diarrhea, immediately clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces. Use a chlorine bleach solution with a concentration of 1000–5000 ppm (5–25 tablespoons of household bleach [5.25%] per gallon of water) or other disinfectant registered as effective against norovirus by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For more information, see EPA’s Registered Antimicrobial Products Effective Against Norovirus (Norwalk-like virus) Adobe PDF file [11 pages]External Web Site Icon."

Personally, I think it is well worth the effort to use Chlorox wipes in the cabin upon arrival. Will it prevent us getting sick? Maybe maybe not, but it sure is worth the try. One of the things they mention on the CDC website is that people spread the virus before they even know they're sick and continue to shed the virus in stool after they feel better. A 20 second hand wash and thorough rinse and dry and the best prevention, as we all agree. AND, my personal 2 cents worth...... if you have to use a public restroom, never turn the faucet off with your clean hands or handle the door handle on your way out. SO many people don't bother washing at all or wash inadequately.

As a healthcare professional and a self-proclaimed germophobe, I can assure you that none of the wipes available at your local store will kill noro, nor will alcohol based hand sanitizers. The only substance known to dismantle the virus is a 1:10 bleach solution. Clorox cleanup spray qualifies as that, I believe. The reality is it is very difficult to avoid catching in closed environments. I do not personally travel during peak season for the worst bugs (noro, influenza, rsv) because that is just too much money to spend to have my vacation ruined.

That makes sense to me, especially since you are in Florida already. For so many of us though, we are so desperate to thaw out during the winter we take our chances and use common sense and the best precautions we can. Knock on wood......no noro so far, and we get our flu shots every year to protect against influenza.

The only thing that can help with the Noro is soap and wash hands regularly. 60 seconds of scrubbing with soap followed by 60 seconds running water over the hands . The main thing don't use public washrooms .

The best ways to try to prevent the virus to enter your body is to wash your hands well and often and not touch your mouth, eyes, nose..... all portals of entry to allow virus to infect you.

I wipe down our cabin with Chlorox wipes. I have no idea if it helps but it makes me feel like we tried our best and it certainly cannot hurt. I especially pay attention to drawer pulls, remote control, telephone, light switches, button to press on toilet, faucets at sink and shower and door knobs. The steward may not be diligent in cleaning all those locations all the time. They have so many cabins and just so much time in which to clean them.

After watching some of the ways the stewards clean the rooms I will be picking up some wipes also

Every cruise I seem to catch a cold or upper respirator infection ...I know the wipes may not help for those but it may make ne feel better

 

Just watch the room stewards take the bucket of cleaning water from your room to the next cabin & the next cabin without a fresh bucket of water ....:eek: what germs are they spreading

 

 

IMO

Wipes could not hurt

Sounds like you may be hit by the air circulation systems on the ship, if you always get a cold or URI when you cruise… I get that from time to time when I'm in a new building and my body reacts negatively to the environment…

At work, I have my own large container of wipes. I share a station with other people (we work different shifts). I always wipe down the keyboards, mouse, phone, and anything else I believe they touched. Housekeeping is too busy with the guest rooms and public areas to even worry about cleaning the employee areas, so it's up to us. I still came down with a sinus infection this week :( We do what we can do, but it's never a guarantee…

It certainly can't hurt to use the wipes in your cabin. And who knows, maybe if you never venture outside of your cabin for your whole cruise, you might be safe.

However, most people I know usually venture out into the public areas of the ship from time to time. They might even touch a door handle, railing, chair, table top, or (God help them) shake hands with someone. They might even be in the same room as someone who coughs or sneezes.

My point is- don't count on disinfecting your cabin to keep yourself safe from exposure to any pathogen. Like many of the PPs, I think the best way to reduce the likelihood of illness is good handwashing and keeping your hands away from your face.

I always bring some wipes, its better to be a little safe then sorry. I wipe down the door handles and shower door and flush button... and tv remote and light switches it only takes a min or so

It certainly can't hurt to use the wipes in your cabin. And who knows, maybe if you never venture outside of your cabin for your whole cruise, you might be safe.

 

However, most people I know usually venture out into the public areas of the ship from time to time. They might even touch a door handle, railing, chair, table top, or (God help them) shake hands with someone. They might even be in the same room as someone who coughs or sneezes.

 

My point is- don't count on disinfecting your cabin to keep yourself safe from exposure to any pathogen. Like many of the PPs, I think the best way to reduce the likelihood of illness is good handwashing and keeping your hands away from your face.

This is pretty much what I would say.

Like others, I bring wipes to wipe down touch points in my cabin (remote control, door handle, desk area, phone). Those areas sometimes get a bit grimy from repeated use. At least I know they are clean.

However, I do this at the beginning of my trip and don't think about it again or obsess over it.

I think Lysol wipes have little to no effect on noro and I think over-use of hand sanitizer is what allows people to get sick. The best defense against noro is to have clean hands (soap), not anti-bacterial. Anti-bacterial can not distinguish between good and bad bacteria.

Chlorox is now selling a hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant which they claim kills noro. I have no personal experience with the product.

DW and I were on the Crown Princess Noro Cruise to Nowhere (2012) :( and we used a hand gel that explicitly claimed to kill noro; I've forgotten the product name.

I don't know if it worked or we were just lucky b/c we didn't get sick. But then we were obsessive-compulsive about not touching rails, elevator buttons, etc.

Best advice is to do some Googling of your own or ask your family doc and see what you can come up - anything on an Web board is probably best taken with a grain of salt. ;)

Good luck!

I wouldn't believe any claims made by a specific product. I went to the CDC website. There's a lot of information there. We've been lucky, too, but also very careful.

Chlorox is now selling a hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant which they claim kills noro. I have no personal experience with the product.

 

DW and I were on the Crown Princess Noro Cruise to Nowhere (2012) :( and we used a hand gel that explicitly claimed to kill noro; I've forgotten the product name.

 

I don't know if it worked or we were just lucky b/c we didn't get sick. But then we were obsessive-compulsive about not touching rails, elevator buttons, etc.

 

Best advice is to do some Googling of your own or ask your family doc and see what you can come up - anything on an Web board is probably best taken with a grain of salt. ;)

 

Good luck!

Oh yes, that was the cruise right after ours. I hope that you've been able to book a future cruise where you can actually travel...somewhere!!

I wouldn't believe any claims made by a specific product. I went to the CDC website. There's a lot of information there. We've been lucky, too, but also very careful.

This.

I work in community health care and we recently had a presentation by our provincial public health organization. Their advice was to use hand sanitizer with over 70% alcohol and any sort of disinfectant wipes, as Noro is expected to be quite prominent in our area this year :(

Best advice? Use hand sanitizer and wash hands when visibly dirty.

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Chlorox is now selling a hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant which they claim kills noro. I have no personal experience with the product.

 

DW and I were on the Crown Princess Noro Cruise to Nowhere (2012) :( and we used a hand gel that explicitly claimed to kill noro; I've forgotten the product name.

 

I don't know if it worked or we were just lucky b/c we didn't get sick. But then we were obsessive-compulsive about not touching rails, elevator buttons, etc.

 

Best advice is to do some Googling of your own or ask your family doc and see what you can come up - anything on an Web board is probably best taken with a grain of salt. ;)

 

Good luck!

I think I found it:

http://www.amazon.com/Clorox-Healthcare-Hydrogen-Peroxide-Disinfectant/dp/B00BFFGJ6S

What can one do about elevator buttons or stair rails?

What can one do about elevator buttons or stair rails?

If you really need the stair rails, wash your hands immediately after using it. The elevator button, try your elbow!:)