Win the war on food-borne bugs in 20 seconds

Call Homeland Security—there’s an invasion on restaurants and kitchens everywhere. We’re talking about bugs. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites…the ones you savor during mealtime then pay a big price for later. These microorganisms would just love to ruin your day with a good case of accelerated peristalsis, forward or reverse (you know it as vomit, upchuck, puke and the Aztec two-step, Montezuma’s revenge, or the Greek’s own diarrhea). Don’t let them win. Declare war on these bugs.

The culprits have many names, so we’ll just refer to them collectively as food-borne illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year roughly one in six Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of food-borne illnesses each year. While outbreaks of this and that get a lot of attention and spur concerns over food processing and food imports, the reality is that as much as 70 percent of food poisoning cases originate in the kitchen.

That’s right—people, not products, are the main cause of food-borne illnesses—and they can be avoided by following some basic principles of food safety. That’s where we come in. The CDC says the first line of defense to protect against food-borne illness is to wash your hands the correct way: 20 seconds with soap and running water. And be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Most people don’t wash their hands right but winning this war means that changes.

We’re a longtime partner with the Handwashing for Life® to advocate and teach correct hand washing techniques. You can buy a DVD that demonstrates the why, when and how of good handwashing practice to motivate your employees and more. Of course you can use our products to check that you’ve washed correctly, too. Ready to fight the invasion of food-borne bugs? Reach for the soap and water and leave the anti-diarrheal medication on the shelf.

The fickle finger of fate at the Treaty of Versailles

The Big Four
The Big Four at the Treaty of Versailles, photo courtesy of Wikipedia

This is the second post of a two-part article on The Great Influenza’s impact on World War II:

The war ended with an armistice on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 (who said generals don’t have a sense of humor?) In spring of 1919 the allies gathered to hammer out a peace agreement with “The Big Four” (or Council of Four) in attendance: David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau (“The Tiger”) of France, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, and Woodrow Wilson of the US. Wilson was for treating Germany kindly and allowing it to recover its place among the community of nations.

But not Clemenceau. Now aged 77, “The Tiger” wanted to destroy and humiliate Germany so that it could never again be a threat to France. Wilson fought back and was so disgusted with Clemenceau that on occasion he threatened to leave the peace talks altogether.

But then the fickle finger of fate in the form of flu touched Wilson. He recovered sufficiently to continue with the peace conference, but he was but a mere shadow of his former self. He quickly acquiesced to Clemenceau. Germany was forced to accept the humiliating Versailles Treaty with its demands for huge reparations.

Germany sank into a severe depression. When Hitler showed how it would be possible to rebuild Germany’s economy and military, the German public enthusiastically looked upon him as their savior. And when Germany overran France in 1940, Hitler rubbed France’s nose in it by forcing the French to sign the surrender document in the same railway car in which Germany had been forced to sign the 1918 armistice agreement. But what was the explanation for the mental collapse of Woodrow Wilson? One of the sequelae of influenza is mental illness or deterioration (and in some cases even schizophrenia). This combined with pre-existing cerebral arteriosclerosis did the trick. Wilson’s will to fight Clemenceau disappeared. His brain was incapacitated. Wilson had a severe stroke only four months later and he never recovered.

Once again the 1935 wisdom of Hans Zinnser (American physician, bacteriologist, and prolific author) that the history of humanity is more often determined by microbes than by men is shown to be on the mark.

The rise of Hitler & World War II: The impact of The Great Influenza

The Great Influenza by John M. Barry

The story of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic is fascinating on its own terms and is superbly recounted by John M. Barry in his book, “The Great Influenza.” But did you know that this flu was the direct cause of the rise of Adolph Hitler and World War II? Here’s the story.

The virus itself was probably circulating before 1918, most notably in Etaples, France in 1916. Be that as it may, the pandemic itself was enhanced by the congregation of vast numbers of immunologically naive young men in camps such as Fort Riley, Kansas, its site of first appearance in the U.S., and then spread by them as they were deployed to Europe. Somewhere in its migration from birds to pigs to humans, the influenza virus (H1N1) most likely mutated to its ultimate virulent form. Regardless, there were three waves of infection: In the spring of 1918, the fall of 1918 and again in the spring of 1919.

Why this flu pandemic preferentially targeted young people is still debated. One suggestion is that prior epidemics of flu were immunologically similar enough that older citizens still had some residual resistance. The other obvious suggestion is that forcing large numbers of immunologically naive young men into close proximity in military camps was an ideal scenario for rapid spread. If it started in France or in Kansas, why was it known as “The Spanish Influenza”? Seems the Spanish press was uncensored at the time since Spain was not a participant in the World War. Therefore most of the news was printed in Spanish newspapers and it became “The Spanish Flu.”