BEIJING — China’s health ministry ordered accurate reporting of the spread of H1N1 influenza and threatened to punish officials who conceal cases of the virus after a prominent medical expert raised doubts about the true number of deaths reported to date.

In a statement posted late Thursday on the Ministry of Health’s Web site, spokesman Deng Haihua reiterated the need for local health departments to ensure timely reporting of H1N1 cases, and welcomed the media and the public to supervise and discuss the ministry’s work in fighting H1N1. Mr. Deng said that concealment, underreporting, or delays in transmitting information about the spread of the illness would be subject to punishment.

Earlier Thursday, state-run media in the southern province of Guangdong reported that Dr. Zhong Nanshan had voiced suspicions about the low number of reported fatalities from H1N1. Dr. Zhong, director of the Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Guangzhou, is best known for speaking out in 2003 against official reports that initially covered up the extent of the SARS epidemic.

“I basically don’t believe the current reported number of nationwide H1N1 deaths,” he was quoted as saying by the Guangzhou Daily. Dr. Zhong said he believed that some regions had concealed reports of H1N1 deaths to create the impression that they had been successful in their local prevention efforts, according to the report.

Since mainland China reported its first H1N1 death in early October, there have been only 53 deaths reported out of nearly 70,000 confirmed cases. According to the World Health Organization, the world-wide mortality rate for H1N1 has been four deaths per 1,000 cases of illness, a ratio that was repeated by China’s Ministry of Health when it warned of the threat posed by H1N1 a few weeks ago. ( source )

While they have not, to our knowledge, found any cases of H1N1 traveling from person to person via drinking water, that does not mean anyone should let their guard down when it comes to water quality testing or purification. Diligent use of available water testing and water disinfecting methods may not play an active role in stopping the spread of the H1N1 virus, that we know of right now, but it can help prevent a whole host of other illnesses.

One place where proper use of sanitizing and disinfecting REALLY matters… childcare facilities and daycare centers. Children know nothing about how germs and bacteria spread and often leave mucous, saliva or other bodily secretions on commonly touched surfaces such as toys, doorknobs, furniture, etc. They mean no harm and don’t do things like that intentionally, but it happens.

For that reason health officials suggest, and have mandated in some states, that operators of childcare and daycare centers have their staff check the chlorine levels in their sanitizing and disinfecting solutions daily. Think of it this way: What good would it do to wipe down a contaminated surface with a cleaning solution incapable of properly disinfecting or sanitizing?

Simple: Viruses like influenza can spread when one person sneezes and coughs their nasal discharge and/or saliva (gross!) lands on a surface that other people touch. The germs will then travel to whatever surfaces those people touch… including their own food, eyes, mouth, etc.

Proper use of sanitizing and disinfecting solutions on a regular basis helps to reduce the number of germs hanging out on surfaces and thus reduces the likelihood of people unknowingly picking up germs and accidentally infecting themselves or others with an illness.

Is chlorine bleach an effective sanitizer/disinfectant?

In most cases, yes. Chlorine bleach works quite well as a germ-killing agent on surfaces and as a matter of fact, many states require childcare facilities to use dilute bleach solutions to clean changing table surfaces and other areas where human waste, a known haven for harmful germs and bacteria, may (inadvertantly) come into contact with surfaces.

As an example, North Carolina requires childcare workers to wipe down a changing area with a disinfecting bleach solution containing between 500 and 800 parts per million free chlorine after they change each child’s diaper. How do they verify that they have the proper concentration of free chlorine in their disinfecting bleach solution? They test with a product such as the Free Chlorine Water Check Ultra High II test strip.

Perhaps ahead of its time, North Carolina REQUIRES childcare facilities to test the free chlorine levels eachtime thet make new batches of disinfecting solutions (for wiping down bathrooms, changing areas) AND sanitizing solutions (for wiping down tables, chairs, doorknobs, toys, etc.). Making sure each solution contains the proper free chlorine levels before use goes a long way to help prevent the spread of germs, bacteria and illnesses.

Sanitizing: 50 – 200ppm Free Chlorine | Disinfecting: 500 – 800ppm Free Chlorine

So what have we learned? Testing the free chlorine levels in cleaning solutions helps to ensure that cleaning efforts accomplish the goal of properly sanitizing and disinfecting surfaces where children and adults can easily pick up germs capable of infecting someone with the common cold, the ‘traditional’ flu, or worse yet, a case of Swine Flu.

Keeping the facilities clean during the flu season is also a consideration, both Shafer and Baeuchle said.

“We regularly sanitize all the toys. After a child has a toy in their mouth, it has to be sanitized,” Shafer said. “We sanitize the tables and chairs on a regular basis in the classrooms.”

Baeuchle said she is asking the school custodians to pay special attention to high frequency areas like water fountains and doorknobs. ( source )

Interested in testing the concentration of chlorine bleach sanitizing and disinfecting solutions? You can pick up a Childcare/Daycare Kit which includes (3) bottles of North Carolina Licensed Child Care Association approved test strips (total of 300 tests!), quarter cup and tablespoon measuring devices (for proper on-site metering of the bleach), and a copy of the procedures North Carolina wants child care workers to follow when mixing their sanitizing and disinfection solutions.

RALEIGH, NC – A day care worker was arrested Wednesday night and accused of leaving a 1-year-old in bleach.

Shannon Rae Duncan Carter, 27, of 4220 Hunnicutt Drive was charged by Raleigh police with a misdemeanor count of child abuse.

Carter was working at the Beacon Christian School at 3933 New Bern Ave. on April 20 when she was changing a 1-year-old girl, said Jim Sughrue, spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department.

The changing table had a bleach mixture on it, and the infant’s clothes became damp with the bleach, Sughrue said.

Police think Carter left the clothes on the child. The baby’s parents noticed that the color had seeped out of the clothes and the bleach caused a minor irritation on the baby’s arm. Carter declined to comment when reached Thursday evening.

Source: Story obtained from North Carolina Licensed Child Care Association web site on April 16, 2008

Why Did We Post This?

This tragic event should NEVER have happened. If workers at that facililty had followed the guidelines set forth by the North Carolina. . .

“As of January 1, 2006, all daycare centers in the State of North Carolina must have the ability to test the chlorine content in both their sanitizing and disinfecting solutions. Previously the law stated that they had to test only the chlorine concentration in their sanitizing solutions.” — simplyfrogg.com/water-quality

That child would not have gotten injured in the way it did if the workers had properly monitored chlorine levels in their cleaning solution(s) with a simple, inexpensive and easy-to-use test like the Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strip.

Approved by the NCLCCA for use in child care facilities in North Carolina, the Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strip quickly and accurately tells users the amount of chlorine in parts per million (ppm) their cleaning solutions contain in just over 1 minute.

Aside from helping to protect children and child care workers from accidental exposure to dangerous levels of chlorine in wash/cleaning solutions, the Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strip makes things more convenient by having the ability to check chlorine concentrations in both sanitizing AND disinfecting solutions.

Chlorine concentrations in disinfecting solutions have to fall between 500 ppm and 800 ppm free chlorine and the test strips previously used by child care and daycare facilities only had to read free chlorine concentrations in the range of 50 ppm free chlorine to 200 ppm free chlorine.

The daycare/childcare kit containing Free Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strips directly satisfies the requirements and you can now purchase the product online at FilterWater.Com.

Waterworks(TM) Free Chlorine Check Ultra High II from has an easy-to-read color chart with acceptable chlorine concentration levels and instructions for mixing BOTH chlorine solutions clearly marked on each bottle.

To make life even easier on daycare and child care center operators, they can pick up a Childcare/Daycare Kit which includes (3) bottles of their North Carolina Licensed Child Care Association approved test strips, quarter cup and tablespoon measuring devices (for proper on-site metering of the bleach), and a copy of the procedures North Carolina wants child care workers to follow when mixing their sanitizing and disinfection solutions.

You can purchase the Childcare Sanitizer/Disinfectant Test Kit online at FilterWater.Com.