Medical journals note that with outbreaks of viral respiratory infections, such as COVID 19, there can be an increase in bacterial co-infections, which are normally relatively harmless, but when combined with a viral infection can, unfortunately, become fatal.

There are a number of reasons as to why this happens; one of which is because respiratory viral infections may facilitate secondary bacterial infections and increase the host's immunopathology through the overproduction of cells called inflammatory cytokines, which are activated by the body when a viral infection occurs. Another way is that viruses cause so much tissue damage that they create an environment conducive for a bacterial infection to take hold.

The Lancet report in April 2020 highlighted this issue commenting that during the current coronavirus pandemic:

“50% of patients with COVID-19 who have died had secondary bacterial infections”

Whilst we focus on reducing the likelihood of contracting the coronavirus, what can we be doing to reduce an environment where exposure to bacterial infections such as MRSA, C-Diff, staphylococcus, and pneumococcus, could occur?

Cleaning

Obviously maintaining a clean and healthy environment is essential and there are a few points to consider:

• It’s important to frequently vacuum and/or clean your floors - have a regular, interim and long-term cleaning regime in place.
• What may appear clean may not be! – All types of flooring need to be cleaned efficiently to ensure bacterial loading does not occur.
• During a virus outbreak an effective periodic deep clean, combined with daily maintenance is sufficient to ensure a safe and hygienic floor.

Read more in our brief informative cleaning guide

BI-OME Antimicrobial Carpet Yarn Treatment

A number of danfloor’s carpet ranges includes a permanent and non-migrating carpet yarn treatment, which achieves a 4-log reduction of 99.99% in harmful bacteria. BI-OME is effective against a long list of bacteria, including those that cause MRSA, C-Diff, staphylococcus, and pneumococcus.

If contamination does occur the carpet yarn holds the spillage in one place, without it spreading any further. The treatment gets to work straight away, effectively electrocuting the micro-organisms and creating an environment that the bacteria can’t survive in.

BI-OME is the only protective floor treatment that gets to work on impact, achieving a 3-log reduction within the first 15 minutes and escalating to a 4-log reduction thereafter. No other natural antimicrobial feature found in some other flooring types works as fast or as effectively at BI-OME.

The ability to make surfaces and carpeting resistant to microbial contamination has many advantages, for all market segments, and helps combat the spread of bacterial infections where people live and work.

Our brief video will tell you more about the benefits of BI-OME Antimicrobial treatment.