SVs - Beware shopping carts!

**moonshadow** · 05-19-2005, 05:56 PM

Ok guys, I see there are SVs about again and I have to share this potentially helpful bit of info... Slightly graphic...

Our friends in Canada phoned us with a horror story. The household consists of Chris and Linda, Linda's grown-up daughter Deb, and Deb's two year oldson.Well, the kidcaught a SV, with what Chris described as 'volcanic barfing from both ends'- and was in hospitalfor 3 daysas he had pneumonia as well - and the adults all got it too. Deb pretty ill, the others only a bit ill - I didn't ask for details! (So far, so horrible - ugh, don't they know to wash hands and disinfect surfaces - but of course they would all have been handling the poor little boy directly. I am only not freaking out because they are 3500 miles away! [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img])

Anyway, what's interesting is this. Chris asked the emerg nurses where the little boy could have caught it from. They replied that the likely source was not shared toys, butSHOPPING CARTS! They (or a health team, anyway) had actually done a behaviour survey 'in the field' and observed that kids areseated in thecart and then suck on the handle, which is then touched by the next person to use it, sucked by the next kid, etc etc - they reckoned this was a possible major source of contagion.

While I don't wish to cause a mass panic about shopping carts, it might be useful in helping us and our kids to be aware and avoid catching bugs!

**kate1966** · 05-19-2005, 06:11 PM

That makes me shudder.....however i always sanitize my hands after touching a shopping cart....it's always been somthing I have done since hand sanitizer came out...and I make my kids do the same thing...then I also wash with soap when I get home.....how awful for that poor little boy and his family....sounds like a complete nightmare!!!!! Kat

**jennyleigh1975** · 05-19-2005, 06:37 PM

I hate putting my children in those shopping carts, but since I have three children, most of the time I have too, if I am out with all three. My children have, of course, leaned over and put their mouth on the cart. I imediatly get tell them no, but we all know it only takes seconds for the damage to be done. I think the the even bigger problem is people taking out their sick children and putting them in the carts to begin with!!!! Or being sick themselves and not washing their hands well and go ou shopping. Why cant people just stay home when they are sick?!?!

**shiva** · 05-19-2005, 07:47 PM

I used to carry lysol wipes with me and wipe the cart down before I would put my daughter in it. I am sure that did not kill all of them, but I also constantly discouraged her to put her mouth on things. I wonder how I would be with a baby now that my emet has gone haywire??? yikes!

**donna1216** · 05-19-2005, 09:47 PM

Logan got sick after riding in a shopping cart, it had to be that, because that store was the only place we'd been all week!! I only let my kids ride in the BASKET of the cart, unless the store provides disinfecting wipes. I registered for a shopping cart seat and handle cover on my baby registry!!

**aguerra29** · 05-19-2005, 10:09 PM

I don't have kids, but I remember seeing an invention somewhere for this very thing.

It is a washable "cover" to put in the shopping cart seat that covers all the nastiness so your child won't "suck"on it. When you get done at the store you wash it.

Don't know any other info about it, I just remembered thinking, "if I had kids I gotta get some on those"

**chibi** · 05-20-2005, 12:18 AM

Ive known shopping carts are nasty. GOD I wish people werent so
ignorant and disgusting... all it takes is washing their hands after
they wipe their butts and they wouldnt infect other people! That and
letting their kids suck on the shopping cart handles- DUH![img]smileys/smilies_11.gif[/img]

Funny off topic kinda story though- my boyfriend used to merchandise
coca cola at local grocery stores and he saw this baby hanging forward
in a cart once just drooling and drooling and when the people moved,
there was a huge puddle of drool on the floor lol pretty gross
huh?

**2jo2** · 05-20-2005, 01:11 AM

Those covers for shopping carts were discussed before, I think it was Charlotte that had one. I would totally get one if I had kids. I have a friend from work who won't even put her purse in the front part of the cart, I think her reason is babies andpoopy diapers being in there, but still if you imagine all the germs in there... yuck. I saw a sign by the baskets you carry today when I was at the store, it said something about that they use some anti bacterial something in there. I highly doubt this is true, but then I don't trust others to make my area clean (unless it was you guys!), and I ALWAYS wash my hands when I come from a public place.

**sillygirl** · 05-20-2005, 02:05 AM

All of the grocery stores where I live provide Clorox wipes for the carts. The problem is, everyone wants to use them, so they are usually out. I bought some stuff online that is proven to kill bacteris, viruses, etc - including norovirus! They make a gel (like Purell) and also a spray. SO far I just got the gel, but I think I am going to get some of the spray and use that on the carts from now on!

**jennyleigh1975** · 05-20-2005, 02:52 AM

sillygirl, you must provide us with this website where you got that gel stuff from .......... please!!!!

**texas-darlin** · 05-20-2005, 05:44 AM

How come we just can't wear latex gloves and just throw them away?

Wouldn't it be easier than spraying or using the gel stuff.

I think sometimes the spray stuff takes time to work.

I worked at a daycare once and we had to spray the tables with a
disinfectant...the directions said must be left on table 5 minutes
before wiping. Nobody ever did this!! even me

I vote for gloves

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**terified girl** · 05-20-2005, 11:08 AM

I LIVE IN CANADA AND WANT TO KNOW WHERE IN CANADA THEY LIVE??????

**sillygirl** · 05-20-2005, 03:12 PM

The website I got that stuff was www.antisepticausa.com. I think it is sold in some stores now too, but none where I live. I did find it a little cheaper at one of those virtual pharmacies, but I had already bought it from the other site.

**mitch04133** · 05-20-2005, 05:55 PM

Ooh, I just bought some. That sounds great. $15.75 with shipping, a little steep, but if it makes me feel better, I have spent $15 on a lot worse things!!

**moonshadow** · 05-23-2005, 05:48 PM

Terrified Girl - they live in Cambridge, Ont. Please don't panic - they only caught it because the little boy did first. And they would have been handling him and probably not bothering about the handwashing like emets do!! As far as I'm aware, it was spreading between children, not adults. (We are going to stay with them at Xmas again and I must admit I get a bit apprehensive about the things kids pick up and then the germs splurged all over the bathroom... I can be as careful as poss myself, but I can't control what my hubby or friends do!)

If only everyone would be aware of hygene, maybe these epidemics wouldn't get going, or be stopped in their tracks. But most people just don't seem to care!

One thing that's encouraging though, is that a health team had actually BOTHERED to research how these things spread!!

**zane2673** · 05-24-2005, 04:37 AM

My daughter got sick last year 2 days after going grocery shopping with a mild stomach virus from then on I carry a travel pack of antibacterial wipes in my pocket book and wipe down all the part of the cart she could possibly touch. You have to watch those toy cars they attach to the front of carts too. My kids beg to go in those. I must look like an idiot in the parking lot wiping thoses things down, but you got to what you have to do to stay safe.

**sheri-baby** · 05-24-2005, 04:44 AM

those antibacterial wipes do nothing in preventing sv's...they're for bacteria....i guess it's better than nothing but we need to have something we can purchase retail that has been proven to kill norwalk virus and similar sv germs

**jennyleigh1975** · 05-24-2005, 05:18 AM

If you go to the website, I think it says on there that these will kill the norwalk virus and adenovirus (sp?) virus, both of which are stomach bugs.

**sheri-baby** · 05-24-2005, 05:26 AM

are you referring to anti-bacterial wipes?...or anti-viral?...

**jennyleigh1975** · 05-24-2005, 05:28 AM

Im talking about the stuff sillygirl is talking about in her posts, not those anti-bacterial wipes someone else mentioned.

**sheri-baby** · 05-24-2005, 05:38 AM

ya, that's what i figured you meant.....i wonder if all these wipes and sanitizers are somehow making these viruses stronger?..does that make any sense?..it seems like everyone who gets sick nowadays with these sv's, get REALLY sick...i'm 36 and it was never this bad when i was younger

**jennyleigh1975** · 05-24-2005, 05:40 AM

I dont think it was this bad when I was little either. Maybe we are making things worse by trying to stay so clean and sanitary.

**mjewell** · 05-26-2005, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by chibi

Ive known shopping carts are nasty. GOD I wish people werent so ignorant and disgusting... all it takes is washing their hands after they wipe their butts and they wouldnt infect other people! That and letting their kids suck on the shopping cart handles- DUH![img]smileys/smilies_11.gif[/img]

Funny off topic kinda story though- my boyfriend used to merchandise coca cola at local grocery stores and he saw this baby hanging forward in a cart once just drooling and drooling and when the people moved, there was a huge puddle of drool on the floor lol pretty gross huh?

I seriously laughed out loud when i read this because I feel the same way you do...people are so gross and stupid! Don't you feel like people who don't think about these things are ignorant? Blissful maybe, but ignorant nonetheless. I just want to scream at gross people in public to clean up, you're disgusting!!! LOL.

**2jo2** · 05-27-2005, 02:30 AM

Originally Posted by sheri-baby

ya, that's what i figured you meant.....i wonder if all these wipes and sanitizers are somehow making these viruses stronger?..does that make any sense?..it seems like everyone who gets sick nowadays with these sv's, get REALLY sick...i'm 36 and it was never this bad when i was younger

I'm with you... I'm 30 and these things weren't like this when I was a kid. I have heard that with all the antibacterial everything they make these days: dishwashing liquid, lotion, soap, sponges, etc., that it is making germs stronger. We're not going to put germs out of existance, they just mutate to be able to survive.

**charzysbebe** · 05-27-2005, 05:21 AM

I just have to add my 2 cents to this post. [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]I, myself, have one of those cart covers, and I use it most of the time when I take my 18 month old grocery shopping. Last week I forgot to bring it with me, but the store offered disinfecting wipes for the carts. I used about 10 of them and then used my own purell and put some in my hands and wipedthe cartdown with that too. Luckily I did all that, because my son had his hands all over the cart handle, then he kept sticking his whole hand in his mouth; needless to say, he never got sick from that trip. Now if it were winter time and I had forgotten my cart cover, I would have went home and got it. Those cart covers are the best invention ever!!! They are worth the money to buy those.

I ordered from a site online. I hope they are still around, because I am going to attempt to post the link, so you all can go see these cart covers for yourselves!! I highly recommend them! My son has never gotten sick from carts, and we go shopping alot!!! Anyways, here is the link; if the site no longer exists, or I get the web address wrong...sorry....I will try something else. [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

Here goes www.coversforkids.com

Charlotte

**charzysbebe** · 05-27-2005, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by charzysbebe

I just have to add my 2 cents to this post. [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]I, myself, have one of those cart covers, and I use it most of the time when I take my 18 month old grocery shopping. Last week I forgot to bring it with me, but the store offered disinfecting wipes for the carts. I used about 10 of them and then used my own purell and put some in my hands and wipedthe cartdown with that too. Luckily I did all that, because my son had his hands all over the cart handle, then he kept sticking his whole hand in his mouth; needless to say, he never got sick from that trip. Now if it were winter time and I had forgotten my cart cover, I would have went home and got it. Those cart covers are the best invention ever!!! They are worth the money to buy those.

I ordered from a site online. I hope they are still around, because I am going to attempt to post the link, so you all can go see these cart covers for yourselves!! I highly recommend them! My son has never gotten sick from carts, and we go shopping alot!!! Anyways, here is the link; if the site no longer exists, or I get the web address wrong...sorry....I will try something else. [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

Here goes www.coversforkids.com

Charlotte

I screwed up, like I figured. THIS IS THE ONE I GOT MINE FROM...SORRY FOR THE SCREW UP! LOL!!! http://www.covers4kids.com/

Charlotte

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