Posted on the 21st June 2011 in SaniPost

Down in the Train, the Germs' Domain

Occupational health and safety specialist Robyn Gershon, DrPh, gets the train to work at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

Gershon didn't start out looking at germs. She got interested in subways when she heard reports of hearing loss among transit workers. While studying the issue, she decided to look at other subway health issues. What she found was ... not much. It turns out there's very little scientific information on infectious disease in the subways.

"Subway systis are big public-use spaces" Gershon states "There are 14 big U.S. subway systis and millions and millions of riders. For any number of reasons, there are health hazards. But there is this huge volume of people, and we are not studying it."

When Gershon turned her attention to infectious disease spread on subway systis, she found "not one scientific paper at all."

"You can imagine because of all the surfaces, all kinds of organisms can be transmitted from the hand rails, the head rests, the seats" she says. "It is almost inevitable disease transmission has happened, but it is hard to prove."

Meanwhile, Gershon is taking precautions.

"After riding the subway, I never put anything in my mouth without washing my hands" she says. "I don't touch a thing in my office without going to the sink. The rails and everything are loaded with pathogens. Hand washing is a simple thing, and it is the only thing you can do. I have seen a couple of people wearing face masks, but I wouldn't go that far. Clearly data are needed."

Posted on the 15th June 2011 in SaniPost

Snakes On a Train

Sankes on a train That's right, I did say a train NOT a plane!!!

Jan 2011, Melisa Moorehouse lost her 3 foot snake (Penelope) on a train to Boston, USA. Due to this incident, Moorehouse received a cleaning bill of 650 dollars from the Boston Red Line train company.

Snakes have been known to spread salmonella bacteria, hence the train had to be disinfected and sanitized. Passengers on the train raised concern about the health risks and diseases that may have spread from coming in contact with the lost snake.

People become ill by contracting salmonella.

While incidents like having a lost snake on a train are rare, it’s good that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is making sure that their trains are properly disinfected after coming in contact with an animal caring a disease.

It’s important to sanitise our hands!! Using SaniPost will kill 99% of germs and since you can’t always know what entered the room and what bacteria might be there as a result, better to be safe!

Posted on the 4th June 2011 in SaniPost

SaniPost Kills Ecoli

The Health Protection Agency has announced four more cases of E. coli infection in the UK linked to the outbreak in Germany.

It brings the total number of British cases to 11, with all those affected having recently travelled to Germany.

The HPA said there was no evidence of it being passed from person to person in the UK.

British farmers are concerned that the E. coli outbreak in Europe will drive down prices for local producers.

Britain's Health Protection Agency continues to advise that people travelling to Germany should not eat raw cucumber, lettuce or tomatoes and that they should seek medical advice if they have bloody diarrhoea.

Three patients in the UK have developed the potentially fatal complication in the blood and kidneys known as haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Eight have bloody diarrhoea.

While there have not been any cases of person to person transmission, the HPA said maintaining good hand hygiene was very important.

There have been 1,213 cases in Germany of bloody diarrhoea and 520 cases of haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS), which affects the kidneys and can be fatal.

Some British supermarkets have already noticed a slight decrease in fruit and vegetable sales.

'Behaving sensibly'

Sarah Pettitt, the National Farmers' Union horticulture and potatoes board chairman, said the NFU had spoken to all of Britain's major retailers to seek assurances that they were backing British growers and paying an appropriate price for their product.

"So far, I'm extremely encouraged to hear that the major supermarkets are behaving sensibly when it comes to price, and are not using this unfortunate situation as an excuse to drop prices to British growers.

"Cucumbers are a high-cost crop to produce and rising input costs have meant reduced margins for growers in recent years," she said.

Derek Hargreaves of Britain's Cucumber Growers' Association told the BBC on Thursday that he feared the outbreak would affect British producers if the source of the E. coli remained unknown.

"If this keeps rolling on and the Germans don't find the source of the outbreak, then obviously people are going to say 'well, there's no point in listening to experts, they've all got it wrong,' people will stop buying the salads."

Small sales drop

Supermarket chain Morrisons said it had noticed a "small drop in sales of salad items". A spokeswoman said its stores did not stock any fresh salad supplies from Germany.

Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose said their sales of fruit and vegetables had so far been unaffected by the outbreak.

The Co-operative Group said it was too early to say if the outbreak had affected sales figures "given the relatively poor weather over the past week compared to the same period last year".

A spokesman from Sainsburys said the supermarket chain was unable to give out information on its sales figures.

The company was "working closely with the FSA [Food Standards Agency] and following their guidance," he said.

Spanish fruit and vegetable exporters estimate they are losing 200m euros ($290m; £177m) a week in sales after Germany's initial claim that the outbreak had probably originated with Spanish cucumbers.

No evidence of this has been found and the source of the toxic bacteria is still unknown.

Original story taken from BBC News

Posted on the 3rd June 2011 in SaniPost

Morecrofts Solicitors Campaign

Morecrofts Solicitors is one of Liverpool’s oldest and most respected businesses. With a history dating back to 1813 the firm has grown with the city itself. Employing over 80 staff and offering a full legal support service from four Merseyside offices located in Liverpool City Centre, Crosby, Woolton and Birkenhead.

The company wanted to raise brand awareness whilst advertising their family law services including mediation, divorce, ancillary relief, and childcare.

Walk Media was provided with a bold, vibrant graphic look to convey the law firm’s branding. With these compelling graphics Walk Media developed a full livery SaniPost NHS advertising campaign designed to increase name recognition and image among Moorcroft’s peers and potential clients.

Posted on the 26th May 2011 in SaniPost

Walk Media Welcomes Kerry

The Walk Media SaniPost sales team welcomes Kerry, who will be covering Liverpool and surrounding areas.

Kerry has a love for dancing having danced in various shows and concerts behind well known recording artists in the UK and Europe before settling back in her home town of Liverpool.

She brings with her several years of sales experience having also worked for Boss, British Telecom and Royal Sun Alliance.

Anna Woodhams, Sales Director at Walk Media is delighted that Kerry has joined them, commenting:

"We pride ourselves on having high calibre, energetic people on our sales team and appreciate that they don’t come along often. Kerry demonstrated both a passion for sales combined with knowledge and experience within the entertainment industry having performed on stage in front of thousands of music lovers. I am convinced she will become one of our shining stars alongside the rest of the Walk Media sales team"

We wish Kerry and the SaniPost Sales team a fantastic year.