Disease Prevention Strategies


When winter hits in Japan, we start getting a lot of cases of influenza and stomach flu. The patients and staff at the hospital where I work are no exception. Today, I’d like to present a few preventative measures to take against viruses like these.

1. Extensive hand washing

Hand washing is simply the most effective method that there is. They say you should wash your hands for 30 seconds each time. A lot of people forget their fingertips and the area around their thumbs, so be careful.

Aside from hand washing that relies on soap, one may also opt for antiseptic alcohol. In a hospital, there is antiseptic alcohol all over the place, so it’s quite easy to wash your hands when entering and exiting patient rooms or moving into other areas. Using this method is said to be at least as effective as washing with soap and water, if not more so.

However, antiseptic alcohol does not kill the stomach flu. So, there’s no way to avoid thorough hand washing with soap and water if one wishes to prevent this virus.

2. Maintenance of indoor humidity

Viruses are able to drift more efficiently through dry air, so it’s very important to manage the indoor humidity level. As a rule of thumb, you should maintain at least 40% humidity, and 50-60 percent if possible. In Japan, the humidity level during winter is often as low as 20-30%. Be sure to remember this and humidify your air, but also remember that when the temperature drops, the amount of water in the air also drops. An indoor temperature of 20-25 degrees celsius will ensure that this doesn’t happen.

3. Breathing masks

Masks are distributed daily to all hospital workers from novermber to march. We receive two masks a day – one for the morning and one for the afternoon. It’s unknown to what extent these masks are effective at preventing illness, but I do think that they are fairly effective at preventing disease transmission from aerosol sources such as saliva droplets in the air.

There are many other methods besides these for the prevention or mitigation of disease transmission, but that’s all for today.

As for what you can do at home, extensive hand washing would be the best place to start.
If you can afford it, investing in a humidifier for your home would also be a great idea.

Let’s all take care to stay healthy this winter and avoid infection.


Umi Oda
English by Chay Schiller