Tips for a germ and disease-free home

MANILA, Philippines – The cooler weather comes with a price. It also heralds flash floods, swarms of mosquitoes and flies and water puddles, which can give rise to rainy day illnesses.

Here are savvy tips to keep your homes clean and safe during the rainy season:

Check the roof, ceiling, pipes and windows for cracks and leaks. The water and moisture seeping in are conducive to molds and bacterial growth. Apply cement or waterproof coating to fill in gaps. Or seek professional help.

 Throw away stagnant water, put lids on water containers, and check areas where water may pool. These are breeding places for mosquitoes that may cause dengue.

Throw away old bottles, metal scraps, cartons and other kinds of junk piling up in your house. Mosquitoes can settle anywhere — even in a pile of untouched dirty laundry.

Do preventive cleaning when the sun is up. Clean the whole house from the ceiling, walls to the floors including kitchen counters, bathroom tiles, furniture, all windows and doors.

For frequently touched surfaces such bathroom and kitchen surfaces, children’s toys, computer, telephone, stair banister and doorknobs, use a tough cleaning product like Clorox Disinfecting Wipes that can sanitize and disinfect as well. It can help reduce the spread of disease-causing germs around the house. Its pre-moistened honeycombed-textured wipes can kill 99.9 percent of germs including viruses responsible for colds and flu and common bacteria like staphylococcus aureus (can cause pneumonia and meningitis), salmonella and E. coli.

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes are available in leading supermarkets nationwide.