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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Lauren Gould

How to properly clean and disinfect your home after illness – expert tips to kill germs

A generic image of spray bottles against a yellow background.
You don’t need to disinfect your home all the time, but it helps when someone is sick or immuno-compromised, advises the CDC. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Recently, I suffered from a nasty bout of the flu. As I emerged from my sickness-induced haze, I made a to-do list: restock my fridge, catch up on emails and most importantly, disinfect my apartment.

There’s nothing worse than getting sick only to infect your entire household. While the flu viruses stay on hands for only five minutes, they have been found to stay contagious anywhere from a few hours to two days on hard surfaces.

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