Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza

B5. Infection control for children

It will be challenging to teach very young children cough etiquette and other hygiene measures. They may not tolerate wearing a mask and it might not be feasible or reasonable to expect them to wear one. Other measures such as social distancing and general hygiene may have to be employed.

Parents should teach their children how to:

• wash hands
• cover coughs and sneezes.

Explaining to children beforehand that it will be important to keep away the germs can provide a base to engage them in cough etiquette or other hygiene measures such as hand washing. For younger children, pictures showing what to do would be helpful, as can strategies that make this into a ritual game or fun.

You may need to be extra diligent with cleaning toys and surfaces in the home.

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This information is current for 03 September, 2010
This information was issued on 05 December, 2008