Q: Disinfecting iPad?

You could research how to manage hygiene. Coughing over anything & handing it to another person is not good for infection management. Catch any pathogens in a tissue & dispose of it where others won't come into contact with it.

Common colds are not normally caused by bacteria, most are caused by viruses. The virus load is normally at a peak in the early stages of an infection, so you are often most infectious in the hours before many symptoms show up. Symptoms are the bodies response to the infection.

You cannot 'kill' a virus because it is not 'alive', they do get broken down when outside of a host, so it really depends on the virus.

Bacteria can live outside a host & multiply if it has the right conditions.

We actually contain more microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi etc) than human cells, so worrying about it is practically pointless. You should take extra precautions if you are around immune compromised people, but practicing safe hand washing & hygiene will help generally.

Just consider that anything you touch or even breath upon can be a carrier, the body sheds a lot of microscopic particles, all day long. Your iPad is one of how many items you touched today? For what it's worth infection rates didn't suddenly increase when we all got mobile devices.

As to getting reinfected, your body will have antibodies for that virus, so it should be able to detect it & respond to it. The main problem is that viruses are constantly evolving so you may get a new strain that has a different signature.

See a doctor if you are concerned, however viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics, so there is little that can be done for a cold. Viruses can lead to a bacterial infection, so if it lingers see a doctor. If you are in an 'at risk' group you may get a flu vaccine, but that is only a best guess at what viruses will be around in the next year.

wetting an iPad with water will damage it.

Indeed: Only use a damp cloth (water) to clean the iPad.

LexSchellings wrote:

 

Aditya: we are in my vacation home with a lot of children between 3 and 11 years old, about half of them have the most horrible running noses and coughs like all children. They all swim in the same pool and all of them are using the available ipads (10).

Lex,

Isn't that pool using chlorine?

Chlorinated swimming pools are 'antimicrobial pesticide dips' for kids . They may come out cleaner than they went in.

Aditya_S11, read this basic description on how the common cold is transmitted…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold#Transmission

It really isn't something to worry about, everybody gets a cold at some point. Wash your hands & encourage others to do so too.

Hello Drew, the iPads are not used IN de pool ; but a lot  all day when not in the pool and they switch the iPads all day.

No it is something with a lamp and so, thus Ozone I guess, but every pool is either Chlorine or Ozone, thus indeed the kids may be desinfected several times a day. Only when they swim in our lake (a lot of carps and so on) I do not have a hand in any desinfection

I hope Aditya gets rid of her overfear for infections.

Lex