In light of the recent spreading of the bird flu virus to an island near Sweden and Germany, this little tidbit may be especially helpful. In order to prevent the spreading of bird flu, the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture is reccomending that anyone who has traveled to an area where infection has been present use something very Finnish to disinfect their clothes: the sauna. According to the ministry expert,
putting your clothes in the sauna at 70 C for 3 hours is enough to kill the virus but sterilize your clothes. As there are over 2 million saunas in Finland, access is not a problem.
The government urged travelers returning from places in southeastern Asia, where the virus has claimed 61 lives, and Russia, where numerous poultry farms have been infected, to disinfect their clothing, shoes and luggage in a sauna.
"This is very efficient way of destroying the virus, which cannot survive high temperatures. For clothes, you need 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit) for three hours," Kiviruusu said.
This method is mentioned as the preferred alternative to burning.
In light of the recent spreading of the bird flu virus to an island near Sweden and Germany, this little tidbit may be especially helpful. In order to prevent the spreading of bird flu, the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture is reccomending that anyone who has traveled to an area where infection has been present use something very Finnish to disinfect their clothes: the sauna. According to the ministry expert, putting your clothes in the sauna at 70 C for 3 hours is enough to kill the virus but sterilize your clothes. As there are over 2 million saunas in Finland, access is not a problem.
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