Summer is soon coming to an end, which means that the cold and flu season is not far off. Around my house I have six daycare children who come to my home before and after school. My husband had a bad case of influenza last winter, and he was almost as bad as the kids when it comes to putting his used tissues in the garbage. Every morning when I’d make the bed, there were wadded up tissues sitting on the headboard. I don’t like picking up used tissues!! But at least these Kleexex tissues, with anti-viral properties built in, makes me feel a little better about having to handle other people’s waste.
Product Description
I have seen this tissue in both the standard boxes (the family pack), the small upright boxes, and the pocket packs. The family pack holds 112 tissues while the upright box contains 75.
These tissues are 3-ply, because the center layer is what kleenex calls moisture-activated. They claim that this kills 99.9% of cold and flu viruses (within 15 minutes). They do not make any claims to the products ability to kill bacteria or other viruses. What is does claim to kill is:
* Rhinoviruses Type 1A and 2 (common cold virus)
* Influenza B (flu virus)
* Respiratory Syncytial Virus (lower respiratory infection in children).
While they are the size of most facial tissues, they look a bit different because they have small blue dots all over the middle layer. I actually like this design, because when I see one laying around I can immediately tell if it is a normal tissue or an anti-viral tissue.
Ingredients
Citric acid 7.51%, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate 2.02%, Inert Ingredients 90.47%.
My Experience
While I don’t buy these regularly, they certainly are in our home during the cold and flu season. Even though Kleenex claims these tissues are soft, I don’t think they are quite as soft as the tissues that contain lotion. They aren’t harsh by any means, it’s just that I have felt softer tissues. Although, to be fair, most tissues will make my nose sore if I have to blow it often enough!
While I certainly take the precautions of washing my hands and cleaning with products that kill germs, using these anti-viral tissues makes me feel better about not spreading cold and flu germs around. And last winter I managed to stay healthy when others around me were sick.
I wish these would have been available 20 years ago when my daughter was small and I had a house full of little ones in my daycare! In fact, Kimberly-Clark didn’t come up with this idea until 2004. Their main reason for making an anti-viral tissue was because research showed that 74% of all consumers would use a tissue and stick it back in their pocket for re-use later.
Both citric acid and sodium lauryl sulfate are minimum risk pesticides, so Kilberly Clark had to get EPA approval to use them, and the company also had to go back to using the blue dye that they had previously abandoned for environmental reasons.
Kimberly Clark has found a winner as far as the consumer is concerned, sales of their anti-vitral tissues have totaled $140 million globally.
I always buy Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissues during the cold and flu season. If they save us one cold or one case of the flu, they are well worth the cost!
