It's going around! Cleaning to reduce coughs & colds.

We shouldn't be surprised. It's October now. The beginning of Q4 for those with a business approach. There is a chill in the air and it all goes dark before eight o'clock. The smell of wood smoke from burning stoves is becoming ever more common as Malvern begins to hunker down in preparation for Lady Winter.

And with it come the colds. The bleary eyes, the red noses polished raw by the application of unending tissues, the leaden voice that issues forth from a graven faced carrier who stumbles about with numb limbs. The sniffles in a crowded pub that has become the leper's bell. And no doubt Lemsip sales have gone up.

I have a few clients who have been struck down by the ailment, and I wondered what advice would be best to give from a professional whose task is often to commit germ genocide.

Perhaps the most basic recommendation would be to clean everything that people might share. Such as phone handsets, computer keyboards, TV remotes, door handles and light switches etc. If there are children in the property then be sure to focus on items lower down, such as low cupboards and draws. Mobile phones should be a special priority too (according to one source, that eminent distributor of scientific information and always galvanised by unerring editorial rigor, The Daily Mail, mobile phones contain 18 times more bacteria than a flush handle in a men's toilet!)

To paraphrase Jaws: "I think we're going to need a stronger Lemsip!"