Bounce houses, like games, are fun and children love them!
They’re often found at carnivals but parents can also rent them for birthday parties. Companies that rent bounce houses have a moral obligation to ensure the safety of their products. However, that isn’t always the case.
For Brenda Sanderson she discovered this in the worst possible way when her 10-year-old son started to develop blisters all over his body. That’s when she rushed her son to the doctor’s office. At the office, the doctor asked about her son’s recent activities:
When the doctor heard her son had been in a bounce house, she knew it was a staph infection, caused by unseen bacteria on the plastic surface.
The doctor told her “It is like a wrestling mat. Staph infections come from a gym or something that’s not being washed or cleansed properly will start to create a bacteria.”
Staph infection is caused by germs that can become fatal if left untreated, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The National Institutes of Health recommends washing hands or showering immediately after outdoor activities, and closely watching any areas of broken skin to prevent staph infections. If a sore develops, and especially if it starts oozing, see a medical provider right away.
https://youtu.be/rgy5M-DRBJY
Boston’s Fox 25 reports:
Doctor Ari Cohen, Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Mass General Hospital said if the bouncy house is not clean, any open cut would be a risk, “Anytime you break the skin you’re at risk of some sort of skin infection. Staph being the most common and the most talked about. That in and of itself as long as long as you wash up any wound after you get it that should minimize the chance of getting significant infections.”
Here are a few ways to keep rental bounce houses clean:
- Clean inflatables immediately after or just prior to use
- Vacuum and remove all the big debris (grass, leaves, dirt)
- Wipe the bouncy house out with a mild cleaner or a multipurpose product that cleans and sanitizes at the same time
- Wash and clean from the back wall to the front door
- Wash the front step and other outside surfaces.