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A new facial tissue is coming out just in time for the winter cold and flu season. It's Anti-Viral Kleenex.
If you're already sick, these tissues are not going to help you. Their goal is to help protect others from your germs.
The manufacturer claims this new anti-viral tissue kills 99.9 percent of cold and flu viruses.
Dr. Jeff Goudreau/ Medical Specialist: "With viruses, they're just bad actors, and we just need to get rid of them. So something like this is kinda exciting."
The new tissue is made up of three layers. The middle layer contains two active ingredients: citric acid and sodium lauryl sulfate.
Citric acid is used to flavor soft drinks or as a cleaning agent. Sodium lauryl sulfate is uded in shampoos, toothpastes, and mouth washes as a detergent.
So when you sneeze or cough, and use this product, here's how it's supposed to work: When moisture from the cough or sneeze hits the middle layer, this formula kicks in, and starts killing viruses within fifteen minutes.
David Dickson/ Kimberly-Clark: "So if you've left a tissue on the floor, like many people do when they're sick or in a classroom, those viruses will be trapped inside and that's how they're killed."
But do they work?
Kimberly Clark says the company has done numerous clinical studies proving they do, but the company could not provide us with the studies today.
My opinion-- It's an intriguing idea, but I haven't seen any head to head comparisons with traditional Kleenex.
If you've got a cold and you cough or sneeze, a plume of droplets spreads out three to five feet on average.
That's why using a tissue or covering your mouth and nose can help cut down on transmission. But handwashing is key -- we touch our face 200 times a day. That means giving germs easy access.
And frankly, you get more bang for your buck when you handwash. It also protects you against oral-fecal contaminations, something this product can't do.
Antibacterial products are lucrative. People love them. But is there a danger to all this cleanliness?
There is evidence that our quest to be too clean may be contributing to the increase in asthma among children.
It's natural and healthy to be exposed to viruses early on in life. It fine tunes a child's developing immune system.
