Hand washing to prevent the spread of disease

There is a growing concern about the spread of diseases and the hands are a major way of transmitting diseases. Certain parts of our body are extremely susceptible to germs such as our eyes, mouth and nose. Just watch someone else and notice how often they touch their face with their hands!

There are two basic techniques for the washing of hands: 1) using standard soap and hot water to scrub and remove contaminates and 2) using alcohol hand rubs (such as Purell hand sanitizer) to decontaminate your skin.

Lotions, without antibacterial ingredients, are suggested for washing since germs may survive on bar soap for some time and be transmitted that way. There is also a concern that using antibacterial soaps may contribute to developing resistant germs (similar to the fears to the overuse of antibiotics).

While alcohol hand sanitizers reportedly do an excellent job of killing germs, they do not remove other contaminants such as dirt, food, or chemicals. If food is not removed from your hands, there is an increased risk of recontamination.

For our own safety, and the ones we love, we need to practice proper hand hygiene to help prevent the spread of diseases. The basic guideline is to use soap and water to remove “dirt” from your hands and to use alcohol hand sanitizers when there is no visible “dirt”.

For more information, please click here to see the brochure from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology