Hand sanitizers were originally designed to help those in hospitals and health care settings who work in relatively clean places and frequently wash their hands. Sanitizers do not work well on dirty hands. In fact, the longer it has been since someone has washed their hands, the less effective a hand sanitizer is likely to be.
Although they are generally very effective at killing bacteria, and preventing the spread of bacterial and viral- based diseases like the flu, they do not remove dirt or feces from the hands. So using a sanitizer instead of washing your hands after going to the bathroom, well that’s just gross.
This is especially important to consider in places like day cares and schools, where dirt and remnants of feces can be common among the little inhabitants that play there. Day care workers should teach youngsters to correctly wash their hands, especially after using the bathroom, as this is a skill that needs to become a lifelong habit. Then sanitizers can also be used during the day as a helpful aid in keeping other germs from spreading.
The same principle rings true in the kitchen as alcohol, used in most sanitizers does not work as well against the norovirus also called E.coli. So washing hands correctly before preparing and eating food is another must.
Most respectable health professionals will tell you that hand washing with ordinary soap and water is the most effective way to remove germs from your hands. But in order to be effective, it must be done correctly.
Lathering up, not just spreading the soap around, for a full 20 seconds is best. That is about how long it takes most people to sing the ABC song, (although singing that in a public restroom might cause you to speed it up a bit). Be sure to get between the fingers and as far as you can under the nails. Make it a family law to wash hands first thing whenever anyone comes home from anywhere.
Ironically, antibacterial soaps are probably the worst thing you can use to kill germs. Again, the range of effectiveness of these products varies greatly and many do not kill all of the bacteria on the hands. This may lead to bad bacteria building up and developing a resistance.
So do not rely on the soap to kill all the germs, instead concentrate on getting them to release from your skin and flow down the drain. After all, we don’t have to kill everything to prevent ourselves from becoming sick. We just need to keep the little critters off of our hands and out of our bodies.
Now that everyone is washing their hands again, it can be helpful to use a sanitizer in places where germs spread easily like offices, stores, cars and busses, etc. Hand sanitizers have shown to be effective in reducing gastrointestinal illness in homes, curbing absentee rates in elementary schools, and in reducing illness in university dormitories.
The CDC and the FDA recommend that alcohol based sanitizers are at least 60 to 95 percent ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol) or isopropanol to be the greatest at germicidal efficacy, (killing germs). Alcohol is so good at killing germs that it is not very likely they will build up a resistance to it. If you can’t tolerate alcohol, there are some non-alcohol sanitizers out there, but you will have to do some research to check their effectiveness.
Some products with less than 60% alcohol may claim to kill 99.9% of germs, but those studies are usually done on surfaces like countertops in a lab, not on real people’s hands. Studies reported by the FDA have found that some of these products are not as effective in real-life situations those containing at least 60% alcohol. Unfortunately, these are likely to be found in cheaper markets, making lower income individuals at higher risk getting less effective sanitizers.
With all of this in mind, you still need completely cover the hands with the sanitizer and rub for at least 15 seconds for the alcohol to do its job completely, killing both good and bad bacteria. But don’t worry, most of the time, there is enough good bacteria on the lower levels of the skin or upper arm that survive, re-colonize, spread, and continue helping the human species in the ways that we need them to.
For more information, you can check out the CDC’s website at www.CDC.gov or the following links.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no03/05-0955.htm
http://www.livescience.com/health/091027-hand-sanitizers.html
http://www.newsweek.com/id/62119
i liked this article on washing your hands and hand sanitizers. Being around horses and cows alot i have done my share of washing my hands a few times a day. Of course soap and hot water work, but i like the hand sanitizing a little better, it's quicker and the alcohol kills more germs and it's faster.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article, as I have always believed that hand sanitizers give people a false sense of killing germs on the hands. We use it in my classroom and in my home as a supplement to hand washing, since I have known that hand sanitizers aren't as effective as good ol' hand soap and water. I like to wash my hands and top it off with sanitizer.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting, I work at the landfill and we keep hand sanitizer in all the machines. We are told to us them a lot during the day. I will admit I soak my hands a lot during the day with the sanitizer, and don't wash my hands with soap and water a lot. This is good information.
ReplyDeleteThis information is coming at a good time, with the flu so widespread. I know of some mothers of young children who encourage hand sanitizer use instead of hand washing, and this clarifies things. Thanks for the useful tip of singing the ABC song. I passed that along to my grandchildren and now we often hear them singing it in the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteI was reading this information about sanitizer. It think just like antibiotics, we will in the near future become resilliant to santitizers. I read further to see if what I heard through Hospice was true and in fact it says here in the blog that it IS true, that it is NOT the sanitizer or soap that gets rid of the germs, of all things, it is the friction of the movemnet of the hands under water that slough off the germs and swirl down the drain. !! Interesting. I will add too, that after I do use ((every once in a while)) the hand sanitizers, my hands still feel really dirty. I don't know why?? I do think it is because we are supposed to go "old school" and scrub our hands and bodies.
ReplyDelete---Just my opinion and thoughts..
Lori Johnson
Not only are people using sanitizers instead of hand washing, they are also using it incorrectly. Just like people who wash their hands wrong you can use sanitizer wrong. If the hands are soiled, never use sanitizer, wash with water and soap. If you do use sanitizer, you need to make sure you have enough in your hands and get in every nook and cranny, including the top of your hands. You also need to let the alcohol dry before you are really 'clean'.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I never really have been a fan of sanitizers. I always felt that they left a weird sticky residue on your hands after using them. It was also interesting to read that sanitizers that have under 60% alcohol, and claim to kill 99.999% of germs were used on lab tables, rather than people's hands.
ReplyDeleteNathan Howes
The is a great article. I work in health care and use the hand sanatizer all of the time thinking it is killing everyghing off my hands. I need to remember to wash my hands more though and not just always depend on the hand sanatizer.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Deatry
I know that washing your hands is best but I am socked to see that by using only hand sanitizer alone it doesn't get off all the things that can get you sick. At my kids school whenever they go to lunch they use the hand sanitizer and when they come in from recess they do the same again. I have to say that having my kids having a runny nose is going to be lots easier to deal with then my child getting sick from e-coli. Eye opening post.
ReplyDelete