Is Hand Washing Enough to Stop the Spread of Disease?

[Tank]

Is Hand Washing Enough to Stop the Spread of Disease?

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2010) â€" Not drying your hands thoroughly after washing them, could increase the spread of bacteria and rubbing your hands whilst using a conventional electric hand dryer could be a contributing factor. Frequently people give up drying their hands and wipe them on their clothes instead, but hand-hygiene is a key part of infection control and drying hands after washing is a very important part of the process...

So dry your hands after washing  

[karadan]

At work, i use paper towels even though we have one of those electric dryers you have to put your hands into. I don't like the fact that when you turn on the dryer, the air flow flicks droplets of water from other people's hands back out. There's a collection hole at the bottom of it but it quickly gets blocked with scum.

Huge design flaw, methinks.

[PoopShoot]

There is something to be said about the fact that clean yet wet hands pick up bacteria.  Handwashing doesn't prevent the spread of disease in the common arena, it merely prevents cross-contamination of things like foods and doctor's patients.  The run-of-the-mill germs you come in contact with on a daily basis are harmless.  That's not to say don't wash your hands after a poo, it's just that the recontamination we're talking about aren't the dangerous coliforms you're washing of to begin with (unless you're drying your hands off on the inside of the sink or the toilet handle).

[The Magic Pudding]

I don't like having to touch the toilet door on the way out, if there is a paper towel I'll use it to handle the door.
Using wet hands on a toilet door is even more troubling.

[PoopShoot]

I don't like having to touch the toilet door on the way out, if there is a paper towel I'll use it to handle the door.
Using wet hands on a toilet door is even more troubling.

What's funny about this is that your keyboard, telephone and even drinking fountain are more likely to contain harmful bacteria.  I understand the creepy factor, though.

[SSY]

I don't like having to touch the toilet door on the way out, if there is a paper towel I'll use it to handle the door.
Using wet hands on a toilet door is even more troubling.

Exactly the same, I love it when someone comes in as you are leaving and you can use your foot to open the door. God I'm sad.

[Velma]

I don't like having to touch the toilet door on the way out, if there is a paper towel I'll use it to handle the door.
Using wet hands on a toilet door is even more troubling.

Exactly the same, I love it when someone comes in as you are leaving and you can use your foot to open the door. God I'm sad.

No, you are not sad.  I do that.  I also use a paper towel to open the door to the restroom on the way out.  It has also become second nature to use a paper towel to turn off the faucet if I can't use my elbow or there isn't one of those motion activated taps.  If possible, I use my elbow to push the feed on the paper towel dispenser.  However, I am in training to be a pharmacy technician and, like other folks in areas related to the medical field, we are taught to be very careful about such things since even if we are not dealing directly with patients, we are dealing with things that will come into contact with them or be introduced into their body in some fashion.

[Will]

Getting sick every now and again is good for a healthy immune system. I wash my hands with non-antibacterial soap before cooking or after getting them seriously dirty, but otherwise I try to avoid using too much soap. Soap creates an environment in which drug-resistant bacteria are more likely to be highly successful in reproducing and spreading. I don't want that.

That said, if you want to stop the spread of disease, eat right, exercise, use non-antibacterial soaps regularly, and cover your mouth when you cough.

[chrome]

<span>Is" class="smarterwiki-linkify">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100907071353.htm]Is</a> Hand Washing Enough to Stop the Spread of Disease?</span>

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2010) â€" Not drying your hands thoroughly after washing them, could increase the spread of bacteria and rubbing your hands whilst using a conventional electric hand dryer could be a contributing factor. Frequently people give up drying their hands and wipe them on their clothes instead, but hand-hygiene is a key part of infection control and drying hands after washing is a very important part of the process...

So dry your hands after washing   ... This must be even worse than drying hands on clothes, eeek! I have bacteria hair  

[Tank]

<span>Is" class="smarterwiki-linkify">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100907071353.htm]Is</a> Hand Washing Enough to Stop the Spread of Disease?</span>

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2010) â€" Not drying your hands thoroughly after washing them, could increase the spread of bacteria and rubbing your hands whilst using a conventional electric hand dryer could be a contributing factor. Frequently people give up drying their hands and wipe them on their clothes instead, but hand-hygiene is a key part of infection control and drying hands after washing is a very important part of the process...

So dry your hands after washing   ... This must be even worse than drying hands on clothes, eeek! I have bacteria hair  :drool  In slow motion  :drool

Brains, beauty and a geek, what more could a man want!

[The Magic Pudding]

Brains, beauty and a geek, what more could a man want!

Food

[Tank]

Brains, beauty and a geek, what more could a man want!

Food

Always the pragmatist  :drool

[Thumpalumpacus]

Brains, beauty and a geek, what more could a man want!

She could wash my hands any day of the week.

[PoopShoot]

Soap creates an environment in which drug-resistant bacteria are more likely to be highly successful in reproducing and spreading. I don't want that.

Soap doesn't kill bacteria, it's not a selective agent in bacterial evolution.  It DOES get the bacteria off your hands, which is good for preventing cross contamination, but not good for keeping your immune system "in practice".

That said, if you want to stop the spread of disease, eat right, exercise, use non-antibacterial soaps regularly, and cover your mouth when you cough.

Antibacterial soaps are often identical to regular soaps.  Rarely does any soap actually kill bacteria.  Hand sanitizer is a different story, it contains alcohol.

[Will]

Soap doesn't kill bacteria, it's not a selective agent in bacterial evolution.  It DOES get the bacteria off your hands, which is good for preventing cross contamination, but not good for keeping your immune system "in practice".

Regular soaps only move bacteria off the hands, but antibacterial soaps include chemicals which kill bacteria and other microbes, excluding viruses.