Wash Your Hands
And Do It Right

By ANNA WILSON - Blue Ridge HealthCare

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SPECIAL TO THE NEWS HERALD

Do you wash your hands before meals and after using the toilet? With images of your mother hovering over your shoulder, you probably answered yes. But do you really?

About 95 percent of subjects in an August, 2003 survey said they washed their hands regularly after using a public rest room. An observational survey of 7,541 air travelers one month later found that only  70 percent of  travelers in New York, Miami and Chicago actually did wash their hands before exiting the airport rest room.

Do you wash your hands after you sneeze or cough? Only 58 percent of respondents in the first survey answered yes; the actual percentage is unknown.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) would like for 100 percent of Americans to wash their hands after

• using the toilet,
• nose blowing,
• sneezing,
• coughing,
• handling pets,
• returning home from work or the shopping center
• before eating or handling food.

Frequent and careful hand washing, according to the CDC, is the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself against infectious respiratory and food borne illnesses.

Children Carry Bugs Home

During the cold and flu season, families with children in school or day care can expect that the youngsters will be carrying home bugs nearly every day and depositing them on door knobs, telephone receivers, TV remotes and refrigerator doors. According to one study, 60 percent of surfaces in the average American home are infected during the cold and flu season. You can’t disinfect every surface in your home; nor is it recommended since use of antibacterial products increases the risk of antibiotic resistance. The solution is to wash your hands frequently so you are less likely to pass germs to your mouth, nose or eyes.

In one Canadian study, subjects who washed their hands with soap and water more than seven times a day had less than one quarter the risk of getting a cold or flu infection compared to those who washed less frequently.

These results have been confirmed time and again among different populations. University freshmen living in dormitories who were provided educational materials about hand hygiene had 26 percent fewer cold and flu illnesses than other students. A hand washing program in an elementary school resulted in a 21 percent decrease in absences for respiratory illness. A Naval training center that required recruits to wash their hands five times a day witnessed a 45 percent reduction in outpatient visits for colds and flu.

From Hand to Mouth

When it comes to eating and food preparation, the importance of hand washing may be even more crucial than it is to prevention of colds and flu. The diarrhea commonly known as the intestinal flu is nearly always a virus that is  transferred from hand to mouth, usually a result of sloppy hygiene in food preparation or eating.

Even in your own kitchen, there are hidden dangers.

Meat, chicken and eggs often have salmonella, E. coli, shigella and other organisms that are killed with proper cooking. But if you use your hands to pat seasonings onto raw meat, then touch salad vegetables, dishes or utensils that will not be cooked, you’re spreading the contamination. Even when you break an egg into the fry pan, wash your hands before resuming other food preparation tasks.

Restaurant and other food handling operations usually have strict requirements. The bare minimum requires hand washing

• after arrival on the job,
• before and after break periods,
• after rest room use,
• following any task change,
• before and after putting on gloves,
• any time the face or hair is touched,
• following a sneeze or cough and
• after any customer contact.

In your own home, some of these requirements may be unnecessary, but it’s important to be aware of where your hands have been and where they’re going. If in doubt, wash them.

The way your mother taught you to wash your hands may or may not be sufficient, but here’s what most experts recommend:

• Wash vigorously for at least 20 seconds using warm, running water and soap.
• Lather every surface thoroughly, particularly around the nails and in any creases of skin.
• If you’ve been handling food, be sure to scrub away fat and protein residue.
• Rinse thoroughly with warm, running water.
• Dry with a clean, dry towel or a paper towel.

 Soap bars don’t transmit germs, but many persons prefer liquid soap anyway. Antibacterial soap is no more effective than regular soap.

Alcohol-based gels are effective for killing bacteria, but when hands are soiled by food, the protein and fatty substances can coat and protect the infectious organisms.

There’s nothing controversial about hand washing. Everyone knows that it’s a good thing. But because we’re busy and because disease organisms are microscopic, it’s easy to neglect this simple matter.

Source: Centers for Disease Control

The second largest employer in Burke County, Blue Ridge HealthCare serves a four-county area and includes Grace and Valdese hospitals, Blue Ridge Home HealthCare, Grace Heights and College Pines Health & Rehabilitation Centers, Grace Ridge Retirement Community, Phifer Wellness Center and a number of physician practices.