Wash Your Hands!

Something as simple as washing your hands can prevent up to 80% of infectious disease including colds and flu! So why don't we wash our hands more? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), routinely washing hands with soap and water or using 60% strength alcohol gel hand sanitizers could reduce deaths associated with diarrhea by as much as 50%. A million deaths a year could be prevented if we just practiced good hand hygiene. How many times have you seen someone use the toilet and then leave a restroom without washing their hands? Anything they touch could be contaminated including the door handle! Of course, I know you always wash your hands after using the toilet.

Foodborne disease outbreaks are spread by contaminated or dirty hands and many hospital acquired infections are a result of poor or no hand washing by healthcare professionals, patients and family members. Food poisoning is often caused by handling raw meat or poultry with bacteria on their surface and failing to wash hands or preparation areas before handling dishes or placing items on the counter. This cross contamination, or the transfer of germs from the meat to your hands to the next item you touch, could easily be prevented by a little soap and water! This same type of cross contamination is true in hospitals and healthcare settings if doctors and nurses don't wash their hands between patients or tasks.

So if hand washing is so important to prevent disease, why don't more people wash their hands? Excuses range from "I just don't think about it" to not enough time and everything in between! The CDC and the World Health Organization are encouraging people to take an active role in reminding everyone to wash their hands! If you are in the hospital or doctor's office, it is OK to ask anyone who enters your room if they have washed their hands. If you are in a public place, I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to remind people you see who don't wash! But certainly, be more aware of hand washing or using hand sanitizers when you are out in public...you never know who hasn't been so diligent!

Be sure to teach your children how to wash their hands.  Using soap and water and singing a song like Happy Birthday or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star makes hand washing fun and keeps the kiddos scrubbing for at least 15-20 seconds. If no soap and water are available, use a 60% solution of alcohol gel hand sanitizers and rub until dry. If we all wash our hands more often, I wonder how many infections we could prevent in our families!

For more information, see the CDC website on hand washing at http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/

Happy Hand Washing!!