Here’s a question for you- how often do you wash your hands? And how often do your kids wash their hands?
Given how easily infections travel from one person to another, probably not enough.
A new study out of the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that we should be using hand sanitizers to help keep us clean and safe from infections.
Ten year old Monica Mannguard is all ready for the first day of school. She’s always armed with an alcohol based hand sanitizer. “I always make sure I have some kind of hand sanitizer with me, no matter where I am,” says Monica.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Her mom Elise keeps some form of hand sanitizer everywhere. Whether she’s in the car, on their boat, it’s always close at hand.
“Naturally when she started school she began playing with other kids and sharing toys and touching different things. I’ve just become more concerned with making sure that her hands are clean. So I make sure she always has hand sanitizer with her,” says Elise.
Dr. Philip Tierno, lead microbiologist at NYU Medical Center, says, “Children are more prone to infections because they fearlessly interact with their environment. Coupling that with the fact that their immune systems are not fully developed, they are very susceptible. These same factors also mean they are very capable of transmitting infections. Hand sanitizers can help protect them from infections, and at the same time ensure that they don’t transmit infections.”
When most of us get sick, it’s because the germs are on our hands. We touched someone or something, and then put our hands to our face, and bingo, we’ve given ourselves the latest bug going around.
Now, the latest research in the journal Pediatrics shows that the regular use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer can reduce the spread of gastrointestinal infections among family members. In this study the observed reduction was nearly 60%. And the more hand sanitizer used by a given family, the better the chances of reducing the spread of germs.
There’s no question that washing hands with soap kills germs, but you have to have access to a sink, you have to wash for an adequate period of time and you have to use an adequate amount of soap. With hand sanitizers, all you need is a dab and you’re done.
Hospitals have taken to using hand sanitizers in a big way. Now, many doctors simply use hand sanitizers rather than washing or scrubbing. The alcohol in the hand sanitizer kills most viruses and bacteria and doesn’t contain antibiotics, so that resistance doesn’t develop to it.