A number of infectious diseases can be spread from one person to another by contaminated hands. Show These diseases include gastrointestinal infections, such as salmonellosis, and respiratory infections, such as influenza, colds and coronavirus . Washing your hands properly with soap and water can help prevent the spread of the germs (like bacteria and viruses) that cause these diseases. Some forms of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections can cause serious complications, especially for young children, the elderly, or those with a weakened immune system. When to wash your handsYou should wash your hands thoroughly:
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. If you feel a cough or sneeze is coming on, make sure to cough or sneeze into a tissue and then throw it away and wash your hands. If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow. It’s a part of your body less likely to touch other surfaces and will help stop the spread of nasty germs. How to wash your hands properlyTo wash hands properly:
At home, give each family member their own towel and wash the towels often. Use running waterUse running water instead of a basin of standing water that could become contaminated through use. Warm water may be better than cold for handwashing as soap lathers (soaps up) better with warm water. However, cold water and soap are still suitable. Hot water can damage the skin’s natural oils. Over time, this can cause dermatitis. Soap is importantWashing hands with soap and water will remove substantially more disease-causing organisms than washing hands with water alone. For people who find that soap causes skin irritation, it is useful to note that soaps can have a different pH – they may be neutral, slightly alkaline or slightly acidic, and perfumes in soap may also cause irritation. Changing soap may help some people. Liquid soap is bestGenerally, it is better to use liquid soap than bar soap, particularly at work. However, bar soap is better than no soap. No advantage to using antibacterial soapWhen following the handwashing steps outlined above, all soaps are equally effective at removing disease causing germs. Antibacterial soap is unnecessary and does not offer an advantage over regular soap. Soap and water is better than hand sanitiserAlcohol-based hand sanitisers are effective against some viruses (such as coronavirus), however they are not effective against gastroenteritis. Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to prevent gastroenteritis infection. It is best to wash hands with soap and water. If unavailable, use alcohol-based hand sanitiser containing at least 60% alcohol. Take care of your handsHandwashing is only one part of hand hygiene. Looking after your skin generally is important, as your skin is your most effective barrier against infection. After your hands have been dried thoroughly, you can help to look after your hands if you:
Teach hand hygiene to childrenThe creation of healthy habits during childhood is important to ensure lifelong healthy decisions and actions. Get kids involved with ‘Soapy Hero’ training to help keep their classmates, family and friends healthy and stop the spread of dangerous infectious diseases with hand hygiene. Watch this video about hand hygiene. Where to get help
ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact . Hand hygiene is described by many health care workers as the single most important tool in preventing the spread of health care-associated infections between patients. According to WHO, there are few definitive data on the patient-care activities that are most likely to transmit bacteria to health care worker (HCW) hands, but there have been several studies that identified many possibilities. Although bacteria have been found on HCW hands after activities such as wound care, intravascular catheter care, respiratory tract care and handling patient secretions as expected, bacteria also have been found on HCW hands after so-called “clean” contact, such as taking a patient’s pulse, temperature or blood pressure. Organisms found on HCW hands after such patient contact range from Klebsiella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile, MRSA and gram-negative bacteria. However, direct patient contact is not the only way HCW hands can be contaminated. HCWs can acquire bacteria on their hands by touching contaminated surfaces in the patient environment and simply by touching a contaminated chart at the nurses’ station, according to the literature. Washing hands before and after patient contact seems like a simple solution to prevent the spread of bacteria between patients. Most hospitals have hand hygiene policies in place that guide their employees to do just that. But it is not as simple as it seems. hand hygiene on a subconscious level. Photo courtesy of Jones A, VCU “When we look at all of the things that we can do to prevent infections in the hospital, one of the most important things about hand hygiene is that it works for so many different types of organisms, and you get a lot of bang for the buck,” Michael Edmond, MD, MPH, the Richard P. Wenzel professor of internal medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Infectious Disease News. “The issue is that you have to practice it at a high level of compliance for it to work. There are so many opportunities for hand hygiene, and it is difficult to get to a level of compliance where we’re able to make changes to infection rates.” According to new CDC data, approximately one in 25 patients acquires a health care-associated infection (HAI) during their hospital care, adding up to about 722,000 infections a year. Of these, 75,000 patients die of their infections. CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, said even the most advanced health care will not work if clinicians neglect basic practices such as hand hygiene. For the second story in a two-part series on infection control in hospitals, Infectious Disease News spoke with several experts, including hospital epidemiologists, to discuss the importance of hand hygiene and reasons behind the variability in hand hygiene compliance. |