Is an ounce of prevention (and soap) worth a pound of cure?
Photo by mag3737
I don’t know what it’s like in your neck of the woods, but here at Yahoo! headquarters, cold and flu season has had an enthusiastic start. One of the more effective ways to avoid both contracting and spreading contagion is simply washing your hands. Shockingly enough, many people don’t wash their hands properly. Part of doing it correctly is using warm water and washing long enough to get the germs off. (”Long enough” is 30 seconds, by the way, or the length of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday”. If “Happy Birthday” isn’t your thing, you can sing the alphabet song, the periodic table, or the chorus of “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette.)
Washing your hands is such an important part of hygiene and disease control that October 15 is Global Handwashing Day. Don’t be put off by the fact that some major soap manufacturers sponsor it; there’s a list a mile long of maladies, parasites, and general ickies that can be transferred from unwashed hands onto doorknobs, keyboards, and telephone handsets. Keep in mind that when you sneeze or cough into your hands, it’s time for a wash. (To keep your hands clean, try sneezing into the crook of your arm instead.) While dry skin can be a side effect of frequent handwashing, it’s better than getting sick—or getting others sick. Now, I’m no germaphobe (like Adrian Monk), but I think we’ve all been in a situation where you see someone use the bathroom, and then they disappear without spending time afterward at the sink. How to handle that situation is awkward at best—I mean, it’s not as simple as offering someone a mint instead of telling them they have bad breath. But nobody wants to be the outbreak monkey in their office—you know, the one who gets the whole office sick.
Besides washing your hands, what other flu and cold prevention tips do you have to offer?
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Hi, Jasmin
I really enjoyed your page I’m just another person as yourself. I love to surf the web I find so many useful topics. I get so out of tune when my computer is down for some crazy reason I always manage to get it up and going , thank god.
I think president Obama won the nobel prize because he won his election by a land slide at the end, also because he says to keep making or to stop making the h1n1 vaccine i am pretty sure. most people are asking that question and most people don;t know cause it is a hard question though.
Hi there:
Along with washing your hands, other tips to prevent the flu or cold are as follows:
Getting a yearly seasonal flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against seasonal influenza.
While there are many different flu viruses, the seasonal flu vaccine protects against the three seasonal viruses that research suggests will be most common.
Vaccination is especially important for people at high risk of serious flu complications, including young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease and people 65 years and older.
Seasonal flu vaccine also is important for health care workers, and other people who live with or care for high risk people to keep from making them sick.
Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.*
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
If you are sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
While sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them.
Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other measures to keep our distance from each other to lessen the spread of flu.
If you get seasonal or 2009 H1N1 flu, antiviral drugs can treat the flu.
Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaled powder) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body.
The priority use for antiviral drugs this season is to treat people who are very sick (hospitalized) or people who are sick with flu-like symptoms and who are at increased risk of serious flu complications, such as pregnant women, young children, people 65 and older and people with chronic health conditions. (Most people have been able to recover at home from 2009 H1N1 without needing medical care and the same is true of seasonal flu.)
Antiviral drugs can make illness milder and shorten the time you are sick. They may also prevent serious flu complications.
Antiviral drugs are not sold over-the-counter and are different from antibiotics.
For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started within the first 2 days of symptoms.
Flu-like symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people may also have vomiting and diarrhea. People may be infected with the flu, including 2009 H1N1 and have respiratory symptoms without a
Oi.! It cut me off…I meant to say a fever…not just a..
Great article mate, one of the many things (and perhaps the most important) that I’ve learned about preventing and curing the flu is that your immune system does about 90% of the work. Logically, a strong immune system leads to faster recovery, so as a huge tip, I HIGHLY recommend eating right in order to maintain a healthy system. Some great foods for this are asparagus, broccoli (yes, your mother was right about this), Ginger and Garlic, as well as Onions. Basically, anything that seems like a healthy food is good for your immune system. For all you parents out there, translated to kid language: everything you don’t like is good for you
Anyways, take care all, and stay healthy!
-The Phantom
Eating 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day will help ward off any potential viruses. Keeping our immunity in balance is key…
I know it can be hard to consume so much of the good stuff, but well worth it!
I worked at a hospital for a short time. All employees were given an extensive orientation and a 1-day training period. One of the the things we were taught was how to wash your hands.
1) You wet your hands
2) apply soap (usually liquid germicidal)
3) begin by interlacing your fingers and sliding them back and forth for at least 7 times.
4) then wring your hands for at least 5 times
5) then hook your fingers together and knead the fingers (cleans the nails and scrapes the palms)
6) rinse your hands thoroughly under running warm water while wring them.
7) If possible dry them under a filtered air dryer, otherwise use a disposal paper towel.
The entire operation takes about 1 minute if done properly.
I, too enjoyed reading your terrific exposure of the sanitary problems of not taking the properprecautions. The method I prefer is very simple and it’s what doctors nurses and hospitals require. Applying carefully by washing the hands and applying carefully to the nostrils in very small quantities is 100% effective except for Viruses like Hiv or strep of life threatening disorders. Betadine is a formula of iodine that is devoid of iodine’s previous problems with regards to smelling bbad and staining clothes irreperably. It’s greeseless so you don’t have the mess that salves create. You can by generic formulations at any drug store. Whenever I use it it heals my problems in one day, it’s that efficacious. I can really use the points if you select my post so good luck and live and be well.
At our neck of the woods it’s H1N1 left right and center, I had it 3 weeks ago, that was a fun week in the infectious diseases hospital!
Washing your hands is important especially at this time when the swine flu, colds, influenza and coughs are still going around. Do not pick your nose, bad habit or do other unhealthy stuff.
I don’t have any statistical data and this is purely anecdotal but I am sure that the problem is not with people washing their hands. The problem is with the janitor or employee not keeping things clean. Let me explain. As a janitor if I keep a restroom clean and pay special attention to the things that people touch (door knobs, handles, keyboards, or anything else handled frequently by anybody in the community) if these things are kept clean and sanitized then their would be no problem giving another person a pathogen. Our bodies are especially made to fight against disease, parasites, and unwanted visitors. Granted airborne pathogens are more difficult for our bodies to fight, but then again it is in the air and not on our hands.
I make my own home made soap and I truly appreciate the value of washing everything, hands, face, body, clothes, home, car, etc.
To be clean does not need to become and obsession, but it does require that you have a decent level of self respect and respect for others as well.
Whenever I get sick, I avoid hand contact altogether. That means I touch no ones hands, and I don’t use my hands to touch anywhere near my face. If I cough I pull my shirt up over my nose and mouth and cough down into my shirt. If I sneeze, I use paper towel (thicker than a tissue) and then throw it away and immediately use GermX on my hands. I have immunodeficiency due to drugs I have to take for lung disease, and I get sick very easily. I stay away from grocery stores and other public places, and if I have to go to the store, I use those anti-bacterial wipes the store provides on the cart handle, and when I get in my car to leave, I use hand sanitizer before I touch the steering wheel. Last winter, I didn’t get sick at all. I hope this winter, everyone will be considerate of others and be careful not to spread their germs. For people like me, even minor illlnesses can land us in the hospital in a life threatening situation. If your kids are sick, don’t send them to school, and if you’re sick, please stay home.
hello,i have a respiratory infection now,my comments for being germ free are-1 use tissues,theyre thrown out after use,2,wash and separate your eating utensils,store them in a big zip lock bag, 4 dont use the bathroom towels -get a seperate one for yourself,infact other family members should have their own towels,do not share things, disinfect everything ,inc toys and the like and have a happy germ free season.
In addition tot he prevention you list that I agree to. I would say that getting plenty of rest during the flu season especially (meaning at least 7 hours a night) and having vitamin C whether in orange or cranberry juice along with Zinc mineral all boost the immunity. I would use this regular during this time to stay stronger in resisting any contact you have with others. I would avoid sick ppl and make sure to use the sanitary wipes to rub off carts at grocery stores where you rest your hands on. They have those at the entrances of most stores now, at least where I live at.
Avoid direct contact with others that you don’t know if they are sick or getting sick, things like shaking hands and touching shared stuff should be avoided.
I use Listerine to help ward off bacteria and infections. Rinse more often and use mentholated stuffs on my neck and under the nose (like Vicks). Normally I put that stuff on when I’m sick. Now I put it on to avoid getting sick. I think it’s a good move. My cousin had pneumonia for weeks on end. He sat right next to me thoughout the football game and after I got home the back of my throat was irritated. The onset of sickness I recognized. Doused it with Listerine and the minty Bak Fa Yu that I got from the Chinese medicine store (and a healthy dose of broccoli pre-game) and I’m still good to go! =)
happy birthda…
It’s a sign of our modern times when hospitals have to be taught to wash their hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eccinacea and elderberry are very good for fighting the flu or infections. I have found that I respond well to elderberry. YOu can get it in liquid, pills or capsules in a well stocked market.
I personally have some doubts about the effectiveness of most people’s hand washing at reducing the spread of disease. I’m not saying you shouldn’t wash your hands, only that there are *so* many routes by which your ‘clean’ hands can become quickly contaminated, that the overall effectiveness is essentially nil.
I recall a lab I did once during my Biology degree. We grew a bacterial culture off our fingers, washed our hands (using twinkle-twinkle little star as a time guide), dried our hands, and then grew another bacterial culture off of our now ‘clean’ hands.
Most people in the lab grew more bacteria post washing than pre.
Why? My theory is a few things are involved. First off, while people use soap, they don’t seem to realize that the contact time with soap is important. They’ll put soap somewhere in the region of their hands, and then expect it to magically do its job while being rinsed off with water immediately.
For reference a ’surgical scrub’ which probably does a pretty good job of removing bacteria is 5 minutes long, and is followed up by putting on sterile gloves anyways. How effective do you think your 30 second job (at best) is going to be?
Secondly, and probably more importantly, there are many, many, many areas where hands can be ‘re-contaminated’ from the environment post handwashing (even if you effectively remove all bacterial pathogens from your hands). You simply can not avoid getting pathogens on your hands. In the case of my classmates, I’m guessing that the paper towels were probably a major source of contaminant in this case. Even without that, there are dozens of places that bacteria can be picked up.
My feeling is much of this is “Well it won’t hurt, and it makes people feel like they are doing something”. Ultimately, though, I would say probably ineffective.
Reading some pages, would have you washing your hands hundreds of times a day. (Come on! Do I really need to wash my hands after I pet a dog? Shaking hands? Or (gasp!) Opening a door with my bare hands?
Oh here’s a good article giving at least some credence that just washing hands probably isn’t effective…
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/24/hand.washing.helpful/index.html
Depending on how often you wash your hands, constantly washing and re-washing hands after every everyday activity is likely to do more harm than good. The microflora on our skin as well as the slightly acidic environment that these microflora provide help keep the amount of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria on our skin in a healthy balance. By sanitising your hands and washing them constantly, you are upsetting this balance as well as your body’s ability to cope with potential pathogens that may enter the body.
Your body builds up immunity by being exposed to small amounts of pathogens, and being able to recognise them. Constantly washing hands limits exposure to these small amounts of pathogens, so therefore when you ARE exposed to them, you are more likely to become ill.
If the US government was serious about healing its people and not just causing an overall panic they would be like all the governments in South America, Europe and Africa and have Faith Mineral Supplement available to all it people.
I have been following the people who are trying to get the Faith Mineral Supplement into the USA. Will they be able to convince the FDA (the big drug companies watchdog) that Americans should have the option to use the Faith Drops.
The evidence about how washing your hands is very interesting.
Personally, I think people are completely freaking out about this flu thing. I personally find it crazy on how “anti-bacterial” everything is nowadays. It doesn’t really kill off the bad bacteria, it just makes the remainding part of the bad bacteria stronger, while killing off the good bacteria. You basically just want to wash off the bad bacteria as much as possible. Use of a natural soap is the best solution for this, and they’re not as rough on the hands compared to the anti-bacterial variety.
The best thing to do is just to be healthy and stay away from those who are sick until they are no longer contagious (usually during the first few days of the cold or flu). Use natural products when possible, eat things in moderation, get plenty of rest and exercise, don’t over schedule yourself, and manage your bad stress. I also wouldn’t be dependent on those flu shots because you don’t know what type of flu may come out, making the shot completely uneffective.