County Fairs & Hand Washing
Hand washing is an important way to prevent the spread of disease. With the season of county fairs--and petting zoos--almost upon us, we need to be more aware than ever of the need for hand washing.
Why Hand Washing Is Important
A typical person's hand can carry ten thousand to ten million bacteria, some resident and some transient. When humans or animals are sick or infected with specific microbes, the number of microbes may increase. Microbes must be removed by the mechanical friction of washing with soap and water or destroyed by the use of antiseptic solutions.
The microorganisms from human and animal sources can be transmitted to hands, other people, foods, and anything else that your hands come in contact with, and vice versa. This is why good hand washing is important for reducing harmful microorganisms on our hands and for reducing the risk of transferring harmful microorganisms to others.
For the general public at home, plain soap and water is adequate for most consumer uses. The extra precaution of using an alcohol gel or antibacterial soap only becomes important or essential in certain situations, such as the following:
- When you come into close physical contact with persons at high risk for infection (such as newborns, the very old, or immunosuppressed).
- When you have direct physical contact with someone with an upper respiratory infection, skin infection, or diarrhea.
- If you work in settings where infectious diseases are commonly transmitted, such as food preparation, and/or crowded living areas (child-care centers, preschools, prisons, or chronic-care residences).
Soap
Chemically speaking, soaps are water-soluble sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids that have important properties as surfactants. Detergents are synthetic compounds of a different class than soaps, but they share similar surfactant properties. In the cleaning process, soaps or detergents help reduce surface tension. They make water mix better with dirt and soil on surfaces and skin. Through their ability to loosen and remove soil from a surface or from skin, they contribute to good personal hygiene by reducing the presence of germs that cause infectious diseases.
Antimicrobial soaps contain an antiseptic agent to help lower the number of microbes, in addition to mechanical removal. An important key factor in the effectiveness of all of these soaps is the length of time they are left on the skin and the concentrations of the products.
Triclosan is the most commonly used chemical ingredient in antimicrobial soaps. Companies have not published information on what combination of triclosan concentrations and washing times are most effective, so it is difficult to know which brands work best.
Chloroxylenol (also known as parachloromethxylenol) is another antimicrobial compound found in some antibacterial soaps. There is concern that use of antimicrobial soaps may lead to bacterial resistance. While in theory this remains possible, research thus far has not found evidence that this is happening.
Like other consumer products, soap with high price may not be the best quality. Therefore, knowing the different products and their ingredients helps you select the right product for the cleaning job and for the right price.
No Substitutions
Except in situations where soap and water are not available, hand sanitizers should be used primarily as an optional follow-up to traditional hand washing with soap and water--not a replacement for washing your hands. In those instances, using an alcohol gel is certainly better than nothing at all.
The majority of alcohol-based sanitizers in the United States contain ethanol, isopropanol or a combination of the two. Most brands also contain a moisturizer to minimize irritation to the skin. Alcohol works immediately and effectively to kill bacteria and most viruses. Alcohol solutions containing 60% - 95% alcohol are the most effective. Higher concentrations are actually less potent.
Alcohol gels work by stripping away the outer layer of oil on the skin, thereby destroying any transient microorganisms present on the surface of the hands. After an alcohol gel is used, bacteria on the skin tends to re-grow more slowly, preventing residual microorganisms that reside in deeper layers of skin from coming to the surface.
To get the most effect, rub a dime-size dollop of alcohol gel into your hands for about thirty seconds. If hands are dry after only ten to fifteen seconds, you probably have not used enough sanitizer.
Excerpted and adapted from:
Hand Hygiene and Hand Sanitizers (FCS8788) by Amy Simonne. Published by: Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences (4/2005).
