Handy Tips for Infection Control
This month, the focus of Life Worth Living will be Infection Prevention and Control. As cold weather approaches, staying healthy and well becomes a major focus for everyone.
In week one, the benefits of good hand washing will be discussed. Week two will outline the proper method of washing hands to prevent the spread of illness. Week three ‘Is it the flu or just a cold?’ will highlight some differences between the flu and the common cold and finally, week four will discuss foods that may assist a person in fighting the common cold.
Staying healthy this winter could be as easy as washing your hands. As the flu season approaches, the simple practice of washing hands can prevent illness such as influenza and gastrointestinal infections. The habit of washing your hands becomes even more important when you consider that almost 80% of all infectious diseases are transmitted by touch. According to experts, without a vaccine, the single most important thing you can do to prevent getting the flu is to wash your hands.
Let's look at the facts. We have between 2 and 10 million bacteria between fingertip and elbow and these germs can stay alive on hands for up to three hours. There are two layers of bacteria on your hands. The outer layer of bacteria is called “Transient Flora”. This layer is potentially the most dangerous for transmitting disease from one person to another. Fortunately, it is also the most easily eliminated by hand washing. The deeper layer called “Resident Flora” is more resistant to washing. Effective hand washing or commonly called hand hygiene can be done with soap and water or alcohol based hand rubs. Hand hygiene with alcohol-based hand rub kills organisms in seconds. Easily available, alcohol based hand rubs are portable, fast acting and more effective than soap. For visible dirt, hand washing with soap and water is preferred. While soap may not kill all viruses, thorough hand washing will decrease the viral counts to a point below the infectious threshold for most people.
The Center for Disease Control recommends people wash their hands for at least 15 seconds. However, studies show that the reduction of skin bacteria is nearly ten times greater by washing with soap for 30 seconds rather than 15. This is about the amount of time it takes to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice. Washing hands before eating or drinking and after contact can significantly reduce the spread of illness during this season.