National Handwashing Awareness

Week Is Essential Says

MU Nursing Instructor

December 7, 2007

COLUMBIA , Mo. – It's probably no coincidence that National Handwashing Awareness Week falls at the beginning of cold and flu season, December 2-8. “Washing hands in warm water for the appropriate amount of time is crucial in breaking the cycle of infection,” said Beth Traudes, nursing instructor at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing.

Studies show that 40 to 60 percent of people don't wash their hands after using the restroom and those who do was don't wash long enough. Additionally, touching your eyes, mouth and nose and not washing your hands is the quickest way to spread every respiratory illness the health-care profession is aware of.

“Use warm water and scrub between your fingers as well as around your fingernails,” Traudes said. “Sing the ‘Alphabet' song or ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' twice and you know you've scrubbed away the majority of the germs and bacteria.”

Traudes said to pay particular attention to your cuticles and under your nails. Dirt, germs and bacteria gather in the crevices surrounding your nails and it's important to keep hangnails trimmed and bandaged to prevent bacteria and viruses from entering your body. Long, polished and artificial nails are more susceptible to harboring bacteria, Traudes said.

In addition to handwashing, using hand lotion is second most important key to staying healthy. “By keeping the skin soft and supple you are preventing cracking, which in turn helps keep the bacteria out,” the nursing lab instructor pointed out.

She also wants people to be aware that public surfaces such as public computer keyboards, banisters and handrails and countertops harbor these viruses. The Methicillin-Resistant Staph Aureaus (MRSA) bacteria colonizes in the nasal passages and on the skin. MRSA is transmitted through touch, not transmitted through the air (i.e. sneezing, coughing). Cold and flu viruses, however, can be transmitted through inhaling droplets from a sneeze or cough.

Traudes suggests you use a waterless hand sanitizer containing aloe before and after touching public surfaces (aloe offsets the drying effects alcohol-based products have on the skin). Using the sanitizer before reduces germs you spread; using afterwards not only protects you but limits your contribution to the cycle of infection.

“The friction of rubbing your hands together helps these types of products remove bacteria and viruses from hands that are not visibly soiled,” she said. “I also urge people to take advantage of grocery stores offering disinfectant wipes to swab down the handlebars of shopping carts right before using them. Just remember to let the disinfectant evaporate before handling because it isn't effective until natural evaporation occurs.”

- 30 -