It's flu and cold season, get your flu shots, wash your hands,

I find I'm starting to get a bit obsessive. Could that be?

I have kept hand sanitizer on my desk for a while. I'd use it here and there, especially if I had a cold and didn't want to pass it around. I wash my hands often.

Now I bought a bigger bottle of hand sanitizer and find I'm using it more frequently.

The UPS guy hands me the special pen to sign for our packages. I start to how many other people used that pen before me. Yep, time for a dab of hand sanitizer.

Now I'm if my hands will fall off by the end of the flu season. Can't be too careful can we?

I know we were not this germaphobic back in the day, and I'd bet we had better resistance to germs too.....

 

Hand sanitizer has no real effect on viruses.

And, yes, I think people are not only over-reacting, but they're also exacerbating the problem with their overuse of antibiotics (which also have no effect on viruses) and anti-bacterials. The indiscriminate use of these drugs/chemicals only serves to produce highly resistant "super bugs".

 

Really, but it does kill/decrease bacteria right? Bacteria which can cause disease. That's what the bottle says...Are we wasting money buying these products?


I'm with you on the over prescribing of antibiotics. I'm not one to show up at the doc's office with a cold, expecting to leave with a script of antibiotics. Also have heard that antibacterial soap is overkill too. Regular soap and water does the same thing.

 

Most hand sanitizers are Isopropyl alcohol based. IA is very effective at killing bacteria and it's not something against which a bacterium is likely to become resistant.

 

^^ I agree with Dean. In the micro sense, we are overreacting, and in the macro sense, we are making ourselves more vulnerable.

 

So is it worth using or not?

I now see sanitizer wipes in the grocery store and people wiping off the cart handle before they touch it....it seems extreme, but.......

Maybe we are all just a bunch of wimps now? I remember being a kid, and I know I did not wash my hands before every meal. I remember eating while playing outside, not much hand washing went on then either....

Are we just too clean?

 

They have antimicrobial action, by definition of sanitizers. Then, there is always the factor of "dilution is the solution to pollution."

 

So that's a yes?

 

^^ Yes indeed. The best sanitizers use betadine or quaternary ammonium, which are most often used in surgical site scrubs. Betadine stains iodine color though. Quaternary does not have a smell, is clear, and may be available in pharmacies. It is also inactivated by alcohol. Most of the over the counter are like Listerine - kills 97% of oral germs. It's that other 3% that are of worry. The flu infectious transfer is by droplet nuclei, which protects the virus for a short while outside the body. As such, the sneeze, spit swap, and the handwipe of nasal drippings are the major transfer dangers. That's why you want to wipe your nose with your sleeve, rather than hanky or tissues which will contaminate your hands.
The greatest threat to us - grandchildren, especially of the school age variety.

 

Not from me. I think they're next to useless, unless you're handling live bacterial cultures, performing surgery, or dealing with the infected.