The recent staph infection scare hits pretty close to home for me because this happened to our family. A few years ago, one of my cousin’s very healthy children was admitted to the hospital for a routine procedure, had his surgery on Thursday, and three days later he was dead from the staph infection he had picked up in the hospital. So I guess it’s understandable that the recent news stories about staph infections concern me. Health officials say the average person has up to ten million bacteria on each hand at any given time and advise hand washing as one of the best means of protecting against staph and other bacteria. They also say that people are not washing their hands as often or as well as they should.
Here’s some advice from the Mayo Clinic:
Help children stay healthy by encouraging them to wash their hands frequently. Wash your hands with your child to show him or her how it’s done. To prevent rushing, suggest washing hands for as long as it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice. If your child can’t reach the sink on his or her own, keep a step stool handy.
The alcohol-based hand sanitizers do a good job of killing bacteria too but shouldn’t be used as an alternative to soap and water if hands are visibly dirty. Again, advice from the Mayo Clinic:
Follow these steps:
- Apply enough of the product to the palm of your hand to wet your hands completely.
- Rub your hands together, covering all surfaces, until your hands are dry.
I think I’ll stick with soap and water.
Chris
I was interested in this post, as I’m a nurse and so many people are asking me about it right now. Another thing to think about would be taking disinfecting cloths along when you go to the store. Shopping carts are a great place to pick up bugs. Some stores around us actually supply them at the door.
Have a great week! Chris
Y.B.
Please do NOT wash hands with or use antibacterial soaps! even dishwashing soaps! they cause you to become immune to antibiotics! and stay in the water and land for hundreds of years! (toxic); a cheaper, and far more effective way is to clean hands with 3% hydrogen peroxide which not only kills bacterias but VIRUSES as well! yep, that little 50 cent bottle is FAR MORE EFFECTIVE and actually stronger than clorox bleach when used with vinegar folks; both have great properties in themselves but a combo of the 2 is 10 x’s stronger than each used seperately; stronger and more effective than clorine bleach. Safe for environment and humans and animals; another great find is that MRSA which everyone has been hearing about is killed by rubbing alcohol. Extremely cheap; that is why no one is telling you about it! More money to be made when ill than in preventing it!
Jo
My husband came home from the hospital after an operation. Within hours his temperature slowly rose. I did not wait. I called an ambulance and the paramedics said he would have been dead if they hadn’t gotten fluids into him on the way to the hospital.
He had staph aureus. (don’t know if I spelled this right)
He was put in isolation and everyone had to “suit up” with gloves and gowns that entered his room. The first medicine they gave him did not work. The second medicine did.
He was in the hospital longer getting rid of the staph than for the operation. It was touch and go for awhile and a very terrible ordeal for him. For both of us. I did a lot of talking with God during that time. More than usual, and I am usually bending His ear in the house and garden. I give Him my troubles and we get through them together. It really does help.
My husband’s ordeal has soured me about hospitals. They are very nasty places! They allow anyone to visit, even children, which they did not do when I was a kid – and no one is required to wash their hands before visiting! It is as if it would be an imposition to simply ask visitors to wash their hands. But it would save a lot of sickness. Needless to say, we wash our hands often with plenty of natural soap and hot water.
Rhonda
Surgical tech here- its actually the rubbing action and running hot water that removes the majority of the microbes. The goal is to rid yourself of “transient microbes” in a normal hand wash and not all of your normal flora. The normal flora of bateria and yeasts help to protect you from invading pathogens (aka: transient microbes) that do not belong on your skin.
Occasionally using a strong chemical cleanser- natural or synthetic is fine if the hands are not visable soiled. The problem comes when the chemical cleanser is over used. In that case, you remove your protective layer of flora and dry out your skin. That can cause small cracks in the skin and provides a gateway for microbes, both transient and normal flora to get into the skin where they do not belong. Healthy skin, healthy body ;)