Why hand gels just don’t do the job…
“To sum it up: Wash up!”
That’s the message resulting from a recently published study by the The Royal Society Open Science, according to the NPR website.
The article, by Marc Silver, warns against the false sense of security that a three second hand scrub gives.
“Or you squirt on some hand-sanitizer and figure you’ve done your duty.”
This approach will most certainly not help in the containment of norovirus writes Mr Silver, who points to the work undertaken by researcher Sherry Towers a professor at the Simon A. Levin Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center at Arizona State University who had herself recently contracted the illness.
She constructed a mathematical model using data from an actual outbreak abroad a cruise ship. The parameters used in order to ascertain the most effective ways of containing norovirus were the quarantining of patents, deep cleaning and hand washing.
Hand washing most important
The one measure that proved by far and away the most effective she concluded, was hand washing.
“But oh my goodness, washing hands was nearly magical. If 80 percent of the cruise ship passengers who did not wash their hands were to change their hygiene habits, the outbreak would be halted.”
Soap and water
The NPR article also quotes Dr. Mark Gendreau, the chief medical officer for Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospitals in Massachusetts as saying
“Wet hands first, then add soap because you’ll get a better lather that way, which is key to breaking down the norovirus, says Gendreau. Alcohol-based gel sanitizers aren’t as effective in breaking down norovirus particles because soap itself “dismantles the proteins on the virus itself,” he says. “The gel won’t do that effectively but there’s going to be some benefit by rubbing your hands.”
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Hot water hand wash hire for UK medical situations
Introducing the TEAL Hygenius MediWash
On view at a number of forthcoming exhibitions will be TEAL’s market leading portable hand wash station – the Hygienius MediWash (pictured above), which enable healthcare professionals and patients to access a high quality hot water hand wash wherever and whenever it’s needed!
You can also hire hand wash units for use during norovirus outbreaks.
The TEAL Task Force
TEAL Task Force staff provide a rapid deployment and installation service for class-leading portable hand washing stations to medical facilities.
Setup and training is provided for on-site staff as part of the service.