Submitted for post by Mr. Breeden
PLEASE, WASH YOUR HANDS!
Does the name Ignaz Semmelweis sound familiar?? Probably not, but nonetheless we are all in his debt. Dr. Semmelweis was the first to demonstrate over a hundred years ago that routine hand washing can prevent the spread of disease.
Dr. Semmelweis worked in a hospital in Vienna whose maternity patients were dying at such an alarming rate; patients were begging to be sent home. Most of the patients who died were being treated by student physicians who worked on cadavers during an anatomy class before beginning their rounds in the hospital. Because the students didn’t wash their hands between touching the cadavers and the living patients, pathogenic bacteria from the cadavers regularly were transmitted to the mothers via the students’ hands.
In an experiment considered quaint at best by his colleagues, Dr. Semmelweis insisted that his students wash their hands before treating the mothers and deaths on the maternity ward decreased almost fivefold. This was the beginning of infection control. It was and still is today a landmark achievement not just in hospitals, but in public health, because today the value of hand washing in preventing disease is recognized in the community, in schools, in child care settings, and in eating establishments.
Specialists cite hand washing as the SINGLE most effective way to prevent the spread of disease. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) cites five common household scenarios in which disease causing germs can be passed by contaminated hands!
Hands to food: Germs are transmitted from unclean hands to food, usually by an infected food preparer that didn’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. The germs are then passed to those who eat the food.
Infected infant to hands to other children: During diaper changing germs are passed from an infant with diarrhea to the hands of a parent; if the parent doesn’t wash their hand immediately before handling another child, the germs that caused the diarrhea are passed to the second child.
Food to hands to food: Germs are transmitted from raw, uncooked foods, such as chicken, to hands; the germs are then transferred to other foods, such as salads. Cooking the raw food kills germs, BUT, the salad remains contaminated.
Nose, mouth, or eyes to hands to others: Germs that cause colds, eye infections, and other illnesses can spread to the hands by sneezing, coughing, or rubbing the eyes and then can be transferred to other family members or co‐workers!!
Food to hands to infants: Germs from uncooked foods are transferred to hands and then to infants. If a parent handling raw chicken, for example, doesn’t wash his hand before tending to an infant, they could transfer germs such as salmonella from the food to the infant.
The CDC recommends vigorous scrubbing with warm, soapy water for at least 15 seconds. When soap and water are not available, liquid hand sanitizers such as Purell is a good substitute. Keep a little bottle in your pocket at all times!
To prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as diarrhea and hepatitis A from spreading from family member to family member and sometimes throughout a community, PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS before preparing food, after changing a diaper, and after using the bathroom. It will help keep your family and co-workers safe and healthy!
