Hand Sanitizer and Flu Prevention

[princessmom29]

There was thread a while back about preventing flu and antibacterial products. I found this article today, and found it interesting :

http://www.slate.com/id/2245896/?GT1=38001

Apparently hand sanitizer is not as effective as some like to think!

 

[dawnmommy]

There was thread a while back about preventing flu and antibacterial products. I found this article today, and found it interesting :

http://www.slate.com/id/2245896/?GT1=38001

Apparently hand sanitizer is not as effective as some like to think!

Right, specifically for influenza, which tends to be airborne (spread by sneezing and coughing). That is logical.

We'll continue to use it to prevent illnesses that are less airborne (pretty much all that don't involve coughing or sneezing), as well as infections such as e-coli.

 

[QVCshopper]

There was a lot of stuff about this on the cruise board. Anyway, some say that "antimicrobial" hand sanitizer is good for killing the stomach virus. The product can't have alcohol--the active ingredient is benzyl. chloride or something like that... search the thread "Illness on Wonder" for more info.

That said, I used the stuff religiously on our cruise and we didn't get ill. Also, regular hand washing is key.

 

[Jareds_mommy]

we use T36 hand sanitizer I hope its as good as it sounds lol
so far we have been happy with it

,ALDA's T36® Antiseptic Hand Sanitizer Gel is a combination of 0.15% benzalkonium chloride (“BZK”) in 70% ethanol. Aloe vera is added to moisturize and soften the skin.

This combination of ethanol and BZK is more powerful than standard alcohol hand sanitizers, which typically contain only 62% ethanol and do not kill all types of infectious micro-organisms.

Also, alcohol evaporates completely in a short period of time while BZK does not.

The residual BZK that remains on the skin provides long lasting protection against infectious micro-organisms.

T36® has been tested on more than 26 clinically-important infectious bacteria, viruses and fungi and quickly kills all of them, including HIV, Polio, Legionella, Norwalk-like virus and the resistant bacteria, VRE and MRSA, in as little as 15 seconds.

 

[princessmom29]

we use T36 hand sanitizer I hope its as good as it sounds lol
so far we have been happy with it

That sounds like the stuff we used in our lab. It definitely kills microorganisms, but only as long as it is wet. Once it is dry effectiveness drops drastically, as with all disinfecting products. I think that fact, combined with the airbore transmission route for flu is why they found that sanitizing or not didn't make a difference in transmission of flu. Once the sanitizer is dry you can start picking up microbes again. You would have to use it almost constantly to get rid of all of them. I owuld be interested to see a study on gastrointestinal patogens like e coli, like a pp mentioned. I wonder if sanitizing is more effective in preventing the spread of something hand to mouth?

 

[Tiger926]

Just as others have said the flu, which is influenza (eg. H1N1), is spread primarily by airborne particles, so hand sanitizers won't help that. For stomach viruses though (which people continously misname as the 'flu'), and other fecal-oral transmissions, hand sanitizers have been proven to be effective. The article also mentions particular study groups that were done in schools. Schools should only be used when one wants to prove that hand sanitizers don't work (elementary schools especially - I'm a highschool teacher, and the kids are much better for personal hygiene), as kids are very germy and touch everything!

One of our local hospitals ran a huge campaign this past year for handwashing compliance. It incorporated actual handwashing with hand sanitizers, and it worked amazingly well. Not only did the compliance rate go up, but certain bacterias and such went down from previous year's totals (they have to keep track of in-hospital bacteria transmissions like MRSA with staff and patients). There is hand sanitizer everywhere in our local hospitals and it seems to be working based on the actual study investigation.

I don't think the article is that great at all, but it's interesting at best, Tiger

P.S. T36 sanitizer was created here in Canada by a pharmeceutical company -president has PHD in chemistry. It is the first non-hospital sanitizer available to the general public in North America that claims to kill Norwalk virus due to the combination of BZK and 70% alcohol. It was the offical sanitizer of the Vancouver Olympics, and has been approved by Health Canada.

Tiger

 

[princessmom29]

The article also sited hospital study data. The people most at risk form flu include children and the elderly, so it would make sense to study the effectivenes of sanitizing in children. I teach high school as well, and keep germ-x in my room, but i don't really think it helps. The kids that use it every time they come in still get sick. They share food, water bottles, and sodas so hand sanitizer is really beside the point!

 

[Minniemama350]

Never been a big beeiver in the sanitizer, but I keep a bottle of germ-x next to the tissue box at school. My 1st graders use it afer they blow their nose. It simply isn't possible to send them to the bathroom to wash every time they blow. We do wash with soap after the restroom. It is imposible to say that it has helped with all certainty, however, my kids are rarely out sick. I also haven't "wished" any of them had stayed home this year as I have in years past (due to illness).