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Friday, September 18, 2009

Why wash your hands? It might not prevent the Swine Flu!!

washing hands

Mom's often have good advice, but it appears the the adage of washing hands isn't all encompassing and will be little to no benefit in preventing the Swine Flu .

Typically passing soap over your hands and scrubbing can be quite effective in the prevention of passing microbes from person to person.

When it comes to the swine flu, contributing factors to the passage of infection such as restroom use, touching a door knob, covering your mouth when coughing, passing money and others can not be compensated by washing hands alone.

Recent Studies point to the passage of Swine flu through breathing and inhaling the microscopic
particles that are already in the air.

When someone sneezes, droplets are released into the air and they become aerosols that are breathed into the lungs by surrounding individuals.

Therefore, it is noted that the influenza virus is not passed from contaminated hands.

sneezing

The CDC continues to recommend washing of hands for prevention of infection and overall this is a very good piece of advise.

Companies such as Steris Hand Sanitizers have seen jumps in their sales of almost 15 percent and that increase could triple over the next several months if a new increase or outbreak is seen throughout the U.S.

Overall, although the Swine Flu pandemic might not be prevented from washing your hands, there are many other bacterial and viral infections that may be prevented.

The Swine flu pandemic should not change your habit of washing your hands!!!

Post first seen at InterActive Blog