Hand-washing is best protection against germs

January 23, 2005
The Ottawa Citizen
A11
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Hand washing remains, according to this story, the No. 1 defence against getting or giving germs. That's easily done with hand sanitizers. Keep a bottle on your desk or in your pocket and use it.

Alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers work well. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores. If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.

Cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing. Cough or sneeze into a tissue, then throw it away. If you don't have a tissue, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says you should try to cough into your sleeve or into the bend at your elbow. That blocks the spread of germs and saves the hands from immediately touching germs.

Beware your own fingers. If you haven't washed or use sanitizer, be careful about putting your fingers in your nose, mouth or eyes.

An effective hand wash takes 15 to 20 seconds. That's about the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.

Finally, going out in winter without wearing warm clothes doesn't actually cause a cold, and there's no evidence that being underdressed in frigid weather makes a cold worse.

Being poorly dressed for winter weather can cause hypothermia, but the only thing that causes a cold is a cold virus.