What is the easiest way to prevent most disease transmission?

Answer 1

Answer

Hand washing! Hand washing, hand washing! Wash 'em! The proper way to wash hands. Have soap and paper towels within reach. Be certain you can touch the towel directly and not a knob or lever to get towels to come out. Turn on the water and wet hands. Get soap. Scrub. Scrub between all fingers, backs and palms of both hands, under the nails, up to the wrists. Sing the alphabet twice or count to 100. Scrub means scrub, not rub. You aren't killing germs, you are rubbing hard to remove them. (Do not rub so hard you hurt yourself, use good sense.) Now, rinse them under the *still running* water. Use the same motions, between fingers, palms and backs, wrists, nails. The soap "loosened" the germs but this step removes them. When they are clean and soap free, get a paper towel. Get the excess water off you hands, get a clean towel and use it to shut off the water. If you do this while your hands are still dripping, germs from the faucet can cross through the towel because of all the water. You can dry you hands more fully at the point or let them air dry. If you are at home and using cloth towels using the same towel is fine. If you are in a public restroom, be sure not to touch the door with your hands on the way out. Use a towel if you must pull a handle. Nothing prevents disease like hand washing. When you can't wash, use sanitizer, it kills more germs than soap, but leaves them on the hands. Still, they are dead so you win anyway. Hope this helps!

*** As a note to the poster below. I agree that obsessing about germs is fruitless and silly. But, if you know that you have something contagious, are around someone contagious or will be around someone immune-deficient it pays to be more vigilant. I know the handwashing description is overly detailed but we are still only talking about 3 minutes, here. Sometimes it is important to be sure you do it right!***

Don't become obsessive about germs!

Of course it makes sense to wash your hands after going to the bathroom or handling food or when you come home after you have been out in public places, but companies want you to become paranoid re germs so they can sell their products like bacteria soaps, gels and sprays.

Take a look around and start using those brains! There are your parents, grandparents and possibly great-grandparents that survived just fine through all the germs during their lifetime and they weren't always washing their hands every 5 minutes and become paranoid over it.

It appears no one has learned a thing in school or they would know that the skin is the largest breathing organ of the body and it has it's OWN bacteria! This bacteria (if left alone long enough) combats bad bacteria. By constantly washing one's hands in bacterial soaps it dries the hands out causing small sores on the hands and the person is more likely to pick up germs this way. By showering or sitting in hot bathes every single day or twice a day can also cause the skin to lose all that good bacteria. Of course if people work in a dirty area or in a medical field they have to shower from head to toe and also wash their clothing when they get home, but other than that, shower ever couple of days and only wash your hands when you come home, after going to the bathroom, or handling foods.

ANOTHER ANSWER

I AGREE WITH BOTH posters above. THE FIRST poster has it correct; the proper way to wash your hands. Also- people don't have to obsessive. The KEY to the question is "easiest" and "most". Handwashing is the easiest way to prevent disease transmission on a daily basis. Granted, we all survived past generations with germs, but we also endured everything from the common cold to serious illness. Over the years, epidemiologists have found that simple step can decrease the occurance of colds etc.. Such as: "don't cough into your hand. Cough into the crease of your elbow". "The rhinovirus in your nose can live on surfaces longer than we thought. If you have the virus, then touch your nose, the next thing you touch can host the virus until someone else touches the same thing and spreads it to them simply by touching their nose!" As a healthcare worker, I'm more aware of modes of transmission, and for the past 15 years, regular handwashing has proven to be the easiest way to prevent spreading diseases. Handwashing is recommended before and after eating, smoking, nose blowing, and cooking, serving food, and between helping people with their hygiene (daycare children, elderly etc...) ALSO, hospitals and nursing facilities set up carts at the entrance with a note not to enter if you suspect you may have a cold, and provide tissues and waterless hand sanitizer. This is fairly new, and more facilities are doing it. Basically, you should be vigilant about handwashing, but not obsessive!