Is it better than hand washing? Does it create mutant strains of alcoholic germs? Might my retirement savings have actually increased had I invested in the makers of Purell last year?

In fact, alcohol-based hand sanitizers are tremendously effective in preventing the spread of the seasonal flu, H1N1, colds and other viral- and bacterial-based diseases; and sales are through the roof.

There are in fact few negative consequences about this hand-sanitizer mania sweeping the country, although the gels do have their limitations.

Wash or squirt?

Most respectable public health experts will tell you that hand washing with ordinary soap and water is the most effective way to remove germs from your hands. But “effective” is a questionable term. The recommendation calls for hand washing with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds to create a full lather and to reach all crevices of your hands and wrists, as advocated on Sesame Street yet rarely put into practice.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill most types of bacteria, viruses and fungi in a few seconds. While rubbing your hands with sanitizer for 15 seconds is ideal, poor hand-sanitizer use still beats poor hand washing.

And people seem to use hand sanitizers often — so much so that, from a public health standpoint, although proper hand washing is technically superior than alcohol gels most of the time, hand-sanitizer mania will likely be a more effective means to reduce disease transmission. Studies have shown how hand sanitizers reduce gastrointestinal illnesses in households and curb absentee rates in schools and workplaces.

Trash the sink?

Alas, you can’t rely solely on alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Alcohol can kill bacteria but not necessarily clean your hands. That is, it does not remove dirt, which includes organic material such as blood or feces. Soap and water must be the first choice in restrooms.

Also, there are a few key germs that alcohol doesn’t kill well, such as the norovirus or E. coli, which is why soap and water is best during cooking, too.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are best precisely where you see them the most, in hallways, offices and other public areas. They can rid your hands of germs you just picked up before you inadvertently shove them into your body via your nose, mouth or eyes.

Alcohol kills bacteria usually by dissolving its cellular membrane. It’s a serious killer, like fire or bleach, and germs don’t develop resistance to it. Also, the alcohol evaporates quickly after killing the first layer or so of germs on your skin. This means that, although benevolent bacteria are killed, enough remain on lower levels or elsewhere up the arm to re-colonize. Fast evaporation, coupled with moisturizers, also means this won’t dry out your skin.

Anti-bacterial soap, ironically, is largely considered the worse thing you can use to kill germs. This is because antibacterial agents kill many but not all bacteria and then linger on the skin to enable the remaining bad bacteria to develop a resistance.

Watch out for the cheap stuff

To be effective, alcohol-based hand sanitizers must contain at least 60 percent alcohol. Some cheaper brands contain less and are no better than water. Worse, they offer false protection.

Sixty percent pure alcohol can pack a punch if ingested. Fortunately, as reported in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2006, even hospital workers using hand sanitizers all day long do not absorb discernable levels of alcohol into their blood.

There is a small risk that a child could drink or lick an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. That’s something parents and teachers need to monitor. Only a few reports of poisonings have been reported. Even alcoholics will have a rough time abusing this because the gels taste rather bad. I prefer not to reveal how I know.

View our complete selection of:

Hand Sanitizers (http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_index.asp?cls=56777&referred_id=5618)

Hand Soaps (http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_index.asp?cls=56778&referred_id=5618)

Article compliments of Christopher Wanjek, LiveScience’s Bad Medicine Columnist.  Fighting the Flu: Do Hand Sanitizers Work?   Posted: 27 October 2009 09:49 am ET.  http://www.livescience.com/health/091027-hand-sanitizers.html

Read more:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-23-swinefluupdate23_ST_N.htm

Prepare yourself for H1N1 using safety products from Cole-Parmer

Snippet compliments of Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY.

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For workplace settings, the spreading virus threatens to interrupt business, create a loss in production, and debilitate the workforce due to many employees falling ill at the same time. As the flu season moves into the winter months and holiday gatherings bring staff members into closer contact, the potential for greater transmission—and more absences—increases.

Typical H1N1 flu symptoms include fever or chills, cough or sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, tiredness, diarrhea, or vomiting. The 2009 H1N1 flu, like the seasonal flu, may worsen underlying chronic medical conditions.

According to Janet Napolitano, United States Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, preparedness is the best antidote to public health threats such as H1N1, especially in the workplace. To safeguard your staff, consider the following strategies:

Safety

• Provide resources that promote hygiene, including hand sanitizers, disinfectants, disposable towels, and more, that work to keep surfaces clean.
• Review policies for sick leave and communicate the policies to employees. Emphasize flexibility, allowing workers who have the flu to stay home and away from other workers. Also, plan to have workers stay home if they are caring for a sick family member.
• Consider telecommuting as an option for employees who are equipped to continue their work from home.

Business Operations

• Prepare business continuity plans to cope with absences and maintain productivity. Some health officials may advise “social distancing,” or increasing the physical space between people to decrease frequency of contact and stem the spread of the virus.
• Identify key roles required to maintain operations and key communicators for assignments and functions that may need to be filled by backup personnel. Also, select a staff member to assist those who may become ill.
• Establish an emergency communications plan to put into effect if needed. This should include a list of who is responsible for communicating business status updates both internally and externally.

General Communications

• Keep employees informed about how to prevent the spread of the virus, what symptoms to look for, and how to protect themselves. Encourage workers to get the seasonal flu vaccine and the 2009 H1N1 vaccine when available.
• Share policies and plans with employees so they are aware of your expectations. Prepare ways to communicate with employees who do not speak English or those with disabilities.

Staff members can take an active role in maintaining their health by washing their hands frequently (with soap for 20 seconds or with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer), avoiding touching their nose, mouth, and eyes, and covering their coughs and sneezes with tissues. In addition, keeping work surfaces, including telephones and computers, clean and avoiding using coworkers’ phones and computers will help prevent the spread of the virus. Of course, a healthy lifestyle including proper diet, rest, exercise, and relaxation is a significant catalyst to maintaining overall health.

Check out all of these cool safety preparedness products from Cole-Parmer

This year, it’s especially important to have clear information on what you can do to prepare for the flu season. With this in mind, we are happy to share a new feature for the U.S. which allows you to more easily find locations near you for getting both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccine. After expanding Google Flu Trends to a total of 20 countries and 38 languages, allowing more people to see near real-time estimates of flu activity, we began brainstorming with the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services (HHS), their flu.gov collaborators and the American Lung Association on the flu shot finder and other ways Google can be helpful to people this flu season.

You can check out the flu shot finder at www.google.com/flushot. The same tool will also be available shortly on www.flu.gov and the American Lung Association websites. It’s important to note that this project is just beginning and we have not yet received information about flu shot clinics for many locations. In addition, many locations that are shown are currently out of stock. We launched this service now in order to help disseminate information about locations where vaccines are available, and also to make more vaccine providers aware of the project so that they can contribute.

Especially given slower than expected vaccine production, we think it’s important to bring together flu shot information in a coherent manner. We’ve been working with HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local health agencies to gather information on flu vaccine locations across the country, particularly for the H1N1 flu vaccine (both the nasal-spray vaccine and the shot). At the moment we have data for locations of flu vaccine directly from 20 states and counting. We are also continuing to add information from chain pharmacies and other providers in all 50 states; today, you’ll find results from chains such as Walgreens, CVS and PDX participants, such as Kmart, Duane Reade, WinnDixie and Giant Eagle.

Of course you should still call flu vaccine providers ahead of time to find out more about availability and eligibility for the two vaccines.

We hope to continue providing you with relevant information to help keep you and your loved ones healthy.

Posted by Roni Zeiger, M.D., Product Manager and Jennifer Haroon, Product Marketing Manager.    11/10/2009 09:15:00 AM

Re-posted via courtesy of Google:  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/finding-flu-vaccine-information-in-one.html

youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwUdmPl0bU

pandemic preparedness:  http://bit.ly/2SeJmk

from flu.gov: http://www.flu.gov/psa/contest/2009/index.html