Nice to meet you -- but not your germs

[proud2BlibKansan]

The news anchor shakes my hand. "So glad you could make it," he says.

Then he turns, still talking, and presses the nozzle on the hand sanitizer.

This is the new American greeting. Howdy, neighbor -- let me wipe you off. The current hysteria over the H1N1 flu virus has people so spooked, they don't even wait until you leave the room. They touch you, then untouch you. Connect-disconnect.

"So, have you done many cities?" the news anchor says, vigorously rubbing his hands.

I have done many cities. I am traveling the country on a book tour. And I've been astounded to learn that the thing that most unifies America is not patriotism, faith or even Jon and Kate.

It's Purell.

more . . . http://www.freep.com/article/20091101/COL01/911010495/1082/col01

[AndyA]

1. Mr. Monk would be so proud.

He started a trend.

Probably a good one, since so many people don't wash their hands often enough. I guess I'd be willing to offend someone in the interest of not getting sick, since you don't know where their hands have been before they shook your hand.

I've gotten sick in the past from sitting next to someone coughing and sneezing on an airplane, or something of that nature, and I remember thinking at the time how mad I was going to be if I got sick because of it.

I lost time from work, had additional expense to see the doctor, etc., it's just not worth it.

[pipi_k]

3. People who know me say I'm a female "Monk"

Although I don't think I'm quite that bad...


but yes, I am OCD about clean hands, and always have been even as a kid. I could be filthy from head to toe, except my hands had to be clean. My grandson seems to have inherited that same trait...

Anyway, I don't go so far as to rub Purell into my hands in the presence of the person whose hand I've touched, but I do make it a point to keep my hands away from my face, and to wash my hands as soon as I possibly can. Or else I'll use little alcohol wipes when nobody can see me. It's pretty amazing/disgusting how much dirt rubs off on those things even when you think your hands are clean.

Oh, and I use either my shirt, or a paper towel, to open doors in public.

And I have disinfecting wipes to go over doorknobs and other things people have touched after they've visited my home.



PS...but I don't alphabetize my cereal boxes or organize my clothing by color...

:7

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Too clean may be just as bad

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no2/larson.htm

Water content, humidity, pH, intracellular lipids, and rates of shedding help retain the protective barrier properties of the skin. When the barrier is compromised (e.g., by hand hygiene practices such as scrubbing), skin dryness, irritation, cracking, and other problems may result. Although the palmar surface of the hand has twice as many cell layers and the cells are >30 times thicker than on the rest of the skin (47), palms are quite permeable to water (48).

Long-term changes in skin pH associated with handwashing may pose a concern since some of the antibacterial characteristics of skin are associated with its normally acidic pH (49). In one report, pH increased 0.6 to 1.8 units after handwashing with plain soap for 1 to 2 min and then gradually declined to baseline levels over a period of 45 min to 2 hr (50). Some soaps can be associated with long-standing changes in skin pH, reduction in fatty acids, and subsequent changes in resident flora such as propionibacter (51).

In an investigation of the effect on skin of repeated use of two washing agents, all skin function tests (stratum corneum capacitative resistance, lipids, transepidermal water loss, pH, laser Doppler flow, and skin reddening) were markedly changed after a single wash, and after 1 week further damage was noted (52). In a study of irritant skin reactions induced by three surfactants, damage lasted for several days; complete skin repair was not achieved for 17 days (53).

Soaps and detergents have been described as the most damaging of all substances routinely applied to skin (43). Anionic and cationic detergents are more harmful than nonionic detergents (54), and increased concentrations of surfactant result in more rapid, severe damage (55). Each time the skin is washed, it undergoes profound changes, most of them transient. However, among persons in occupations such as health care in which frequent handwashing is required, long-term changes in the skin can result in chronic damage, irritant contact dermatitis and eczema, and concomitant changes in flora.

[imdjh]

7. I have an itchy dry patch between my middle and ring finger due to cleaning with bleach.

I have tried using nonbleach products, but it doesn't do as good a job in some applications. Gloves are a good idea, but they are a pain.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Our school nurse told our kids that they can only use Purell 9 times

then they need to wash their hands.

[imdjh]

2. "In San Francisco, we wash our hands before using the bathroom."

I cracked up when a friend said that to me, more than 20 years ago. A bit before that, Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the Pope had gotten off the plane in San Francisco, knelt, kissed the ground, and contracted hepatitis.

My biggest complaint in this regard, is that in the US we revere and reward people for going to work when they are contagious. And we punish the responsible ones who stay home and keep their illnesses to themselves.

[pipi_k]

4. Oh god, an ex boss I had...I could have strangled him...

OK, he's the owner of the business. But that didn't make him indispensable, as there were times where he would be away at some convention or another or on vacation for a whole week without the business going down the toilet.

But would he stay home when he was sick?

NO!!!

And he would use my telephone or the office computer and then get pissed/insulted when I used Lysol to clean the stuff so I wouldn't get sick too.

Didn't matter that I was on salary and would get paid whether I was there or not, I did not like being sick and suffering just because he was too stupid/stubborn to keep his plague at home where it belonged.

:mad:

[imdjh]

6. I have sprayed lysol around too. People get offended, but that's their problem.

I walked into work at my second job one day, and the person I was relieving was standing there behind the counter, visibly miserable, and had clearly worked the entire shift in the throws of a terrible cold. I turned around and walked right back out, went to the corner store, and came back with a can of lysol. I sprayed every surface that I or a customer might touch, even the goods in the store.

I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I really really really don't like being sick, especially something of a respiratory nature.

[Love Bug]

8. So how would the alcohol in the sanitizer kill the H1N1 virus?

I thought alchohol only killed bacteria. Unless you can rinse it off, how is someone going to get rid of a virus?