How much benefit is there to washing your own hands when you are sick when it comes to preventing the spreading around the sickness you already have?
I’m thinking that if you are sick, then your sick germs are oozing out of your hands. If you wash your hands, then how long will it take before your hands are once again oozing with your sick germs?
The germs are not coming from your hands; they’re usually coming from your mouth and nose. Since most people touch their face often, they get the germs on their hands.
And then they touch other things with their hands that other people either put in their mouths directly, or put in their hands and then touch their face with their hands. Germs on the small of your back don’t get as much play that way.
How about sweaty palms?
So if I am sick, wearing medical gloves all day will not help prevent the spread of cooties if I am just as likely to touch my face with gloves on as I am with gloves off?
Right. Gloves will help for the short term in that they’ll minimize anything you might still have on your hands, but once you start touching your face, your germed-on possessions, etc., again, you’ll get the germs back on them.
Cold germs can live for a few hours on surfaces like doorknobs, so they’ll surely live on gloves.
However, if you have sores/cuts/cracked or chafed skin on your hands, wearing gloves will prevent the spread of anything infectious in that respect.
Is the problem touching your “face” or touching your eyes, snot, and saliva?
The latter. It’s really anything transmissible, and skin cells don’t travel well. Saliva and snot, on the other hand, get passed along easily on the hands, through sneezing, and just through breathing/coughing.
Saliva, nasal discharge and droplets from coughing will transmit germs from respiratory diseases, like colds and flu. Your hands get contaminated from casual contact- touching your nose, coughing into your hand, wiping your mouth. Washing your hands regularly to prevent illness in you is to prevent you from taking any germs you picked up from doorknobs etc and bringing them to your mouth or nose, which will get you sick. Washing your hands will prevent others from getting sick by reducing the chance of you depositing any germs you got on your hands (from your mouth or nose) onto surfaces for other people to pick up (or contaminating their food, or touching their nose, mouth etc).
If you want to prevent those germs from directly infecting someone close to you, washing your hands before touching them is a good idea. You are better off wearing a surgical mask around anyone who shouldn’t get sick than wearing gloves. Gloves, very shortly, become as contaminated as your hands will through regular use.
Mythbusters tested this. They found that simple precautions greatly reduced the spread of germs from touch.
Gloves might help, if they act as a reminder to not touch your face.
If you’re really worried about transmitting your cold/flu illness to someone close to you, forget the gloves and wear a surgical mask. Fit it properly to your face by pinching the metal band over the bridge of your nose and pull the bottom all the way under your chin. Between that and frequent hand washing you will reduce chances of transmission greatly.
The only way I could return to work after having H1N1 in January 2010, was to wear the mask. My doctor and the doctor of my pregnant, un-vaccinated (she felt bad about that) boss insisted I stay home an additional 2 days after symptoms subsided unless I wear a mask at all times at work. It wasn’t much fun, I felt like a leper. But it worked. No one else got it.
If I catch a terrible cold, I could handle someone else’s food with my bare hands, and they won’t catch it if they eat it so long as I don’t pick my nose first? Interesting.
This is all good info, thanks.
Well, and as long as you don’t sneeze and droplets land on a table, then you go an hour later and touch the table and pick up your germs again (or someone else’s).
This is why handwashing is emphasized. It’s not just your immediate bodily secretions, or anyone else’s - the cold and flu viruses are pretty darned resilient in the environment, and this is one reason why they’re fairly successful diseases.
That’s how I caught a ton of colds when I worked in pediatrics, even though I didn’t deal directly with the patients. The nurse would see these kids coughing and sneezing, hand over the charts and other things from clinic to me, and wash the heck out of her hands. Meanwhile I wouldn’t always think of that, and would have to handle a lot of stuff from the day in clinic that had cold viruses transferred to it. Wipe your eyes or nose or something without thinking, and bingo, you’ve got a cold brewing.
As long as you don’t breathe on the food or talk over it (saliva droplets), or cough. That’s where the mask comes in.
Be really certain that your hands are clean. Touching your lips, blowing your nose, coughing into your hand can all contaminate your hands. Washing your hands well before handling food, when sick (or really anytime) is always a good idea.
Ultimately, the issue is adopting good protocols so if either my wife or I gets a cold nobody else in the house gets it. Quarantine. We had agreed the sick one should start with gloves if illness is suspected and then move to a mask if illness is confirmed.
I had a bit of a runny nose this morning so I immediately put on gloves. I went about a did things with gloves on and then came to realize the gloves were just touching all kinds of stuff around the house instead of my bare hands. I was avoiding touching my face with the gloves.
Now I see the mask is the better option along with frequent hand washing and hand sanitizer. Then perhaps add new gloves if the sick one is going to touch a likely transmission source.
Is hand sanitizer better or worse than washing if you had to pick just one?
Does Getty’s doc have an infectious disease prevention protocol for you?
Thorough washing of hands (soap, warm water, between fingers, sing the Twinkle Little Star song twice) is best, IMHO. Hand sanitizer as a back up.
Here’s a good link: Hand-washing: Do's and don'ts - Mayo Clinic
I have seen protocols thrown around among parents, like wear gloves, change clothes when coming inside, etc. However, getting a better grasp of the actual methods of transmission is helping me to better understand and apply the protocols.
Knowing the rules is one thing. Understanding the rules is a better thing.
Oh, of course.
I was just curious what your doc recommends with respect to gloves vs mask etc. What I know applies to the general person, I much less about what the needs of a special situation such as yours would entail.
We have pieced together protocols, which includes general tidbits from others, such as “wear gloves.” However, there has obviously been a lack of depth of understanding about exactly what that means.
Our docs have given us no protocols. We rely other parents to figure this stuff out and share ideas.
I don’t know that the protocols for us would be terribly different than for others because it’s the same cooties and the same modes of transmission we are trying to control, regardless of our particular situation. If you know of some good protocols, then we can probably alter them for our own purposes, as needed.
Actually, if anyone can improve on it, here are some protocols I have seen from others:
Prevent disease from entering the home by (a) keeping potentially sick people out; (b) washing & sanitizing hands upon entry; © disallowing outside backpacks, bags, etc. from coming into clean areas; (d) disinfecting packages that come in
Prevent disease from spreading in the hose by (a) quarantine known sick people; (b) clean the tub before the child bathes in it; © disinfect door handles and light switches; (d) don’t leave dirty laundry out; (e) wash and sanitize hands frequently
Here is something I wrote many months ago about this:
The common cold can be deadly for SMA children, in part due to cough insufficiency and the inability to manage secretions. We encourage medical professionals to encourage SMA families to adopt sickness protocols including, without limitation, the following:
Keep hands clean at all times, especially when handling the child, the child’s equipment, or the child’s food.
Dry hands on disposable towels instead of bath towels that accumulate bacteria.
Use hand sanitizer in addition to thorough hand washing.
If a parent has been exposed to sickness, change clothes and take a shower before handling your child.
Avoid unnecessary exposure to indoor public places such as restaurants, stores, and even medical offices, particularly in the colder months.
Administer Synagis during Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) season, which is typically from late autumn to early spring.
Insist that all persons who enter the home wash and sanitize their hands immediately upon entering.
Ban anyone from your home who may be sick until that person has not been sick for at least 48 hours.
Ban anyone from your home for at least 48 hours who may have been exposed to someone who is sick.
Get plenty of sleep and eat well to keep your immune system strong.
If one of two parents is sick, one parent should sleep in another room to avoid both parents getting sick.
If a parent is sick, the sick parent should wear gloves and a face mask at all times until no longer sick, should wash hands more frequently, and should avoid contaminating the child as much as possible.
If you are expecting deliveries, in-home services, or other guests, schedule them in the morning, before they have a chance to be exposed to sickness in other places before visiting your home.