Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Good Hand Washing Benefits Are Touted

Dr. Sandra B. Nichols, Director

Arkansas Department of Health

You are probably familiar with the names Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk and Florence Nightingale. As a result of their innovations, millions of lives have been saved.

It has been my opinion that the name Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) was the first physician known to recognize and promote the medical benefits of hand washing. Why? Because Dr. Semmelweis was the first physician known to recognize and promote the medical benefits of hand washing. What? Yes, hand washing.

Initially, Dr. Semmelweis' theory that infections were transmitted from one patient to another by the unclean hands of the medical staff, was ridiculed and dismissed. Eventually, he demonstrated that when his hospital staff washed their hands with antiseptic soap and water before examining patients, there was a dramatic decline in the death rate on the ward.

Decades later, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand washing remains one of the "most important means of preventing the spread of infection."

Even with modern day immunizations and technology, infection-control experts say washing may be your best protection from a cold or the flu.

This is what happens. Someone sneezes or coughs into their hand and touches a door handle or phone. Then, you touch the same object, or shake their hand, and touch your face or nose. That's all it takes.

Colds and flu are not the only threats. Other illnesses transmitted by dirty hands are:

• Hepatitis A -- a highly contagious form of hepatitis, spread mainly through the fecal-oral route. It can be contracted by consuming contaminated food or drink and carried on an infected person's hands. In 1996, Arkansas reported 500 cases, with one death. Good hygiene, with frequent hand washing, is the primary means of prevention.

• E. coli 0157:H7 -- a life-threatening strain of a common bacteria linked to undercooked beef and underpasteurized milk. Person-to-person transmission can be prevented by infected persons using good hygiene and washing their hands frequently. About 10 to 15 cases are reported each year in Arkansas.

• Salmonellosis -- a bacterial infection that can cause diarrhea, fever and vomiting. It is contracted by eating undercooked contaminated eggs and can be transmitted by the fecal-oral route and by person-to-person contact. Three deaths and 455 cases were reported in Arkansas in 1996. Frequent hand washing can help prevent the spread of this disease.

  In healthcare, it is estimated that acquired infections, unrelated to a patient's original condition, cost $4.5 million annually in the U.S. in extended care and treatment. Such infections are also said to cause deaths among nursing home patients. And, according to a recent study, improper or infrequent hand washing is a factor in the spread of disease in day care settings.

A survey found that 94 percent of Americans say they always wash their hands after going to the bathroom, but observations show only 68 percent of adults actually do so.

Remember, always wash your hands before you:

• prepare or eat food;

• treat a cut or wound or tend to someone who is sick; and

• insert or remove contact lens.

• go to the bathroom;

• handle uncooked food;

• blow your nose, cough or sneeze;

• change a diaper;

• touch a pet;

• handle garbage, or

• tend to someone sick or injured.

For more information or brochures on hand washing, call the Arkansas Department of Health 1-800-275-8007.