Hand Sanitizer Effectiveness

According to research performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand sanitizer is considered as effective at killing germs as washing your hands with soap and water, unless hands are visibly soiled. Clean hands are very important for stopping the spread of germs. Hand soap and cleansers need to not only wash away dirt and grime, but kill the germs and prevent them from spreading from one person to another.

Here’s ways on keeping your hands sanitized effectively:

• When you have time, wet your hands with warm water and then lather up with soap.
• Rub your hands together and scrub all the surfaces, including your palms, wrists, between your fingers, and under your nails. Rub and scrub for about 30 seconds.
• Rinse and then dry your hands on a paper towel or clean cloth.
• In public bathrooms, turn off the water using a paper towel to avoid getting germs on your clean hands.You can use the same towel to open the door. Door handles are great carriers of germs.
• When you can’t wash your hands with soap and water, a good alternative is to use an alcohol-free hand-sanitizing foam. Alcohol-based gels will dry out your skin and lead to cracking and they are less effective than the non-alcoholic hand sanitizer.

It sounds almost too simple to be true. But, an important part of staying healthy this flu season is to wash and sanitize your hands. Try it! You won’t be sorry you did!

Alcohol-free hand sanitizers kill certain germs that are easily transmitted. Studies have shown that families who use hand sanitizer are 59% less likely to spread sickness to other members of their family who also use hand sanitizers than they are to spread it to people outside of the family who do not use hand sanitizer.

Keep a portable size hand sanitizer in your purse, diaper bag and car to make sure you have it whenever you may need it and soap and water is not available to use. How many times have you used a public restroom to find there is no soap to wash your hands with? One squirt of our hand sanitizer into the palm of your hand is enough to spread all over both hands to effectively kill 99.999% germs you may have on your hands. You do not need to rinse off the sanitizer- it dries quickly and as it does, gets rid of the germs. Our alcohol-free hand sanitizer also continues to work up to 30 minutes, compared to 4 or 5 minutes for alcohol based sanitizers.

As an added warning when purchasing hand sanitizers, it is important to check their alcohol concentration. Only alcohol-based sanitizers with a minimum of 60% ethyl alcohol, ethanol or isopropanol can effectively kill the most harmful bacteria. Also, these items should be kept away from children, since the high concentration of alcohol could result in alcohol poisoning if ingested. However, our alcohol-free hand sanitizers are strong enough for the military and safe enough for moms, but should still not be ingested. Finally, hand sanitizers are not cleaning agents. Therefore, when removing visible dirt, blood or other bodily fluids from your hands, you must wash your hands first with soap and water in order for the the sanitizer to be effective.

Labels: child care cleaning, cleaning tips, H1N1 Swine Flu, Hand Sanitizer, house cleaning