Wash those germs away
View(s):By Kumudini Hettiarachchi
It is a very simple, routine activity that will ensure good health and prevent the need to go to doctors or hospitals. Washing hands thoroughly, with clean water and soap, is essential before or after certain activities stresses Consultant Community Physician, Dr. Dhammica Rowel of the Family Health Bureau, cautioning however that at the same time no one should get too obsessed with hand-washing.
Hand-washing is a good health practice, the benefits of which have been known to human beings for a long time, she says. Diligent hand-washing at the required time will prevent infections such as common diarrhoeal diseases (loose or watery stools) and dysentery (loose or watery stools with blood) which usually spread through the faeco-oral route, MediScene understands.
Certain viral and bacterial respiratory-tract infections which are spread through contact could also be kept at bay, points out Dr. Rowel. So when should men, women and children wash their hands? The answer is known by all, but sometimes practised in the breach. Here is the list that this Community Physician gives:
- Before and after meals
- Before preparing a meal
- Before feeding children
- Before handling newborns
- After the use of a toilet, either to pass urine or faeces
- After cleaning a baby who has passed urine or faeces
- After attending to a child or patient who has used the toilet
- After using public transport
Referring to how a person should wash his hands, Dr. Rowel says that soap should not only be rubbed against the palms but also the webbed area where the fingers meet the palms (see graphic). Clean water is an essential requirement, preferably running water, along with any kind of soap or liquid soap. Advising mothers to inculcate in their children at a young age the good habit of washing hands, she stresses that places such as schools should have the necessary facilities to foster this habit by providing clean water and soap. After washing the hands a clean cloth could be used to dry them.
However, too much hand-washing could also have an adverse impact, MediScene learns, with Dr. Rowel pointing out that “the normal commensals in your hand which afford some protection could get destroyed”. The other effects could be heavy wrinkling of the skin or dried skin leading to a “washerwoman’s hands”. There is absolutely no need to be obsessed about washing one’s hands, she urges, as this could lead to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
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