Hand Sanitizer Vs. Hand Soap
Which will ensure you do not contract colds due to the bacteria which live on your hands; sanitizer or soap? It is becoming more often for people, especially parents, to use hand sanitizer in order to clean their hands, however, is this the best way to eliminate bacteria? Hand Sanitizer is efficient when using the ones that have at least 60% alcohol. Evidently, the only reason this is true is because people do not wash their hands for the recommended time. If people were to wash their hands for 20 seconds or wash for the duration of the "ABC" song, then hand soap would be more effective than hand sanitizer. Also, most people only rinse for 5 seconds which is not enough time to effectively clean your hands.
Hand sanitizer works due to the high concentration of alcohol which is able to kill bacteria on the surface of your hands. The alcohol penetrates the cell membrane of the bacteria and deprives it of its natural properties. This makes an inhospitable environment for any new bacteria which may attempt to live in your hands. When you rub enough hand sanitizer on the surface of your hands it can destroy most of the bacteria. Hand sanitizer however, is not effective when your hands are wet or if there is dirt remaining on your hands since it cannot properly eliminate dirt. Hand sanitizer is best used after recently having washed your hands so there is no real dirt on your hands. Hand sanitizer can only eliminate bacteria that remain on your hands.
Soap is known as an emulsification agent; this causes oil to become soluble and be eliminated with the help of water. Soap is a molecule with two distinct properties which allow it to emulsify oils. At one end it is highly polar which allows it to interact well with water. On the other end it consists of a non-polar group which causes it to interact well with oil. Therefore with these two properties soap is able to bridge the gap in order to allow water to interact with oil. Soap alone cannot eliminate dirt or kill germs, but with the aid of water it is able to wash it all off. Cold water works however, warm water is best to help dissolve oily dirt in order to eliminate it from your hands.
A U.S study showed that longterm care facilities were more likely to receive outbreaks of norovirus (a severe gastrointestinal sickness) if their staff used hand sanitizer instead of soap and water. The results showed that 53 percent of the facilities monitored, preferred hand sanitizer and saw more outbreaks of norovirus. Out of the 45 facilities, 28 were using hand sanitizer rather than soap and water. This was not necessarily the case for the other 17 facilities. Only 18 percent of the remaining facilities saw outbreaks of norovirus because they washed their hands with soap and water rather than using hand sanitizer.
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