By Dr. Joseph Mercola | mercola.com
A behavioral specialist and a special education teacher are spreading awareness with a jaw-dropping post about the importance of washing your hands that has gone viral, as reported by Parents.com.
The two women did a science project with their class, using fresh bread and showing (in stomach-turning photos) the bacteria that grew on the bread after being touched with washed and unwashed hands, along with hands that had used hand sanitizer, which was not nearly as germ-free as the washed hands.
When it comes to preventing the spread of contagious disease, handwashing tops the list. The key is to do it, and to do it correctly, using proper products and techniques.
Handwashing is a simple, effective means of reducing your exposure to disease-causing germs and the possibility of spreading an infection to those around you.
Proper hand hygiene also involves proper drying. Ideally, dry your hands with a sterile paper towel. Air dryers actually spread far more germs than paper towels.
Hand air dryers may spread bacteria and bacterial spores on your hands as you dry, and also spread bacteria as far as nearly 10 feet away.
While paper towels result in cleaner hands, they also have a significant impact on the environment. If Americans reduced their use by just one roll of paper towels each year, it would save 544,000 trees and reduce toxic chemicals released into waterways.
It is possible to dry your hands with one square of paper towel. First, reduce the water on your hands by shaking 12 times and then folding the paper in half to increase absorbency.
Teaching people about handwashing can improve health in the community and reduce the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 31% and respiratory illnesses, like colds, by up to 21%. Through illness prevention, the number of antibiotics prescribed would also decline, which would help reduce antibiotic resistance, since antibiotics are often prescribed unnecessarily for respiratory infections and diarrhea-related illnesses.
Exposure to antibiotics may come from prescription medications as well as the meat you consume.
There are many types of E. coli bacteria, including a particularly virulent strain responsible for 5,000 cases of bacteremia in the U.K. every year, leading researchers to call for prudent use of antibiotics to stem the tide of resistant organisms.
Handwashing is your first line of defense against these types of infections; use proper techniques before and after handling food, after caring for others and when your hands are visibly dirty.
The lack of sanitation in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and the deplorable conditions under which the animals exist require the use of antibiotics to reduce the spread of infection. The meat and waste products from these animals are riddled with antibiotics and caused one of the biggest E. coli outbreaks in 2018.
The outbreak, caused by lettuce, affected 210 people in 36 states. Ninety-six people were hospitalized and five died. The bacteria in the romaine lettuce was believed to be from runoff from a local CAFO farm. The E. coli-tainted water contaminated a nearby canal and was then used for irrigation on the lettuce fields.
