Every year we travel in our rv we get sick. That's 20 years or so of traveling. This past year we washed our hands religiously after touching other people, particularly getting change after buying something.

We also used Purell before eating out. This is the first year we haven't gotten sick.

The sad part is I got sick this past January...while at home. In any case, I have learned to sing "happy birthday" while washing my hands and to reach for a towel to touch the faucet before turning off the water.

It's worth a shot. I wonder if they sell Purell in France.

loisco, it has been my experience that people look askance at me when I use Purrell even discreetly at a restaurant in Europe. The odor of alcohol wafts about and heads turn and noses sniff.

We pass it around under the table to our American counterparts and my Italian friends just snicker at us.

I don't care though, I use it anyway.
I really don't know if it is sold there.

How do you handle dry skin caused by alcohol application?

I use those wet towlettes only, and only if a bathroom is not available.

I have 2 things to add:

1. Purell is available without the
antibacterial agent.

2. When flying, I always use Purell to
wash up. There was a report a year or

Sorry,

There was a report a year or two ago about how unsanitary the water is on airplanes. If the water coming out of the tap is not safe to drink, how safe can it be to wash your hands with?

If my hands are <i>dirty</i> (from door handles, stair rails, etc) I'd much rather use a hand-wipe than the liquid. I want to <b>clean</b> grime from my hands, not just kill germs.

Marcy,

I shouldn't express my views further on this - - I think that the whole mindset and perspectives associated with &quot;evidence-based&quot; <i><b>public health</b></i> (and as a corollary, occupational safety) is totally different from what I (and you? and other physicians?) consider evidence-based <i><b>medicine</b></i>.

They just don't seem to exist - - <i><b>any</b></i> properly designed studies - - on virtually <i><b>any</b></i> infection control measures, and their effect on the acquisition of contagious diseases by healthy people in their normal environments. Even the studies on the newer alcohol-based hand cleansers don't focus on actual transmission; they focus on willingness of personnel to use them, compliance rates and skin irritation.

If you want a reason to alter what you do when you travel, I think it has been shown for centuries that highly crowded places increase the transmission of contagious diseases. Thus, if you are worried about influenza in Italy, go to its least crowded regions preferentially.

I saw Purell (or some antibacterial lotion, I can't remember) for sale in the pharmacy/toothpaste sections of large supermarkets in France. Also, bought some in Australia, too.

While interesting--and I imagine that the scientist in you is shaking your head---I am less interested in studies than I am in my own anecdotal evidence: it works for me.

Does that mean that by using alcohol-based hand sanitizer I am becoming more conscientious about my own and others' actions that might spread contagion? Maybe. Does it mean that I am more likely to use hand sanitizer that is convenient than to wash my hands with soap and water? Maybe. So, aren't increased compliance and greater awareness of the mechanism of infection both benefits of using hand sanitizer over hand washing?

There was one study that actually showed a significant reduction in pathogens with hand sanitizer:

&quot;A 1999 study examined the effectiveness of an alcohol solution compared with standard handwashing procedures in clinical wards and intensive care units of a large public university hospital.3 Forty-seven HCWs were randomly assigned to wash their hands with soap and water, while others used an alcohol-based agent. The number of colony-forming units on agar plates from hand printing in three samples was counted. The average reduction in the number of colony-forming bacteria after hand hygiene was 49.6% for soap and water, and 88.2% for the alcohol-based agent.&quot;






Your point about compliance is well taken. And?

HI Intrepid--it seems that your post belies your name!! I really don't think a person wearing a mask would inspire &quot;hysteria&quot;. Many patients needing chemotherapy must wear a mask in crowded places. Maybe you were just trying to make a joke and I took you literally.....

I use them not only on my hands, but to wipe down the tray table and anything else I can where I am sitting. I notice that our grocery stores are providing wipeds near the shopping carts too

Our management put dizinfectant wipes in each bathroom and in each coffee station. As they explained in e-mail &quot;because we unable to provide each employee with a flu shot&quot;. Thanks to MrAmazed I know &quot;why now&quot;

(San Francisco, CA - the fly travelled that far??)

Does anybody here use Airborne to try and ward off colds when flying? Oprah Winfrey had the lady who invented it (a school teacher) on her show some time ago and it seems to be a popular item. I was thinking about getting some before a trip I'll be taking to Europe in about a month.

Here's a link about it.

http://www.airbornehealth.com/

Yes, I use airborne and I love it. At the first sign of the sniffles or a scratchy throat I run and plop a tablet into some juice. It is really good in lemon Propel, but water will do.

It really works too. It hasn't let me down yet. I take it on the plane and off and on during the trip. The other night a woman was coughing and wheezing at me at the market and I when I got home I took one for precaution.

And....yes....I wipe down my tray and the seat arms and....the seat belt buckle in the plane too with Purell...I admit it.

SeaUrchin,

So you have to dissolve the Airborne in juice? I thought you could just pop it like an aspirin. Have you ever taken just the straight herbal supplement Echinacia? I have had pretty good luck with that in the past, if I remember to actually take it that is!

Oh, the herbal supplements make me queezy sometimes (is that how you spell queezy?).

Yes you put the airborn in a little water like an alka seltzer, it fizzes out and then you drink it. I don't think you had better just swallow it, it would pack quite a kick! And when you open your mouth bubbles would fly out!

FainaAgain, most alcohol based hand cleaners contain moisturizers, but it's been reported that they cause less dry skin and chapping than soap and water.

Well, ever since the influenza outbreak in Asia, a few years ago, I've been one of those people that wore a mask on an international flight/airplane. sorry guys.
I've done it discreetly. After the movies come on, i just put the mask on, and stay seated. occassionally i've had a flight attendant do a &quot;double-take&quot; of me, or a passenger, walking down the aisle, take a 2nd look, but no comments, and NO hysteria, either.
and, i didn't catch the colds/viruses, etc, that i always catch on flights, either.
just my experiences--
surfingmomma

Rex - sorrry, old chap, you are a few journal issues out of the loop on this one. There are actually several well designed and executed studies on the efficacy of alcohol based hand sanitizers. It took that to turn me - a dyed-in-the-wool hand washer before and after each patient - to start using them. Turns out the feared rampant alcohol mediated skin irritation - with resulant increased risk of infection due to integumentrary result - just does not happen. In fact, there is less irritation than with soap and water washing.
Many (most?) folks, even some who should know better, fail to recognize that handwashing is a mechanical means of disinfection, that it is the scrubbing that physically removes the nasties and the water that flushes them away. The advent of &quot;anitbacterial&quot; (note: NOT bactericidal!) soaps further reinforced this magical thinking about handwashing.
For those who live in the real world and not that of clinical care - this means that yes, you should wash your hands - with lots of rubbing and running water - if they are visibly soiled. Hand sanitizers won't get rid of the big chunks, but do perform pretty well against the microscopic boogers.
Now I need to go polish my duty shoes and starch my cap...

I would like to read even one of the &quot;well-published&quot; studies (I did do a fairly thorough MEDLINE search before my last post) - - but, whatever their clinical endpoints, I feel certain that there are none that address (as I posted above)...

&quot;any infection control measures, and their effect on the acquisition of contagious diseases by healthy people in their normal environments&quot;.