One thing we are constantly being told is the importance of washing your hands to prevent the spread of infection.

From the Mayo Clinic:

Frequent hand washing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading illness. Hand washing requires only soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer — a cleanser that doesn't require water.

When to wash your hands:

As you touch people, surfaces and objects throughout the day, you accumulate germs on your hands. In turn, you can infect yourself with these germs by touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Although it's impossible to keep your hands germ-free, washing your hands FREQUENTLY can help limit the transfer of bacteria, viruses and other microbes.

Always wash your hands before:

■ Preparing food
■ Eating
■ Treating wounds or giving medicine
■ Touching a sick or injured person
■ Inserting or removing contact lenses

Always wash your hands after:

■ Preparing food, especially raw meat or poultry
■ Using the toilet
■ Changing a diaper
■ Touching an animal or animal toys, leashes or waste
■ Blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing into your hands
■ Treating wounds
■ Touching a sick or injured person
■ Handling garbage or something that could be contaminated, such as a cleaning cloth or soiled shoes


Mainhattengirl says: "Hate the hand sanitizer ritual I see going on with tables of Americans."

Notice that you should wash your hands before eating. The hand sanitizer is just another way of "washing" your hands. While you might find it tacky, doctors say it is necessary to prevent the spread of disease. Now, who do you think I'm going to believe?

What is wrong with going to the restroom and washing your hands like people used to do?

Who cares HOW you clean your hands? Obviously it bothers YOU for some reason, but it doesn't bother me.

<b>bettyk</b>,

which part of the following you did not understand?

<i>Water removed 96 percent of the virus; liquid antibacterial soap removed 88 percent; and the <u>hand sanitizer removed only 46 percent.</u></i>

The results, presented this week at the American Society for Microbiology Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

When I am sitting in a restaurant where the wonderful aromas of food are wafting through the room, the last thing I really want to smell is some hand sanitizer. Is it ok if I do not care for that smell? It really ruins my appetite. So yes, this does bother me. Hand washing can be done in the bathroom, that is where the sinks and the soap are.

Mainhattengirl, different strokes for different folks.

I would hope that a majority of people would take the time to get up and go to the restroom to wash their hands AND wash them long enough to actually kill most of the germs. Also, I would hope that they didn't reinfect their hands touching the door handles where maybe the person before them had not washed their hands properly.

I am more concerned that people clean their hands period -- whether with soap or sanitizer.

Guten Appetite.

Maybe the tables full of diners seen in the US using hand sanitizers are foreign tourists protecting themselves against germs and viruses they aren't used to at home. Maybe they weren't Americans.

My best story along those lines--a couple of decades ago when the hand sanitizer bottles weren't common, one could get individually packaged hand/face wipes, so I would take these when traveling in China, Thailand, etc. where going to the restroom to wash hands might not be an option or best choice. Heading out on a trip I realized I was out, stopped by a store enroute and all they had were baby wipes in a small pack. With a group of students in China out at a restaurant, I discretely pulled out the pack and took one and handed one to my husband. One of the students said "Eww" or something to that effect, "baby wipes." When I explained that they hadn't touched any baby bottoms, a student next to me asked if she could have one and then they quietly passed the pack around and I think they all used them. I don't know if the incident provided fodder for later teasing, but afterward in other situations students would ask for wipes and no one got sick on the trip.