"The Best Defense Against H5N1"

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*IMPORTANT READ*

Handwashing more effective than antiviral drugs

Reuters
Published: Wednesday, November 28, 2007
LINK​

HONG KONG - Physical barriers, such as regular handwashing and wearing masks, gloves and gowns, may be more effective than drugs to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS, a study has found.

The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, came as Britain announced it was doubling its stockpile of antiviral medicines in preparation for any future flu pandemic.

Trawling through 51 studies, the researchers found that simple, low-cost physical measures should be given higher priority in national pandemic contingency plans.

"Mounting evidence suggests that the use of vaccines and antiviral drugs will be insufficient to interrupt the spread of influenza," they wrote in the report.

The 51 studies compared any intervention to prevent animal-to-human or human-to-human transmission of respiratory viruses, such as isolation, quarantine, social distancing, barriers, personal protection and hygiene, to doing nothing or to other types of intervention. They excluded vaccines and antiviral drugs.

They found that handwashing and wearing masks, gloves and gowns were effective individually in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses, and were even more effective when combined.

"This systematic review of available research does provide some important insights ... There is therefore a clear mandate to carry out further large trials to evaluate the best combinations," the international team of scientists wrote.

Another study, published in the Cochrane Library journal last month, found handwashing with just soap and water to be a simple and effective way to curb the spread of respiratory viruses, from everyday cold viruses to deadly pandemic strains.

Researchers have long warned that the world is due for another pandemic but they cannot say which strain will strike. The H5N1 avian flu virus that has killed more than 200 people globally since 2003 is considered a prime suspect.

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; editing by Roger Crabb)

I've been Triaging patients who have been coughing, bleeding, vomiting, sneezing, peeing, pooping, leaking pus etc. all over the place and I DON'T get sick from them.

Why?

Because I use Standard (universal) precautions.

I've been using 'Hand-Sanitizer' between every patient contact as a bridge when I can't thoroughly wash my hands with soap & water and it's just as effective.

If I shake someones hand, touch a doorknob, pick up the phone or use a keyboard- I sanitize my hands.

It works. If it didn't, every Doctor & Nurse out there would be calling in sick much more frequently than they are.

BFC

BigFootsCousin said:

I've been Triaging patients who have been coughing, bleeding, vomiting, sneezing, peeing, pooping, leaking pus etc. all over the place and I DON'T get sick from them.

Why?

Because I use Standard (universal) precautions.

I've been using 'Hand-Sanitizer' between every patient contact as a bridge when I can't thoroughly wash my hands with soap & water and it's just as effective.

If I shake someones hand, touch a doorknob, pick up the phone or use a keyboard- I sanitize my hands.

It works. If it didn't, every Doctor & Nurse out there would be calling in sick much more frequently than they are.

BFC

Click to expand...

+1

DM

BigFootsCousin said:

I've been Triaging patients who have been coughing, bleeding, vomiting, sneezing, peeing, pooping, leaking pus etc. all over the place and I DON'T get sick from them.

Why?

Because I use Standard (universal) precautions.

I've been using 'Hand-Sanitizer' between every patient contact as a bridge when I can't thoroughly wash my hands with soap & water and it's just as effective.

If I shake someones hand, touch a doorknob, pick up the phone or use a keyboard- I sanitize my hands.

It works. If it didn't, every Doctor & Nurse out there would be calling in sick much more frequently than they are.

BFC

Click to expand...

Ditto.

My dh works in a bone marrow transplant center where patients have no immunity and get nearly every infection out there: MRSA, legionella, fungal lung infections, many have HIV, tuberculosis, and others I can't think of now.

They use Standard precations: hand washing being #1, masks, sterile gloves. After three years he has yet to come home with even one illness caught there.

The old adage is still true: An ounce of prevention IS worth a pound of cure.

FLF

.

Hand sanitizing is not just for the hospital.

I quit getting colds and flu when I started sanitizing the shopping cart handles when I go shopping...I always use the sani-wipes provided by the store (after I bugged them for over a year to keep them stocked by the door) AND I use them on my hands (because I have handled the cart before I got to the sanitizer).

I sanitize my hands after I get in the car after shopping, plus I wipe the steering wheel because I have touched it while getting in. No colds since I started that, and before, it seemed like I got sick every time I went to town...

What is needed is that the med profession go back to 1936 protocols BP. As in Before Penicillin. All this was known then because there was no way to stop an infection once it started.

I agree with the hand washing and sanitizing.

We carry bottles of hand sanitizer with us, and use it whenever we leave any store, church, etc.

First thing we do when we come home from anywhere is wash our hands.

I also use a bit of bleach in the dishwater when I'm doing dishes during fall and winter, and I regularly go around wiping doorknobs, telephones, keyboards, light switches, refrigerator handles, etc. with alcohol.

Washing hands after handling money is also a good practice.

Another good idea, especially during cold/flu season, is to avoid eating in restaurants, fast food places, sandwich shops.

I know these things have cut down on a lot of sickness around here. I wish more people would be careful--I can't believe some of the unsanitary practices I've seen, especially in the supermarket.

i DO THE SAME THING, and have not caught a cold in several years.

Good idea .... those chemicals are hard on the skin, but I guess that's better than catching illnesses. My Six Week Wonder Wife used to use the sanitizers after shopping, maybe she was right about that ... I was more worried about the chemicals in the sanitizer wipes.

But of course that can only go so far if you're shopping with bird flu going around .... I don't know how long that virus can live without a host, but it would be difficult to sterilize every item of food bought at a grocery store. Maybe there should be a sort of "quarantine" of such foods during a pandemic ...... if there are any grocery stores remaining open.