Dirty Hands Spread Disease

To think of not washing the hands often throughout the day can lead to profound consequences. Indeed, inadequate handwashing in this era can result in sickness or death. Human hands encounter many objects and other people, all through the day. Commodities carry germs, and so do other people’s hands. The hands can be visibly or invisibly dirty. Therefore, dashing through the day, handling money, shaking hands, visiting the restroom, handling door knobs, and various other items without taking the time to wash the hands, places self and other people at substantial risk for transmitted diseases. Hands are host for germs. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says, “About 1.8 million children under the age of five die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world” (CDC 2015). Handwashing and educating others about the critical need to wash their dirty hands can save many lives. We must take responsibility to discipline ourselves and others concerning this simple task. It could be our own life or someone else’s (Center for Disease Control [2015], “Show Me the Science—Why Wash Your Hands.” Retrieved on September 6, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/why-handwashing.html).

The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care provide health-care workers (HCWs), hospital administrators and health authorities with a thorough review of evidence on hand hygiene in health care and specific recommendations to improve practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and HCWs. The present Guidelines are intended to be implemented in any situation in which health care is delivered either to a patient or to a specific group in a population. Therefore, this concept applies to all settings where health care is permanently or occasionally performed, such as home care by birth attendants. Definitions of health-care settings are proposed in Appendix 1. These Guidelines and the associated WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy and an Implementation Toolkit (http://www.who.int/gpsc/en/) are designed to offer health-care facilities in Member States a conceptual framework and practical tools for the application of recommendations in practice at the bedside. While ensuring consistency with the Guidelines recommendations, individual adaptation according to local regulations, settings, needs, and resources is desirable. This extensive review includes in one document sufficient technical information to support training materials and help plan implementation strategies. The document comprises six parts.

Did you know that the brown spots on apples are carcinogenic? That gardening can lead to Legionnaire’s disease? That a toothbrush can pass on the hepatitis virus, or that an improperly cared-for cavity can endanger your heart? These health risks—the very real results of diminished attention to personal hygiene, especially hand-washing—crop up in every part of daily life, from working and eating out to staying in and spending time around the house. Some threaten us not only on an individual level, but a global one as well. From allergies to the possibility of an avian flu pandemic, Dr. Frédéric Saldmann examines in detail the many dangers that may lie in wait and sets out simple measures for keeping them at a safe distance—his number one mandate being washing your hands as often and as thoroughly as possible.A nationally recognized expert in his native France, Dr. Saldmann introduces readers to new studies that show the incredible range of germs transmitted by our hands in the most commonplace interactions. This book not only concerns the bacterial dangers of bad hygiene, but presents a panoramic survey of health-endangering practices, rumors, and fears amok on the contemporary scene, offering a compendium of answers, advice, and condensed research in a single, handy reference. Other features include sections on psychological health and beating bad habits and on epidemics and worldwide health scares.Dr. Saldmann combines scientific study and practical advice in this veritable handbook for the personal hygiene our times demand. Rich in research, anecdotes, and unexpected humor, Wash Your Hands!, is a no-nonsense manual that is imperative to our daily lives.

Semmelweis's exposure to the childbed fever was concurrent with his appointment to the Vienna maternity hospital in 1846. Like many similar hospitals and clinics in the major cities of nineteenth-century Europe and America, where death rates from the illness sometimes climbed as high as 40 percent of admitted patients, the Viennese wards were ravaged by the fever. Intensely troubled by the tragic and baffling loss of so many young mothers, Semmelweis sought answers. The Etiology was testimony to his success. Based on overwhelming personal evidence, it constituted a classic description of a disease, its causes, and its prevention. It also allowed a necessary response to the obstetrician's already vocal, rabid, and perhaps predictable critics. For Semmelweis's central thesis was a startling one - the fever, he correctly surmised, was caused not by epidemic or endemic influences but by unsterilized and thus often contaminated hands of the attending physicians themselves.

This delightful board book follows the journey of a germ using unique heat-sensitive pages and combining interaction, play and learning, showing pre-schoolers the importance of clean hands. The journey, from the toilet seat to the tummy (and out again!), explores the concepts of germs being invisible to the naked eye, multiplying and causing illness. By placing their warm hands on the thermochromic patches, the multiplying germs are revealed. The simple, bright and bold illustrations by Charlie Evans allow children to develop an understanding of science and health from a young age, while having fun in the process

Handwashing, as part of basic hygiene, is a no-brainer. Whenever there's an outbreak of a contagious disease, we are advised that the first line of defense is proper handwashing. Nonetheless, many people, including healthcare workers, ignore this advice and routinely fail to wash their hands. Those who neglect to follow proper handwashing protocols put us at risk for serious disease - and even death. In this well-researched book, Wahrman discusses the microbes that live among us, both benign and malevolent. She looks at how ancient cultures dealt with disease and hygiene and how scientific developments led to the germ theory, which laid the foundation for modern hygiene. She investigates hand hygiene in clinical settings, where lapses by medical professionals can lead to serious, even deadly, complications. She explains how microbes found on environmental surfaces can transmit disease and offers strategies to decrease transmission from person to person. The book's final chapter explores initiatives for grappling with ever more complex microbial issues, such as drug resistance and the dangers of residing in an interconnected world, and presents practical advice for hand hygiene and reducing infection. With chapters that conclude with handy reference lists, The Hand Book serves as a road map to safer hands and better hygiene and health. It is essential reading for the general public, healthcare professionals, educators, parents, community leaders, and politicians.

The third edition of the Guide to Ship Sanitation presents the public health significance of ships in terms of disease and highlights the importance of applying appropriate control measures. It is intended to be a basis for the development of national approaches to controlling the hazards, providing a framework for policy-making and local decision-making. It may also be used as a reference for regulators, ship operators and ship builders as well as for assessing the potential health impact of projects involving the design of ships.

The definitive reference for travel medicine, updated for 2020! "A beloved travel must-have for the intrepid wanderer." -Publishers Weekly "A truly excellent and comprehensive resource." -Journal of Hospital Infection The CDC Yellow Book offers everything travelers and healthcare providers need to know for safe and healthy travel abroad. This 2020 edition includes: · Country-specific risk guidelines for yellow fever and malaria, including expert recommendations and 26 detailed, country-level maps · Detailed maps showing distribution of travel-related illnesses, including dengue, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal meningitis, and schistosomiasis · Guidelines for self-treating common travel conditions, including altitude illness, jet lag, motion sickness, and travelers' diarrhea · Expert guidance on food and drink precautions to avoid illness, plus water-disinfection techniques for travel to remote destinations · Specialized guidelines for non-leisure travelers, study abroad, work-related travel, and travel to mass gatherings · Advice on medical tourism, complementary and integrative health approaches, and counterfeit drugs · Updated guidance for pre-travel consultations · Advice for obtaining healthcare abroad, including guidance on different types of travel insurance · Health insights around 15 popular tourist destinations and itineraries · Recommendations for traveling with infants and children · Advising travelers with specific needs, including those with chronic medical conditions or weakened immune systems, health care workers, humanitarian aid workers, long-term travelers and expatriates, and last-minute travelers · Considerations for newly arrived adoptees, immigrants, and refugees Long the most trusted book of its kind, the CDC Yellow Book is an essential resource in an ever-changing field -- and an ever-changing world.