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Kate Gosselin of John and Kate Plus Eight’ gets on her hands and knees and scrubs her kitchen floor three times every day. Howard Hughes became such a germaphobe that he essentially severed his contact with the outside world. In contrast, your toddler may not think twice about picking up a piece of used gum off the ground after completing the task of picking his nose. There’s got to be a happy medium here.

You Can’t Get Away from Microbes

Bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes are everywhere. They cannot be avoided. Your body is actually host to many species, both good guys’ (normal flora) and bad guys’ (pathogens). However, we’re understandably most concerned with the pathogenic microbes, those that can cause illness.

Our immune system is the main barrier protecting us from infectious disease. Vaccines certainly help, but are available for but a few of the more devastating infectious diseases that have plagued mankind throughout history. It is our own behavior that plays a key role in protecting us from disease.

Hand Washing

Washing your hands at regular intervals is one of the simplest and most effective ways to thwart the spread of infectious disease, but most of us do not do it very well. There are many areas of the hand commonly missed during hand washing. Below are the CDC’ssuggestions for how to do the job properly.

Hand Washing with Soap and Water

The CDC advises a handwashing technique of vigorous scrubbing with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds, using the following process:

1. Wet your hands with clean running water (warm water if it is available) and apply soap.

2. Rub your hands together to build up lather and then scrub all surfaces (fingertips, back of hands and between fingers are often forgotten).

3. Continue rubbing your hands together for a full 20 seconds. No timer? Sing Row, row, row your boat’ twice.

4. Rinse your hands well under running water.

5. Dry your hands with paper towel or an air dryer.

6. To prevent recontamination with the germs of others, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and to open the lavatory door if it doesn’t push outward.

Hand Sanitizer

The no-wash hand sanitizers are a great option for those times when you are not able to wash with soap and water.

I teach microbiology and my students sometime voice concern over the use of hand sanitizers, asking “Aren’t we just selecting for more resistant microbes by using this stuff? Won’t the pathogens that aren’t killed come back in even greater numbers?”

This would be a legitimate concern if you used exclusively hand sanitizer to clean your hands, rather than as a stop-gap measure to clean your hands between washings. Scrubbing with soap and running water combats microbes primarily in a physical way whereas hand sanitizers are a means of chemical control. The two methods complement each other; a great combo for knocking out germs.

How to Use an Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizer

1. Apply product to one of your palms

2. Rub your hands together and continue rubbing the product over all surfaces of your hands and fingers until it has dried.

Teaching Children Proper Hand Washing Technique

It is not easy to ensure that your children’s hands are kept as clean as you’d like them to be. Here are a few tips:

* Model proper and frequent hand washing technique in front of your children.

* Use a foaming liquid soap at home to make it easier for them to handle and more fun to wash.

* Help your children routinely apply hand sanitizer after being in public places. Make a game of having them rub it all over their hands until it has dried.