| In this day of instant everything, consumers | | | | one surface to another," according to Salynn |
| looking for a fast way to clean their hands often | | | | Boyles of WebMD Health News. |
| turn to disinfecting wipes or hand sanitizers found | | | | "Many of the wipes were effective, but the |
| in the shelves of most drugstores and | | | | message is that they have to be used properly," |
| supermarkets. | | | | Williams said. |
| These popular products are often advertised as | | | | Now for the good news. While frequent hand |
| "99.9 percent effective against germs" and | | | | washing is one of the best ways to prevent the |
| supposedly offer a convenient way of fighting | | | | spread of diseases that are responsible for school |
| disease-carrying bacteria without going through | | | | absenteeism, a study published in the journal |
| the time-honored ritual of hand washing. It is for | | | | Pediatrics said that you can get the same benefit |
| this reason why they are widely used in hospitals, | | | | from the frequent use of disinfecting wipes and |
| schools and other public settings. In America alone, | | | | hand sanitizers. |
| an estimated $1 billion a year is spent on these | | | | This comes from researchers at the Boston |
| products. | | | | Children's Hospital who conducted a randomized, |
| But are these products effective as advertised or | | | | controlled trial at an Ohio elementary school |
| are you better off with plain soap and water | | | | where wipes and sanitizers were used in some |
| instead? | | | | classrooms, but not in others. |
| Two new studies give conflicting views. In one | | | | The wipes were used once a day to disinfect the |
| study, disinfecting wipes were found to spread - | | | | students' desks at selected classrooms while the |
| rather than prevent - hospital-acquired infections | | | | students were told to use an alcohol-based hand |
| like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus | | | | sanitizer several times a day. In other classrooms, |
| (MRSA) that affects 100,000 people in the United | | | | the students simply washed their hands. |
| States each year. | | | | After eight weeks, the researchers found that |
| At the annual meeting of the American Society | | | | there was no difference in the absentee rate due |
| for Microbiology, researchers from Cardiff | | | | to respiratory illness in both groups. But the group |
| University's Welsh School of Pharmacy reported | | | | that used the wipes and hand sanitizers had a |
| that when used improperly the wipes may spread | | | | lower rate of gastrointestinal illness. |
| bacteria rather than remove or kill them. This was | | | | "Hand washing is really the best way to prevent |
| observed by Jean-Yves Maillard, Ph.D., Gareth | | | | the spread of infection, but this study suggests |
| Williams, Ph.D., and colleagues who studied hospital | | | | that hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes can also |
| staffers as they used the wipes to disinfect | | | | play a role. This is a relatively low cost and simple |
| hospital rooms. | | | | way for schools to help keep kids healthy," said |
| "While most of the wipes tested did remove large | | | | researcher Dr. Thomas J. Sandora. |
| numbers of bacteria from contaminated surfaces, | | | | To benefit from these findings, the Mayo Clinic |
| they also commonly transferred live bacteria to | | | | recommends alcohol-based products that contain |
| uncontaminated surfaces when used in more than | | | | at least 60 percent alcohol. For extremely dirty |
| one place. Even some wipes that claimed to kill | | | | hands, however, use regular soap and water. |
| bacteria were found to transfer live bacteria from | | | | |