Do not eat bacteria for desert!

Do not eat bacteria
for desert

Even small children know that one needs to wash one’s hands before eating. And while you may remember about this fact when sitting down to a dinner at home, you might no longer remember about this when reaching for a snack in your office or in your car. Now, look at your hands. So, you think they are clean? At the first sight it may seem so, but if you look at them under a microscope, you will learn, that they are far from being perfectly clean. Through a microscope you can easily see that there are thousands of bacteria living on your hands, including those dangerous to your health.

Disease-causing microbes can be found on kitchen countertops, scrubbing pads, sponges, computer keyboards and mice, desks, mobile phones, ATMs, banknotes, coins, stair handrails, door handles, light switches, handles and ticket validating machines on public transportation, carts in shopping centers, clothes hangers in clothing stores, soap dispensers in public restrooms, baby changing tables, toys in kindergartens, etc. By touching such items, you “collect” bacteria left there by other people, like rotaviruses, noroviruses, responsible for diarrhea, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Shigella, pathogenc Escherichia coli, tapeworm and pinworm eggs, causing skin infections and poisonings.

Of course, your health is not in danger just because your hands are in contact with bacteria—the skin makes an excellent protective barrier. It is enough, however, that you touch a door handle, which has been touched by hundreds of people before you, and then grab a sandwich or an apple. In this way, all the germs you were able to collect on your hands will make their way, together with the food, into your body. And from there, it is a straight path to all kinds of food poisonings and other diseases caused by bacteria.

By now you know what the consequences of eating food, while having your hands teeming with germs, are. Thus, it is time for you to learn a quick and effective way of getting rid of those bad guys from your hands. Contrary to what you might think, it is not about washing your hands with soap and water. This way you can wash off dirt and sweat, and refresh your hands, but you cannot destroy the microorganisms. As Małgorzata Ściślewska, MD, from Medicers Center in Warsaw points out, only washing hands the way surgeons do is effective in removing germs. In maintaining proper hand hygiene it will be helpful for you to be assisted by hand gels.  Already a small droplet of CleanHands gel is enough to keep hands clean without using water. So, if you do not want to eat bacteria for desert, remember to use hand gels before having a snack.