October 03, 2019
Hand sanitizer certainly has a role to play in hygiene in environments like hospitals, however it may not be as effective as we thought. A new study indicates that hand washing is more effective in preventing the spread of the common flu virus than using hand sanitizer.
A team of scientists from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine applied mucus from patients with the flu to the fingertips of volunteers, and then compared the efficiency of handwashing and hand sanitizer to kill the virus. They discovered that ethanol-based hand sanitizer needed four minutes of contact with the mucus to deactivate the virus, handwashing however required much less time.
The flu can be a very serious infection, in some cases it can be fatal, so using the best sanitization methods makes good sense. As we head into the flu season in North America, your best bet to halt the spread of the flu is to thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water.
Source: News Medical
Read more: http://ow.ly/XmjJ50wtYtf
