JODI ARIAS SUPPORTER'S HAND WASHING "INSTRUCTION" FALLS SHORT

Because I failed to take the time to edit my article which debunk his sinus theory, Richard Speights has made an untrue statement to imply that I am uneducated, stupid, and have a lack of medical knowledge.  His act of defamation is only based on my lack of editing.  However,  he implies I cannot write in the proper fashion.  I feel the truth is the best way to argue a lie, so I present a recent article to prove my writing ability.

 Please see my last article:   http://jodiariastrialtruth.blogspot.com/2014/07/prevent-stolen-valor.html

The article will clearly show that I am educated and able to express an idea through the written.  Speights has placed links to my unedited articles on his website, the following article being one of them.







Proper medical care and correct facts  are important to me.   So,  when I see articles written that include misinformation,  it's important for me to provide the correct information.  One such article is written by Richard Speights.   His article about proper hand washing techniques and factors surrounding it falls short.  Thus,  I find myself needing to share the CORRECT information.

"If you are going to do it,  do it right"
Anonymous ...   well, my mother but I don't think she invented the phrase. 

So,  if you're going to teach about hand washing,  please teach it correctly.

CAN TOUCH THIS

Microbes are EVERYWHERE.   They can be found on every surface that we touch.   Most people do not realize how long they live on a surface  because microbes can't be seen.   An old lab instructor I had was well aware of this fact. So, in order  to make it stick in our minds,  she gave us four petri dishes, four swabs, and the command to take 15 minutes to go about campus to collect samples from various surfaces.  The petri dishes were collected and processed for incubation.   Let's just say after receiving my petri dishes back after that period of incubation,  I never drank from the school drinking fountain again.

In reality,  the body is similar to a petri dish when it comes to growing bacteria.  However,  we have antibodies which protect us against the microbes that grew in my samples taken from the drinking fountain,   the hall table, the door knob,   and the bottom of my shoe.   Most of the time our antibodies will protect us against that what grew in those dishes.  However,  there are plenty of microbes that are stronger than the antibodies in our bodies.   And, those microbes DO live long enough on a surface to infect us.

LIFE OF THE MICROBE
Many microbes can be deposited on surfaces from the infected person's hand after touching their infected  fluids. Another mode of transmission is to land on the surface via a cough or sneeze that has sent the microbes airborne.  How long do some common germs live on surfaces?

COMMON COLD - RHINOVIRUS

3 hours.   How many people could have touched that table in 3 hours on a college campus?

SWINE FLU - H1N1

6 hours - How many people touched that grocery cart handle in 6 hours?

AVIAN FLU - H1N5

Some studies show 6 weeks - how many people sat in that restaurant booth and touched the table in 6 weeks?

STOMACH FLU - NOVAVIRUS

4 hours  -  How many people touched that drinking fountain handle in 4 hours?

SEVERE DIARRHEA - C-DIFF

5 months -How many people touched the door of a carryout in 5 months?

Usually,  one can not get c-diff unless they fit within a certain category  --  recent hospital admission,  use of antibiotics,  or frequent contact with someone with C-diff.  Our bodies have bacteria in the bowel to fight the infection off.  However,  I will tell you the story of Austin Dog.  This story is a true story in which some circumstances have been changed for privacy reasons.  Austin dog never had been hospitalized in his life.  Austin Dog rarely saw a doctor.  Austin dog neither had taken antibiotics or was around someone with diarrhea.   One day,  Austin Dog ate at one of those carry-outs that have their own little version of fast food.    The next day he developed severe diarrhea.  He thought he had food poisoning.  His symptoms lasted for a week, and he was admitted to the hospital with severe dehydration.  Even though he lacked all of the criteria, Austin Dog's test on his stool showed C-Diff positive and had to take the drug Flagyl to treat it.  C-Diff is a bitch to get rid of once you have it.

STREP THROAT - STREPTOCOCCUS PYRONES

4 weeks - how many people talked on the phone at your work in 4 weeks?

PNEUMONIA, EAR INFECTIONS, BACTERIAL MENINGITIS - STEPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIA

4 weeks - how many people DID talk on that phone in 4 weeks? 

MRSA - METHICILLIN RESISTANT STAPH AUREUS
WEEKS!  MRSA is usually found only in health care settings,  but there has been an increasing about of cases in the community.   It is what is considered a "superbug" because of its resistance to multiple antibiotics.

CHICKEN POX - VARICELLA 

At LEAST a few hours.   How many kids touched that surface before you?   Chicken pox is one of the most common communicable diseases.  It is spread through saliva,  mucus, and the fluid from the pox.  People are contagious for 2-3 days before the rash appears.  That means that the 5-year-old who just finished picking his boogies, sat at the table in McDonalds,  and rubbed his boogie virus hands on that table one hour before you came and placed your hand in that spot has just exposed you.   Mom never knew he was sick because he had no pox, and she missed that finger up his nose while she was ordering his happy meal.

PINK EYE - CONJUNCTIVITIS

 bacterial
This form of pink eye is very contagious and frequently the result of surface to eye contact. It can live on the surface between 2 days to a week.  How many children have come across that surface prior to you?   How many times have you rubbed your eye in a week?

Now,  imagine that you are in a scenario as Speights implied - a camp scenario in the time of survival.  You are among several people that you do not know well ---  you do not know if they have C-diff,  the common cold,  influenza, the stomach flu, chicken pox, etc.   So,  why does someone write an essay to encourage hand washing for infection control include a statement such as: 

 "Most germs die rather quickly when exposed to air. Few live long enough to travel from surface to hand to moist tissue (eyes, mouth, nose, open wounds, etc)."

Such a statement gives a false sense of security and misleads a person to believe that it is difficult to pick up an infection via surfaces.   Whereas,  person to person contact is the most common way to get an infection,  just ask anyone such as Austin Dog or others who wonder how they got sick without being around anyone who was ill. 

EVERYONE GET WHY HIS STATEMENT IS HARMFUL TO INFECTION CONTROL? 

HOW-WHAT-WHERE-WHEN

Hand washing IS the number one way to protect oneself from infection.  However,  for best results,  it must be done in a proper manner. These simple steps are of extreme importance to include in EVERY appropriate hand washing article.  They are the basis and without them,  the article is useless to be used for infection control. 

WET HANDS FIRST

ADD SOAP

LATHER 

FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS,SCRUB EVERY PART OF THE HAND - FRONT, BACK, NAILS, IN-BETWEEN THE FINGERS, ETC

RINSE WELL

EITHER USE A FRESH TOWEL OR AIR DRY

Hand washing is best done in WARM,  not hot, water.   This main reason is due to the fact modern day soaps are made to be used with warm water. The other reason is for comfort.   Hot water as hot as you can stand it is advised against because very hot water can rob the skin of too many essential oils and can lead to cracking and opening the skin,   which removes the first line of defense against infection.  The goal of hand washing is to prevent infection,  not encourage it.  One cannot get water hot enough to kill germs without damaging oneself,  thus instructing a person to use water as hot as they can stand only can cause harm with no benefit.

It's important to understand when the hands must  be washed:

BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER FOOD HANDLING

BEFORE AND AFTER EATING

AFTER USING THE TOILET OR TOILETING ACTIVITIES (DIAPER CHANGE)

HANDLING WASTE

COMING IN CONTACT WITH ANIMALS

AFTER COUGHING, SNEEZING, BLOWING YOUR NOSE

AFTER TOUCHING YOUR FACE, HAIR, OR ANY PART OF YOUR BODY

ANYTIME THEY ARE VISIBLY SOILED

AFTER CARING FOR THE ILL

BEFORE AND AFTER TREATING A WOUND

OFTEN

The biggest part is to use your common sense.


WHY SOAP AND WHAT KIND?

 It was once believed that an antibacterial soap was necessary for proper hand washing.  However,  research does not support that.   In fact,  there are concerns that overuse of antibacterial soaps could promote the growth of resistant bacteria.  There is no noted benefit via using an antibacterial soap;  thus regular soap is suggested.

 Use of soap is important because it is the function of the soap,  not the water  that promotes the removal of microbes.  Soap is made up hydrophobic (water repelling) and hydrophilic (water-attracting)  molecules. Water activates the soap (lather)  and allows these molecules to break off.  The hydrophobic molecules attach to the microbes, dirt, and other particles that are mixed in with the oils on the skin, and breaks them from the surface of the hand.   These combined particles are repelled and washed away by the force of the water when the hands are rinsed.  Speights's version of:  "Soap breaks water tension and allows the water to get under and lift the dirt off the skin"  is quite misleading.  A good friction scrub breaks water tension as well, but it will not remove enough microbes on its own.  It is the water that ACTIVATES the FUNCTION OF SOAP,  not the other way around.

 How do I know how soap functions to remove bacteria?  It's called research --  A person cannot know everything.  And just because someone believes something to be true does not make it fact.  Research should come from the study of multiple sources to make sure that the correct information is being relayed.  Getting facts correct is so much more important to the article than the placement of a comma.   However,  it seems that Speights believes it is the other way around.  He has forgone good fact verification in lieu of reading up on grammar skills.   

HAND SANITIZER

A major thing left out of Speights's article is the use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.   Hand sanitizer can be used in the absence of  soap and water as long as the hands are not visibly soiled.  It is also advised against using it around those with diarrhea because hand sanitizer will not destroy C-Diff microbes that you cannot see.

One should learn from health care facilities if the concern in a camp situation is that hand hygiene will not be completed frequently enough.  The use of hand sanitizer in health care facilities has been proven to promote better compliance with hand hygiene. A gob of sanitizer in one's hands and a 30-second rub while walking is much more efficient for time then standing at the sink for 20+ seconds to complete a hand washing ritual.   In survival situations,  a person could very well be without the luxury of running water,  which is a requirement for proper hand washing.    Setting up a "hand washing station" with a bucket of water defeats the purpose as only clean water is appropriate for efficient infection control via hand washing.  Water left in a bucket will grow and promote bacteria which defeats the purpose of hand hygiene.  It will work for visibly soiled hands,  but to ensure bacterial death,  use of hand sanitizer must follow.  

However,  one needs to be careful in the use of hand sanitizer.  Frequent overuse such as demonstrated by those with OCD can remove too much of the skin's normal flora and promote the growth of viruses,  such as the one that causes warts.   Soap and water will always be the best mode of hand washing,  but hand sanitizer should still always become an important part of the first-aid kit because of the lack of fresh, clean water in some areas.  

It is common sense that good hand washing can prevent infection.  Most people know this.   However, unless in the medical community,  most don't know that there are certain requirements when washing the hands needed to be effective for infection control.  Nor,  do they understand the amount of time microbes can survive once deposited on the surface.  I am hoping that now, those who did not know  do. 

So,  as Richard Speights wrote - wash your hands often.  Just make sure you wash them right.