Inappropriate use of antibiotics has led to strains that are resistant to treatments with different types of antibiotic medications
Some germs can survive on moist surfaces up to three days.
In the 1800’s, Dr. Semmelweis worked in a Viennese hospital where maternity patients were dying at a rate five times higher for mothers who delivered in the hospital than for mothers who delivered at home. He realized most of those dying had been treated by student physicians who worked on cadavers during an anatomy class before beginning their rounds in the maternity ward. He demonstrated that washing hands could dramatically reduce the rate of these deaths, in some studies to less than 1%. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion they should wash their hands. His ideas did not earn widespread acceptance until years after his death. He died in a asylum of septicemia at age 47.
Washing hands with water alone is significantly less effective than washing hands with soap in terms of removing germs. Alcohol based products are more effective than soap and water and their antiseptic properties last longer. Effective hand washing involves massaging, rubbing, and friction to dislodge germs from fingertips, and between the gingers. Effective hand washing with soap takes at least 8 to 15 seconds followed by thorough rinsing with running water
