Hand+Sanitizer+vs+Old+Fashioned+Hand+Washing

media type="youtube" key="vcyQkuC4ijw?fs=1" height="385" width="640" It's always a topic of conversation when it gets to flu season, whether washing your hands is as effective as using hand sanitizer, or if using hand sanitizer kills too many bacteria - including those that are good for you - proving that hand washing is better. If you watch the video posted above on a study done by the Clean Hands Campaign, you will see that they came to the conclusion that either washing your hands or using hand sanitizer are good ways to eliminate bacteria. Some other sources, however, say that since hand sanitizers remove the bacteria that lives on your skin and doesn't carry disease, hand sanitizers should not be used instead of washing hands. This fact was also shown in the video, as we could see that in the cultures from the sanitizer group there was almost no bacteria left living, whereas in the cultures from the washing hands group there was still bacteria present.

The article Hand Sanitizers vs. Soap and Water by Regina Bailey points out the the FDA - Food and Drug Administration states that it "recommends that hand sanitizers (are) not to be sured in place of soap and water but only as an adjunct..A hand sanitizer cannot and should not take the place of proper cleansing procedures with soap and water." (Baile y, 2010) Some of the bacteria that is on your hands and that will be eliminated by hand sanitizer is actually not harmful to your body. "Hand sanitizers work by stripping away the outer layer of oil on the skin. This usually prevents bacteria in the body from coming to the surface of the hand. However, these bacteria that are normally present in the body are generally not the kinds of bacteria that will make us sick." (Bailey, 2010) So why make the bacteria leave? It is easy to see that both washing hands and using hand sanitizer are effective ways to clean your hands from harmful diseases. Just remember, it is not always necessary to sanitize, as it is killing the good bacteria along with the bad! ** Citations: ** //Video:// Clean Hands Campaign. (2009, Oct. 23). //Soap vs. sanitizer (global hand washing fay challenge)//. Retrieved from []   //Article://  Bailey, R. (2010). //Hand sanitizers vs. soap and water//. Retrieved from []