Kiwis Hand Hygiene Habits And Attitudes Worrying

Monday, 17 April 2006, 1:27 pm
Press Release: TNS Research 16 April 2006

Kiwis Hand Hygiene Habits And Attitudes Worrying Given Threat Of Viral Pandemic

New research indicates that New Zealanders are not cleaning their hands well enough to stop the spread of disease.

Gary Moller comments:
This is hardly a surprise, since the teaching and practice of hand washing during childhood is a farce. If people do not have this essential habit in place during their formative years, it is unlikely that it ever will be. The sad fact is that childcare facilities and schools are physically and financially unable to provide proper hand washing training for children.

Here is what I have written about hand washing in the past. Go to this PDF, download it and then click on the link to "I wash my hands - Yeah right!" Enjoy the read

Scrubbing away the bugs

Leading antibacterial cleaners claim to kill 99 percent of the bacteria on the surfaces where it is applied. What do you suppose happens to the other 1 percent?
Those resistant bacteria are living and multiplying, of course, creating a strain that soon those same cleaners won’t be able to kill.
____________________________
Gary Moller comments:
The best way to ensure good hygiene is to scrub way the bugs mechanically. This means using soap and warm water for cleaning sufaces in the kitchen and in the bathroom. Chemical cleaners are heavily promoted and the need to scrub is all but dismissed as being unnecessary. You know the ads: The ones that demonstrate squirting a chemical into the toilet bowl and leaving it to do the dirty work.

The problem is that 1% of the bugs that survive flourish to become a super bug. This is what is happening in our hospitals where such bugs are getting out of hand.

In the case of infections of wounds the tandard treatment is to treat with chemicals and antibiotics. In the last 29 years I have met only one doctor who took the time with an infection to carefully debride and clean the wound and then dress it himself. If this is ever done, the job is handed to the nurse to do. More often than not, the wound is superficially cleaned, a dressing applied and a prescription for an antibiotic given.

The better treatment in most cases of infection is to manually clean all the dead skin and other debris that are the food source for bugs, dress the wound with a sterile dressing and repeat the cleaning and dressing process twice a day. By removing the food source, any bacteria can not survive and the few that do are easily handled by the body's natural defences. The worst a person can do is leave a dressing on a wound for more than a day because it becomes a festering breeding ground for bugs.

The over use of antibiotics lead to sloppy hygiene practices and now that such sloppy practices are now the norm, so is the ongoing use of antibiotics.

Should you use antibacterial chemicals to keep your family safe?

Should you be using antibacterial soaps, sprays and lotions and other chemicals to keep your family safe from deadly and not so deadly bacteria. I think not and let me explain why?

Something fishy about smelly feet treatment advice

Here is an excerpt from the following medical advice column:
Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin: Should you wear socks with your running shoes
"The bacteria that rot your old skin grow luxuriously when the skin is wet. If you have a problem with foot odor, try pouring a small amount of powder into the toes of your socks before you put them on will help to keep your feet dry during the day and prevent bacteria from growing. Avoid wearing the same pair of shoes more often than every other day so they can dry out between use. You can also kill the bacteria by applying a common deodorant containing? aluminum chlorohydrate to your feet at bedtime and sleeping with socks on."

Here is my Question:
"Dear Gabe,
Would it not be better to wash the feet properly and regularly with soap and water than resorting to aluminium-based products?
Gary"


Here is the reply"
"So far, no harm (but skin irritation) from using aluminum chlorohydrate. It shuts down pores and decreases sweating. Soap has been tested for thousands of years and is safe. However, soap does not decrease sweating".

Here are my comments:
The pores of the skin shut down for very good reasons: Aluminium, like mercury and lead, is highly toxic to the body; especially the nervous system. While most aluminium products are relatively inert, this is not necessarily the case when mixed with highly acidic human sweat and left to percolate in a pair of warm socks overnight. It is inveitable that some of this highly toxic metal will get into the body.

There is far too much exposure to this toxic substance going on, beginning in the first few years of life. Aluminium is added to vaccines as an immune system irritant to augement the immune response to a vaccine. While one shot may be considered "safe" for a child, it make no sense to give a child multiple doses of such a dangerous neurotoxin while the brain is rapidly developing and at its most vulnerable. Aluminium is sometimes added to drinking water to give it a clear sparkle and it is a common anti perspirant. If acidic food is prepared or stored in aluminium pots, aluminium can leach into the food.

Aluminium based underarm anti perspirants are linked to breast cancer. Aluminium is associated with increased rates of neurological disease.

So my advice for smelly feet is this: wash the feet often with soapy water and change your socks often - and stay well away from aluminium based anti perspirants.

More practical advice will be written soon about what to do about smelly feet and how to decrease the sweating.

Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin: Should you wear socks with your running shoes?

Dear Gabe,
Would it not be better to wash the feet properly and regularly with soap and water than resorting to aluminium-based products?
Gary
Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin: Should you wear socks with your running shoes?