AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
Clare Nichols insists she 's not a germaphobe, yet she seemed uncommonly happy one recent afternoon as she cleaned her shopping cart handle with a disinfectant wipe at Metcalfe 's Sentry grocery store in Madison.
The truth eventually came out.
"I love them. I 'm addicted to them, " Nichols said of the wipes made available free to customers at the supermarket. "I don 't know who thought of this, but it 's a great thing. "
Yes, we may be a country divided by war, but lately we seem united against germs.
Bottles of hand sanitizer are everywhere -- checkout lanes, health clubs, restaurant tables, your office cubicle. Unnerved by bird flu and antibiotic-resistant staph infections, we have turned into a Purell nation, vigorously wiping and hand pumping our way to better hygiene.
But is it doing any good?
Some short-term studies in hospitals and child-care centers have shown that hand sanitizers can reduce germ transmission, said Dr. Dennis Maki, an infectious disease physician with UW Health who studies hand hygiene. But so far, there 's no compelling, long-term data to conclude that sanitizers are having a sustained effect on illness reduction, he said.
Yet, given the ease of using sanitizers, Maki said he 's not about to argue against them. "The quality of the scientific data is not nearly as rigorous as most of us would like, but it 's reasonable to extrapolate that there is a benefit, " he said.
Germ warfare
At its Madison headquarters, American Family Insurance gives every employee a bottle of hand sanitizer, with refills available in common areas. A year ago, CUNA Mutual Group installed about 130 wall-mounted hand sanitizer dispensers at its five Madison locations. The Great Dane Brew Pub puts bottles of sanitizer on tables at its Downtown Madison restaurant.
"People are very aware of germs right now, " said Dr. Philip Tierno, a clinical microbiologist at New York University Medical Center and author of "The Secret Life of Germs. "
He attributes the prevalence of hand sanitizers to several factors, including flu fears, media coverage of illness outbreaks on cruise ships and a recommendation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a few years ago to use an alcohol-based hand rub if soap and water are not available.
Television newsmagazines also have played a role, Tierno said. Many shows have run segments -- sometimes with scary graphics -- highlighting studies that seek to determine the most germ-laden areas of our lives.
One oft-cited study from the University of Arizona found that shopping carts had more saliva, bacteria and fecal matter on them than escalators, public telephones and public restrooms. However, some public health officials have since sought to downplay such findings, noting that the levels of bacteria are often still quite low and probably not a cause for major alarm.
"All I know is that carts have to be dirty -- kids sit in them, people cough on them, " said Kathy Stone, of Madison, who used a disinfectant wipe on her shopping cart at Metcalfe 's Sentry store at the Hilldale Shopping Center.
Disinfectant wipes are showing up at many grocery stores, including all Copps, Pick 'n Save and Cub Foods locations in the Madison area.
Tim Metcalfe, co-owner of the Sentry store at Hilldale, said he saw the idea at a trade show a couple of years ago and thought it made perfect sense. "We get a lot of thank yous from customers, " he said.
Metcalfe 's store uses SaniCart Wipes, the first such product of its kind when it was introduced in 2004, said John Luposello, food safety manager for Nice-Pak Products, the New York company that makes SaniCart Wipes. The product now is in more than 20,000 supermarkets and has at least a dozen competitors, he said.
Not a panacea
With the proliferation of sanitizers and wipes, it 's important to understand they are not a panacea, said Maki, the UW Health physician. Even vigorous hand washing with soap and hot water -- still the gold standard for hygiene -- will leave a significant residue of germs, he said.
When a product such as Purell says it kills 99.9 percent of germs, that 's in a laboratory test tube, Maki said. It 's not possible to eliminate germs from hands because germs can hide under dead skin cells and in crevices, he said.
Teresa Panas, a representative with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Cos., which markets Purell, said scientists conduct lab tests using a much higher concentration of germs than is likely to be found on hands. One could expect Purell to be at least as effective at killing these germs when used on a person 's hands as it has been shown to be in clinical tests, she said.
Despite the prevalence of germs, people need not live in a bubble or resort to turning on faucets with their elbows, said Tierno, the New York microbiologist. "There 's nothing to be fearful of if you 're empowered with the knowledge of how germs are transmitted, " he said.
Eighty percent of all infections are spread through direct or indirect contact, Tierno said. Direct contact can occur when ill people touch, kiss or cough on others. Indirect contact occurs when healthy people touch germ-laden things -- doorknobs, computer keyboards, elevator buttons -- then touch their eyes, mouths or noses.
"You can easily break the chain by simply washing your hands, " Tierno said.
Also, if someone is having a coughing fit, move away so that you don 't walk through a contaminated airstream, and don 't shake hands with people who are sick, said Tierno, who hasn 't had a cold in four years and said he dissuades sick people from entering his office.
Perhaps the best thing ill people can do to reduce the spread of illness is to stay home, Tierno said.
"If you are sick and you go to work, you are not a hero."
Sanitizers need 60% alcohol to be effective
Antibacterial soaps have come under scrutiny lately for possibly causing some bacteria to become resistant to commonly used drugs such as amoxicillin, which is used to treat infections.
While some laboratory studies suggested this outcome, a 2005 study done in people 's homes by researchers at the University of Michigan found no evidence of an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the hands of people who washed with antibacterial products.
The researchers noted that their study tracked people for one year. More extensive and longer-term studies are warranted, they said.
There has been no similar concern that hand sanitizers could cause bacteria to become drug resistant, said Anna Bowen, a medical epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The alcohol in hand sanitizers is sort of a physical disrupter of whatever you 're trying to kill, so germs are less apt to be able to generate resistance, " she said.
Public health experts say hand sanitizers must contain a minimum of 60 percent alcohol to be effective.
As for the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps, a review of 27 studies by researchers at the University of Michigan showed that their use was no more beneficial than plain soap in killing germs.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/index.php?ntid=263581&ntpid=1
The truth eventually came out.
"I love them. I 'm addicted to them, " Nichols said of the wipes made available free to customers at the supermarket. "I don 't know who thought of this, but it 's a great thing. "
Yes, we may be a country divided by war, but lately we seem united against germs.
Bottles of hand sanitizer are everywhere -- checkout lanes, health clubs, restaurant tables, your office cubicle. Unnerved by bird flu and antibiotic-resistant staph infections, we have turned into a Purell nation, vigorously wiping and hand pumping our way to better hygiene.
But is it doing any good?
Some short-term studies in hospitals and child-care centers have shown that hand sanitizers can reduce germ transmission, said Dr. Dennis Maki, an infectious disease physician with UW Health who studies hand hygiene. But so far, there 's no compelling, long-term data to conclude that sanitizers are having a sustained effect on illness reduction, he said.
Yet, given the ease of using sanitizers, Maki said he 's not about to argue against them. "The quality of the scientific data is not nearly as rigorous as most of us would like, but it 's reasonable to extrapolate that there is a benefit, " he said.
Germ warfare
At its Madison headquarters, American Family Insurance gives every employee a bottle of hand sanitizer, with refills available in common areas. A year ago, CUNA Mutual Group installed about 130 wall-mounted hand sanitizer dispensers at its five Madison locations. The Great Dane Brew Pub puts bottles of sanitizer on tables at its Downtown Madison restaurant.
"People are very aware of germs right now, " said Dr. Philip Tierno, a clinical microbiologist at New York University Medical Center and author of "The Secret Life of Germs. "
He attributes the prevalence of hand sanitizers to several factors, including flu fears, media coverage of illness outbreaks on cruise ships and a recommendation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a few years ago to use an alcohol-based hand rub if soap and water are not available.
Television newsmagazines also have played a role, Tierno said. Many shows have run segments -- sometimes with scary graphics -- highlighting studies that seek to determine the most germ-laden areas of our lives.
One oft-cited study from the University of Arizona found that shopping carts had more saliva, bacteria and fecal matter on them than escalators, public telephones and public restrooms. However, some public health officials have since sought to downplay such findings, noting that the levels of bacteria are often still quite low and probably not a cause for major alarm.
"All I know is that carts have to be dirty -- kids sit in them, people cough on them, " said Kathy Stone, of Madison, who used a disinfectant wipe on her shopping cart at Metcalfe 's Sentry store at the Hilldale Shopping Center.
Disinfectant wipes are showing up at many grocery stores, including all Copps, Pick 'n Save and Cub Foods locations in the Madison area.
Tim Metcalfe, co-owner of the Sentry store at Hilldale, said he saw the idea at a trade show a couple of years ago and thought it made perfect sense. "We get a lot of thank yous from customers, " he said.
Metcalfe 's store uses SaniCart Wipes, the first such product of its kind when it was introduced in 2004, said John Luposello, food safety manager for Nice-Pak Products, the New York company that makes SaniCart Wipes. The product now is in more than 20,000 supermarkets and has at least a dozen competitors, he said.
Not a panacea
With the proliferation of sanitizers and wipes, it 's important to understand they are not a panacea, said Maki, the UW Health physician. Even vigorous hand washing with soap and hot water -- still the gold standard for hygiene -- will leave a significant residue of germs, he said.
When a product such as Purell says it kills 99.9 percent of germs, that 's in a laboratory test tube, Maki said. It 's not possible to eliminate germs from hands because germs can hide under dead skin cells and in crevices, he said.
Teresa Panas, a representative with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Cos., which markets Purell, said scientists conduct lab tests using a much higher concentration of germs than is likely to be found on hands. One could expect Purell to be at least as effective at killing these germs when used on a person 's hands as it has been shown to be in clinical tests, she said.
Despite the prevalence of germs, people need not live in a bubble or resort to turning on faucets with their elbows, said Tierno, the New York microbiologist. "There 's nothing to be fearful of if you 're empowered with the knowledge of how germs are transmitted, " he said.
Eighty percent of all infections are spread through direct or indirect contact, Tierno said. Direct contact can occur when ill people touch, kiss or cough on others. Indirect contact occurs when healthy people touch germ-laden things -- doorknobs, computer keyboards, elevator buttons -- then touch their eyes, mouths or noses.
"You can easily break the chain by simply washing your hands, " Tierno said.
Also, if someone is having a coughing fit, move away so that you don 't walk through a contaminated airstream, and don 't shake hands with people who are sick, said Tierno, who hasn 't had a cold in four years and said he dissuades sick people from entering his office.
Perhaps the best thing ill people can do to reduce the spread of illness is to stay home, Tierno said.
"If you are sick and you go to work, you are not a hero."
Sanitizers need 60% alcohol to be effective
Antibacterial soaps have come under scrutiny lately for possibly causing some bacteria to become resistant to commonly used drugs such as amoxicillin, which is used to treat infections.
While some laboratory studies suggested this outcome, a 2005 study done in people 's homes by researchers at the University of Michigan found no evidence of an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the hands of people who washed with antibacterial products.
The researchers noted that their study tracked people for one year. More extensive and longer-term studies are warranted, they said.
There has been no similar concern that hand sanitizers could cause bacteria to become drug resistant, said Anna Bowen, a medical epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The alcohol in hand sanitizers is sort of a physical disrupter of whatever you 're trying to kill, so germs are less apt to be able to generate resistance, " she said.
Public health experts say hand sanitizers must contain a minimum of 60 percent alcohol to be effective.
As for the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps, a review of 27 studies by researchers at the University of Michigan showed that their use was no more beneficial than plain soap in killing germs.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/index.php?ntid=263581&ntpid=1