Swhine flu

SOME DOUBT HAND WASHING STOPS H1N1
(CNN)

Swine flu. H1N1. Piggy sickness? Whatever you want to call it, it's the flu. And come flu season, there's suddenly a spike in Purrell sales as everyone from hobos to year-round germaphobes break out the hand sanitizer and scrub themselves down as if they were performing open heart surgery. Yet, as these Monk clones are saddened to learn, studies show that, unlike the common cold, rigorous hand washing isn't a particularly effective measure to preventing strains of influenza. While the common cold is transferred by hand-to-mouth/nose/eyes contact with bacteria, the influenza virus is most potent when airbourne or mixed with water. Simply put, you're more likely to get the flu from someone sneezing than shaking their hand.

"Everyone's eager to promote hand washing, and certainly it won't do any harm, but to rely on a hand washing as a way to prevent influenza is a serious mistake," said Arthur Reingold, professor of epidemiology at the University of California-Berkeley. Frequent hand washing has become merely a security blanket -- it does not substitute for coming into work sick or making allowance for those around you who could potentially be carriers for the virus. Our society is legitimately bound to Germ-X, I can't go anywhere without seeing mini bottles dangling from key chains or belt loops. Not to say that sanitation is unnecessary, I scrub my digits before every meal and occasionally just when I feel icky. But my science teacher in my freshman year in high school admitted that hand sanitizer was the worst thing for humanity as our immune systems are officially caput thanks to their dependancy on foreign substances to do their job for them.

While hand washing is a perfectly viable means to stay clean, exercise good judgement when it comes to sickness. Thomas Paine (whom I fondly refer to as T-Pain) emphasized it best -- common sense.



Link to story at cnn.com
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/24/hand.washing.helpful/index.html