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Current Events » in reply to Anti-bacterial lotions? Absolutely not!

Hand washing...
Laurie Street — (archived)

... probably the most effective means of reducing or preventing a great number of diseases, including influenza. If only people would do it! It's scary how many people I see leaving a washroom without washing their hands, never mind doing it at other times. I applaud your efforts at the library, Mary Anne... spread the word, not the bugs!

At the hospital where I work and most others around here, there are wall mounted dispensers of alcohol gel EVERYWHERE, with signs asking everyone to use them before entering and after leaving every area. The gel has something in it to prevent drying your skin - I use it many times a day with no ill effects, and I have never heard any of the female staff complain of that either.

I've also noticed that more and more public washrooms have garbage cans hear the door so that one can open the door with paper towel and then toss it into the can. Bigger facilities often have no doors, just a convoluted corridor, presumably for the same reason.

All of this is well and good, and proper and extensive education efforts could reduce the toll of a pandemic considerably, but I'm afraid it just ain't gonna happen in much of the world and I'm not confident that it will happen to a sufficient degree even in developed countries.

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