Important Facts About Hand Hygiene You Need To Know

Good hand hygiene is well recognised as one of the most important measures needed to protect yourself and others from infection spread. This has been truly emphasised by the Covid pandemic with increasing awareness all round.

Despite all the attention given to hand hygiene, why is it so important? Well, the facts can be frightening

1) Anywhere between 2-10 million germs live on your fingertips;

• These vast communities of germs can survive on the surface of your hand for up to three hours and double in size every twenty minutes, with one single germ multiplying into 8 million in the space of one day.
• Just think about what you have touched in the last thirty minutes! Within that short space of time, the average person has come into contact with over three-hundred different surfaces and exposed their hands to an estimated 840,000 different germs.
• Public door handles in washrooms, for instance, can harbour millions of germs that you may have come into contact with. These germs can easily be a source of infection and nearly 80% of these germs can cause a communicable disease or illness that can be simply passed on by touch.

2) 4-out-of-5 people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom

• Studies show that four out of five people still do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. Of those people that do, a large majority do not use any soap. In fact, around 20 percent of people do not dry their hands after using water alone to wash their hands. These people with damp hands are 1000 times more likely to spread bacteria than people with dry hands!
• Knowing that every surface you touch is covered in germs, the best way to protect yourself and others from germs and illness is to wash your hands! Yet, a majority of people fail to wash their hands properly, cleaning only the palm of their hands.
• These people then touch other surfaces, including door handles, leading to further spread of the germs.

3) Soap is your best friend.

• When it comes to hand hygiene, soap is the germs’ worst enemy. Soap creates an environment so toxic to germs that it practically tears them apart. Lathering the soap between your hands encourages the soap to mix with the germs and oils. 20 seconds of rubbing will allow the soap to fully react with the oils and pathogens and allow rinsing to wash away all the germs that were present on your hands.
• Alternatively, hand sanitizers work in a similar way to soap, creating a hostile environment for germs by breaking down their microbial membranes and practically making them fall apart.

Good hand hygiene is always the primary protection for public health and safety but unfortunately, the data shows that not everyone takes hand hygiene seriously.

To provide the protection needed, Axiene door handle provides a surface that is continually safe even when used by numerous people. Axiene Clean Touch system protects you and others using continual active disinfection; getting rid of 99.999% of bacteria and viruses and reducing the risk of infection spread. If you want to find out more about Axiene, visit our website at www.axiene.com