While washing your hands for 15-20 seconds with soap and water is the best way to prevent the transmission of infectious disease through hand to hand contact, in a pinch, alcohol santizers work well. Good news from Australia: you can use sanitizers and drive. From Microbe:
Young health care workers cite many reasons why they don't use appropriate hand hygiene at work. One concern, particularly among some young health care workers who are required to have a zero serum alcohol level to legally drive automobiles while on a probationary license in Australia and some other countries, is the fear of being breathalyzed on the way home. Now M. Lindsay Grayson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, et al. show that even very intensive use of alcohol-based hand rub solutions--as much as 30 times per hour--does not result in any substantive absorption. "Nevertheless, extremely small ethanol levels were detected six to eight minutes after last use in 2 of 20 subjects," says Grayson. By comparison, serum isopropanol levels were undetectable in all 19 subjects, and isopropanol is not detectable by the routine breathalyser used by police. "Concerns about being breathalyzed are no longer valid," concludes Grayson.(T. L. Brown, S. Gamon, P. Tester, R. Martin, K. Hosking, G. C. Bowkett, D. Gerostamoulos, and M. L. Grayson. 2007. Can alcohol-based hand-rub solutions cause you to lose your driver's license? Comparative cutaneous absorption of various alcohols. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 51:1107-1108.)
I imagine this is also good news for people struggling with alcoholism.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
This is not good public hygiene
...WASHING YOUR DAMN HANDS! From the NY Times:
In one study of four residence halls at the University of Colorado, two of the dorms had hand sanitizer dispensers installed in every dorm room, bathroom and dining area, and students were given educational materials…
Thank goodness Science has finally given us protection against. . . Kooties!
Kootie Killer promises to "kill 99.9% of germs & Kooties without water!" This claim is clearly rigorously lab-tested and evidence-based, but although I wouldn't dream of questioning its veracity, it does invite the…
Influenza kills somewhere around 36,000 Americans every year (and perhaps twice that number, depending on the estimate). The novel A H1N1 ("swine") flu circulating this year has found a world population with little natural immunity (at least those of us under 65---older folks may have some…
No vaccine, antivirals in short supply, what to do if bird flu strikes? Wash your hands, seems to be a favorite. While its efficacy is unproven, it's not a bad thing to do anyway. Dry skin is the only plausible side effect. Dry skin and hand sanitizer abuse. It's 70% ethyl alcohol:
The 49-year-old…
What is the obsession with Homo erectus? There couldn't be something between H. habilis and H. erectus? H. erectus has to be the first of the genus to migrate out of Africa? I don't think so.
Young health care workers cite many reasons why they don't use appropriate hand hygiene at work. One concern, particularly among some young health care workers who are required to have a zero serum alcohol level to legally drive automobiles while on a probationary license in Australia and some other countries, is the fear of being breathalyzed on the
What is the obsession with Homo erectus? There couldn't be something between H. habilis and H. erectus? H. erectus has to be the first of the genus to migrate out of Africa? I don't think so
Young health care workers cite many reasons why they don't use appropriate hand hygiene at work. One concern, particularly among some young health care workers who are required to have a zero serum alcohol level to legally drive automobiles while on a probationary license in Australia and some other countries, is the fear of being breathalyzed on the
Young health care workers cite many reasons why they don't use appropriate hand hygiene at work. One concern, particularly among some young health care workers who are required to have a zero serum alcohol level to legally drive automobiles while on a probationary license in Australia and some other countries, is the fear of
Young health care workers cite many reasons why they don't use appropriate hand hygiene at work. One concern, particularly among some young health care workers who are required to have a zero serum alcohol level to legally drive automobiles while on a probationary license in Australia and some other countries, is the fear of