Since the 2014 outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease, there has been an upsurge in the market value and demand for hand sanitizers. Pharmaceutical companies around the world, are now producing them in their thousands. The fear of Ebola, the beginning of hand sanitizers, someone says, but I would say, it's rather the lack of proper information. Hand sanitizers have been recommended before the Ebola's recent outbreak, why wait till now before getting yours?
Being aware of the fact that the Ebola virus transfers faster from person to person through body contact via body fluids, handshake as a mode of greeting, like an endangered specie, is going into extinction. There is now a global rush for hand sanitizers. Even at social functions, provision is made for people to sanitize their hands before being allowed in. The real question is, do hand sanitizers really work? Can they help keep you safe from the Ebola virus?
EBOLA VIRUS VERSUS HAND SANITIZERS.
* Hand sanitizer is a form of antiseptic, which is made of alcohol (isopropanol, ethanol, n-propanol) or povidone-iodine. There are other types, but alcohol based hand sanitizers are more effective at killing microorganisms.
* Ebola is an elongated filamentous virus, which contains a helical nucleocapsid (with a central axis), about 20 - 30 nm in diameter, and is enveloped by a helical capsid, 40 - 50 nm in diameter. This structure is very stable, and can be dissociated and re-associated readily by changing ionic strength, pH, temperature, etc.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
* As strange as this might sound, hand sanitizers does NOT guarantee you 'protection' against the Ebola virus, just zero this out of your mind. It is true that hand sanitizers have been recommended, but their bottles only say, “effective against bacteria” with no mention of viruses. Viruses are far more different in their operations compared to bacteria.
* Contrary to the believe that hand sanitizers kill viruses or bacteria, hand sanitizers were made to terminate neither viruses nor bacteria. According to a response from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, as regards questions on his blog, whether hand sanitizer is effective against bacteria and viruses. He said, "it does not kill bacteria or viruses, but in essence, it makes your hands very inhospitable to viruses. You put it on your hands and viruses simply don't want to cling to it. So it does reduce the amount of a virus that can cling to your hand but it does not kill it".
* Hand sanitizers have limit to what microorganisms they can protect you against. According to this Article from WebMD, hand sanitizers don't work against some specific viruses and even an infection caused by C. difficile, a bacterium that can lead to life-threatening inflammation in the colon.
* Hand sanitizers are advised not to be used as substitutes for good hand-washing with soap and water. According to that same article, in the study published in the American Journal of Infection Control, CDC researchers looked at the use of hand sanitizers by the staff in 91 long-term care facilities. In those where the staff were equally or more likely to use the hand sanitizers over soap and water for routine hand hygiene, the chance of an outbreak was nearly six times greater.
A message from the WHO, health organizations, and health professionals around the world; the best preventive measure still remains proper washing of the hands. With the use of hand sanitizers, you are still expected to keep the various preventive measures like being cautious of where you put your hand and the exposed parts of the body you're not meant to touch, except after washing. You are expected to wash your hands regularly with soap and water, but another problem remains, how do you wash your hands? Read Here to learn the techniques involved in proper hand-washing.
NOTE: This article is not meant to take your mind off the usage of hand sanitizers, but health professionals advise its use only in cases where water is not readily available. It’s also very important that you use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol as often as possible, anything less than this is ineffective against many bacteria. Remember, hand sanitizers should not be used as substitute for good and proper hand-washing.
REFERENCES.
* Public health agency of Canadan.
* MSU EDU.
* The Microbial World
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