hand sanitizer?

Question

hey. my friend is acting like a total germaphobe ever since she found out about the staph infection. in school she uses hand sanitizer after every class, and then washes her hands after school is over. she also said she puts hand sanitixer on her cell phone once a week. i know she means good, but im wondering if its bad for her

Answer 1

I use hand hand sanitizer due to the problems of spreading germs in my work. That's mainly due to handling of food. It's unfortunate, but in this world where people don't even wash their hands after using the bathroom out in public. Also I have observe some workers in McD's fail to do that too, while working and handling food. I believe it's become a generation problem for the last two after the Xers.
I see no problem as long as she uses it to help control the staph infection and it doesn't relate to any other fetish or compulsive problem. Sometimes people over react due to fear of getting the spreading virus. See if her efforts have curbed the potential of getting it, and maybe you might follow in her footsteps. It couldn't hurt.

Answer 2

No its' not really bad for her, more amusing than anything else lol. She may be over doing it a bit but handwashing is a great thing. It will certainly help her stop viral infections. As far as bacterial infections goes, most people have staph on their bodies all the time. You could stay in the shower forever and never get rid of it. It only causes an infection when it enters the body such as through a scratch or another break in the skin. As long as she takes care of any cuts on her body and sees a doctor when signs of infection begin, she should be just fine. MRSA, the "new" strain of resistant bacteria that everyone is talking about, isn't new at all. I've treated patients with MRSA as early as 2002 and I know it was around even before that.

Answer 3

Handwashing = good. Hand sanitizer = not so good. Why?

Okay, everybody! Where did MRSA (the deadly staph infection in the media right now) come from? It began in hospitals and healthcare agencies many years ago when sanitization killed "99.9% of germs" on surfaces and common antibiotics killed most bacteria. The percent of microbes and bacteria that was not killed simply kept multiplying and becoming more prevalent. Thus, hospital-acquired MRSA.

So how did MRSA get into the community? The prevalence of antibacterial soaps, surface wipes, and hand sanitizers is doing exactly the same thing outside hospitals--killing most microbes and leaving the "super" microbes lots of room to multiply. The companies who make these products aren't much better--they show scary commercials where kids are reaching for an object that is crawling with hairy bacteria. But by preying on mothers' fears that every surface must be sterile, these companies are actually eventually killing these same children.

Soap and warm water removes most microbes from your hands. You do not need to sanitize your person, your belongings, or your house unless you're immunocompromised (i.e., HIV, chemotherapy, leukemia), and hand sanitizer certainly won't do it.

No, it isn't necessarily bad for her personally, and I understand her fear. I'm very concerned about MRSA myself, as most of my students also work in healthcare settings (one of them worked at a hospital caring for a patient with necrotizing fasciitis, also called flesh-eating bacteria). As other posters mentioned, though, hand sanitizer contains alcohol, which can dry and crack her skin, allowing bacteria easier entrance.

Answer 4

She is doing the right thing and it can only harm her if she drinks it (hand sanitizer)
I purchased hand sanitizer for each of my 4 sons and put in their back packs and told them to use it while at school. You never know.

Answer 5

The only problem with hand sanitizer is that it uses alcohol to kill the germs.

The alcohol dries out your skin, and makes it crack open causing multiple areas for bacteria and viruses to gain entry into the body.

So using germ-x could actually cause you to get staph....

Answer 6

Theres nothing wrong with it. She is trying to be safe, And hand sanitizer wont hurt her. Its a good idea. I'd do the same thing.

Answer 7

Staff infection isn't just passed from person to person contact. It can also be passed on the toilet seat or the door handle or pretty much anything you touch that another person has touched. It definitely not bad for her and actually she's really smart for doing that.

Answer 8

There is nothing wrong with hand sanitizers,she defiantly wont get staff infection.

Answer 9

SHE IS VERY SMART. Many of the bacterias and viral infections can be dangerous.

Smart Girl.

Answer 10

It isnt bad for her, she is just being overly cautious.