Wash Your Hands to Avoid Infection

What is the single most effective way to avoid infection? The one your mother taught you: washing your hands.

Using a simple technique like hand washing is especially important for cancer patients with weakened immune systems, who are more susceptible to illness than the general population.

How to stay clean

Keeping hands clean is important at home and at the hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). The CDCP says that of the two million hospital-acquired infections reported each year, 90,000 are fatal.

The CDCP recommends:

• Removing any rings or other jewelry
• Wetting the hands with warm water
• Applying soap
• Rubbing hands together for at least 15 seconds
• Scrubbing all surfaces, including the backs of your hands, wrists, between your fingers and fingernails
• Rinsing
• Drying thoroughly with a towel
• Turning off the faucet using a paper towel

Using an alcohol-based rub:

• Applying the alcohol product to one palm
• Rubbing the hands together covering all surfaces until the skin is dry

Always wash your hands:

• Before eating
• After using the bathroom
• After changing a diaper - wash the diaper-wearer's hands, too
• Before and after preparing food, especially before and immediately after handling raw meat, poultry or fish
• After touching animals or animal waste
• After blowing your nose
• After coughing or sneezing into your hands
• Before and after treating wounds or cuts
• Before and after touching or visiting a sick or injured person
• After handling garbage
• Before inserting or removing contact lenses