Hand Sanitizer, How Are People Wrongly Using It

Ok, all of you know about the hand sanitizers that are out there for the flu right? I just heard there's a major concern that people are drinking it due to the alcohol content. That's gotta have a awful taste. Hey, I purchase oned in blueberry scent may be those taste better. *just kidding*

It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for a high. This has to top it all. Wonder if kids are drinking it. Something you might want to watch, if your hand sanitizers disappear. Anyhow just thought it was something to post. I'll stick to water.

Slainte

EWWW! That's...*cringes* disgusting! But you know, alcoholics will drink many things that have alcohol in them when they're desperate so...

But that's just gross. It's not even really liquid. It's more gel like...

ewww.

I'm not sure of all these hand sanitizers, etc. Many of our schools require our children to bring a small bottle to school. Most of these things have lots of chemicals and are scented. You cannot use them if you have allergies as I have or sensitive skin. I also worry about use with young children. Many young children, including my daughter, eats soap. Many children put their fingers in their mouths. How safe are all these chemicals? What ever happened to just wash often with plain soap and water? It works just fine and kills germs. The only time I can see needed a hand sanitizer is if you are some place where there isn't soap and water available. Baby wipes work just as well and often times better.

Me too WallaceGal. It would be terrible to have such a disease as Alcoholism.

RebeccaAnn I never thought about baby wipes. I know that all this alcohol kills my nails. I never thought about the chemicals and the children eating them as well. Wow, this really opens my eyes. I think we can get carried away and need to leave some of the remedies to the natural way and quit creating super bugs.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting your thoughts.

Forgot to ask this question, ok, you take your hand to the sanitizer bottle or pump and the hand that you touched it with isn't disinfected, so does the germ stay on top or sides of bottle waiting for the next person?

Slainte

Isopropyl rubbing alcohol is poisonous and can cause permanent disabling illness or death if consumed.... do a search this is serious stuff.

The unfortunate thing is though, desperate alcoholics don't care. Mouthwash, sanitizer, perfume...if it's got alcohol in it and they're starting DTs, they'll drink it.

There was a blurp on ABC News last week about Doctors being the worst ones for washing there hands. About 73% either didn't wash after each examination or do a poor job.



Camac

It is very serious stuff dundee and to have children who have their own "little bottle" may not be a good thing.

As WallaceGal said alcholics don't care they just need the drug in their body.

Camac that's terrible about the doctors not washing their hands-gee-may be because someone drank their hand sanitizer...just kidding. Next time I go in I will be watching now.. lol They are the ones that need to wash!

Slainte

As a former hospital administrator, the battle to have staff wash their hands was never ending. However, most places track the success or failure of staff on this issue for their infection control standards. 73% failure rate for physicians seems quite high, but one has to keep in mind the number of times that a physician is expected to wash them. The four facilities that I was apart of had a 90% success rate for all staff, when the samples were random. Sometimes data is taken when one is looking for an answer,has a bias, and you usually can find what you are looking for. Random checks takes that out of the picture. I'm not saying that was the case with the ABC report, but I find the figure way out of wack with my experience. You still have to deal with the fact that my docs still touched 10% of their patients without properly washing hands!

I really like Rebecca Ann's idea about baby wipes! Might make me look like Monk, but I probably do anyway!

I work in healthcare. In the hospital I'm at, a few years ago, small hand sanitizer containers were hung on the wall of each patient room, right next to the door. It's become habit to hit that when leaving the room because when you're on a critical floor and running from room to room, handwashing can become a forgotten thing. It's not an excuse of course, but two codes on your floor at the same time gives you a very narrow focus on what's important and sometimes you forget to run down the hall to the wash station. Thus we've all forced ourselves to hit that sanitizer button.

So far, we've not had anyone drink the stuff though. But I've seen a lot of patients go through the DTs. It's not pretty. There is a long list of things that are removed from their rooms and the first on the list is the mouthwash. Even the cleaning ladies are not allowed to take in more than their broom. If they need to clean something that takes anything alcohol based, someone needs to be in the room as well.

Sad, isn't it, how desperate people will get? Sad too that it doesn't surprise me that this is a problem.

I have received emails with cautions about children and hand sanitizers. With younger children we need to remember anything can go in the mouth. This is good information on it: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp.

Flora

Make your own hand-sanitizing spray...Follow this recipe to mix up an
effective germ-killing blend:

2 ounces vodka
4 to 5 drops essential oil such as tea tree or eucalyptus, or a combination
2 teaspoons witch hazel

Mix well, and pour into a spritzer bottle for a homemade hand sanitizer!

Possibly just the Vodka taken internally in sufficient quantities would work as a "sanitizer" too!

Slàinte,    

Patch    

The previous owner of my condo, who was a chef (and quite possibly a germophobe), left a bunch of antibiotic cleansers and soaps. I kept the hand soap he left in the bathroom and just use that for hand-washing. For surface cleaning, I just use a spray bottle filled with bleach and water. I figure if the bacteria and viruses can survive that, they'll survive anything.

Are we overdoing it with all the hand sanitizers and antiboitic soaps? Will we eventually make our imune system weaker? Just a thought.

I agree with you Montie, druid at heart this is why we have super bugs! I am still going to use hand sanitizers. I wonder how much of that alcohol is absorbed into your skin. Say if your an alcoholic can you use these products? That's probably a stupid question.

Slainte