With all the recent reports about the flu, it’s not surprising that you find hand sanitizer everywhere these days – the supermarket, doctor’s offices, and in many homes. But is it as effective as regular old hand washing?
The New York Times Well blog recently provided a great evidence-based summary of why hand sanitizer is not as effective as hand washing with soap and water.
Essentially, studies show that hand sanitizer is not effective against all germs. One study of long-term care facilities found that facilities where staff members used hand sanitizer instead of hand washing were six times more likely to have an outbreak of norovirus – a stomach bug – compared with facilities where hand-washing was the norm. That’s because hand sanitizer has been found to be ineffective against the norovirus.
The take-home message: Hand sanitizer is better than nothing, but washing your hands is the best way to prevent the spread of germs. For more information, the CDC offers an evidence-based guide to hand-washing.
It really depends on whether a hand sanitizer is effective against viruses, bacteria yeasts, spores and fungi or not.
Of course if you use a hand sanitizer that does not kill Flu its not going to help.
If you use a sanitizer that has been scientifically proven to kill H1N1 or other variants of the flu bug then this is going to help.
Alcohol based hand sanitizer may kill bugs on application to the hand however stop working as soon as evaporation has occurred. Some non-alcohol based products kill almost every bug and continue working for a considerable time after application.
Generally you would expect to wash hands and use sanitizer as part of your hygiene protocol anyway.
This article is very broad “studies show that using hand sanitizer is not as effective” there are many different brands available all with different properties.