The single most important thing we can do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness to others is to clean our hands!

The single most important thing we can do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness to others is to clean our hands!1

Here are the reasons why . . .

One of the most common ways people catch colds is by rubbing their noses or eyes after touching someone or something that's contaminated with the cold virus (rhinovirus).

Nearly 22 million school days are lost annually due to the common cold.2
    
52.2 million cases of the common cold affect Americans under age 17 each year.3
    
Some foodborne illnesses are spread through lack of hand cleaning. In fact, certain strains of E. coli, salmonella, and other bacteria can live on surfaces like cafeteria tables and doorknobs for up to two hours.4

Rotavirus - a germ that causes gastrointestinal illness - can be transferred from a dry, smooth surface to a clean hand for as long as 20 minutes after the surface has been contaminated.5
 
Infectious disease accounts for millions of lost school days each year.6

Diarrhea is second only to the common cold as a cause of lost working time, with about 25 days lost from work or school each year for every 100 Americans.7,8
 
Teacher illness costs time and money - not to mention the negative effects that teacher absences may have on student learning. In fact, teachers can be absent from school more days a year than students. One study found that teacher illness-related absences averaged 5.3 days a year, in contrast to an average of 4.5 days a year for students.9
 
Students don't clean their hands often or well enough. In one study, only 58% of female and 48% of male middle and high school students washed their hands after using the bathroom. Of these, only 33% of the females and 8% of the males used soap.10
   
Adult hand cleaning behaviors also need improvement. In one study, about 33% of adults using public restrooms didn't wash their hands after using the bathroom.11
    
 
Hand cleaning and basic hygiene habits are generally learned during early childhood. But people need to be reminded periodically about the importance of clean hands to wash them as often and thoroughly as they should.12,13
Research suggests that it is important for hygiene lessons to be repeated during the K-12 school curricula.
 
One study involving Detroit school children showed that scheduled handwashing, at least four times a day, can reduce gastrointestinal illness and related absences by more than 50%.14

A case-control study of 6,080 school children showed that those who used classroom-dispensed, instant hand sanitizers at specific times during the day, in addition to normal hand cleaning habits, experienced 20% fewer absences due to illness.15

A four-week handwashing program for a class of first grade students was associated with fewer absences and prescribed antibiotics than were reported the previous school year.16
    
 
 
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