Hand Sanitisers

[Griffin NoName]

Having always considerd that hand sanitisers are one of things we managed well without, I have finally moved into the whole spirit of life with sanitising. My son uses it before he touches his baby which even sparked a conversation about best shaped containers* etc etc.... if anyone told me ten years ago I would ever have such a conversation with my son I would have said they were barking mad.

* for the sanitiser not the baby

BUT THere IS A PrOBLeM

It is impossible to apply the sanitising stuff without first putting ones hands all over parts of the container in order to dispense from it.. usually spray of varying mist factors, and outreach. (not the gell ones obviously). So the bottle and cap and top of squirter plunger get covered with viscious violent fast-replicating bugs. So I am stuck there with sanitised hands until I replace the cap and put the sanitiser back on the shelf, by which point I am re-contaminating unless I have immersed the sanitiser in a bowl of dettol which must have been prepared with great care........
..................this is all self-defeating, expensive, time consuming and nuts. As is removing all the staples from papers and magazines and even some newspapers before the paper material itself can go in the recycle bin. Add in a meditation to calm down about it all and most of the day is gone. No time left to much else. Especially when most days also include argiung with some non-english speaking support person about the latest calamity with whatever newly purchased service or commodity is the current contender for the jynx built into most of them, a conversation which can take up to two hours (and that is quick to get through the telephone call centre push button system). I can seriously see us needing to have 36 hour days, or 48 might be easier as it is two sun cycles.

And my current sanitiser leaves my skin sticky. Yuk!

I've written a useful advert......

Banish germs with Our Healthy Days Sanitiser. You'll wonder where the bugs have gone!!!!! Can you guess where they are? Yes, you are right. All over the outside of the Sanitiser Bottle. So why not buy two bottles at once. That second one will come in handy for cleaning the one you just used. You know it makes sense.

ok. Now I am rambling. I can't sleep. Frightened of nightmares of giant staples attacking me as I try to rip them out magazines for recycling.

[Swatopluk]

The obvious solution is to use two cans of the stuff, so you can sanitise one with the other.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

As long as your hands are still wet of alcohol* touching the bottle shouldn't re-contaminate you. Truth be told, you'll get the germs a few minutes later at the door, the table... etc, etc, etc, and likely killed the good germs that helped protect you. In any case I do use the stuff if someone around has the flu or similar situations where there is a higher risk of contamination, although it's anybody's guess if it is done more for the mental health of the user than for it's advertised characteristics.


*main ingredient of most hand sanitizers

[Swatopluk]

I used the stuff when I worked in the hospital lab during my Zivildienst (alternative civilian service). I got a bit paranoid when I found out one day that the samples with the really nasty stuff where the ones without names on them (replaced with numbers for anonymity) or warning signs.

[Darlica]

Soap and water does enough germ killing for daily use for most of us.

Hand sanitizers good for moments when you have no access to soap and water or if you work with sick people who are potentially sick or extra sensitive for infections. Too much use will backfire as it will kill the good bacteria on your skin that works like a first defence line against the bad ones, it will dehydrate and take away the fat in the skin leaving it brittle and more prone to dry cracks which leave your body even more exposed.

Our immune system is usually very capable and unless someone have an illness affecting it most normal  hand transmitted bacteria won't stand a chance against it. A young individual of cause have a weaker immune system as it isn't "trained" yet but again if there isn't any underlying condition there are no reason to disinfect the world around him or her all the time.

Super resistant bacteria exist, but they aren't as common as some newspapers tend to claim as shock and horror are good sales arguments.  

Viruses are another ballgame, they are much more complicated, on one hand you have the ones that need fluid contact; mucous membrane to mucous membrane or body fluids or a way in through a wound in the skin. These are relatively easy to protect yourself against with normal hygiene and protection (during for example sex or contact with blood or other bodyfluids).
On the other hand you have the airborne viruses, tiny droplets of for example infected saliva (influenza) or dust contaminated by faeces (like the Ljungan virus) and of cause the ones transmitted by Fluid transmission between a biting insect and a human (Malaria and West Nile)

Hand sanitizers won't help much for the later group and well, they just ain't enough to protect against the first group unless combined with some type of barrier protection.
In other words unless you expect you have touched some real nastiness or need to clean a wound you don't need them, usual wet wipes are as good for washing your hands when you cant get to a bathroom... 

No immune system training as a small child ensures problems later when the child no longer can be protected 24/7 by his/her parents like when they begin at daycare/school, not to mention the psychological problems that can evolved form a childhood where everything not properly sanitized are considered dangerous!
Problems with body functions (especially common for girls and) the reason many women doesn't know what's "down there" is because it was branded a "dirty" area by their mothers.
Sex? Well, taking precaution and protecting one self and each other is good, wanting to shower your partner in bleach to let them cuddle with you -not so good.   Yes, I'm drastic but I've seen more than I'd like to of this kind of problems in my generation (the generation that grew up with the first AIDS awareness campaigns where sex=death ).

Personally I'm a recovering germophobe.
I feel dirtier after a bath in a communal swimming pool than after a day shovelling dung and soil in the garden...
For me research qualifies as therapy.

[Griffin NoName]

Viruses are another ballgame, they are much more complicated, on one hand you have the ones that need fluid contact; mucous membrane to mucous membrane or body fluids or a way in through a wound in the skin. These are relatively easy to protect yourself against with normal hygiene and protection (during for example sex or contact with blood or other bodyfluids).
On the other hand you have the airborne viruses, tiny droplets of for example infected saliva (influenza) or dust contaminated by faeces (like the Ljungan virus) and of cause the ones transmitted by Fluid transmission between a biting insect and a human (Malaria and West Nile)

Oi be h'intersted in this theory, but can ye tell me witch be on witch 'and? Oi dusn't want to be thinkin' me airborne viruses be on me rite 'and when h'actuallee they be on me left. 

[Darlica]

Did I stumble on the English language again or was it just my foot in my mouth?

[beagle]

Did I stumble on the English language again or was it just my foot in my mouth?

The English was exemplary; Griffin has been at the sherry.

[Darlica]

 

Ah, the dreaded I don't get the joke because I'm insecure of my language abilities...   

[beagle]

I think she might be turning into Howard Hughes (without the money). Or maybe with it, in which case I need to start being way more polite.

[Griffin NoName]

Did I stumble on the English language again or was it just my foot in my mouth?

As Beagle said..... I can't tell one hand from the other and have to mark them Left and Right in order to tie my shoelaces.

Did Howard Hughes drink sherry? I think not. Beagle is so Olde English......

[anthrobabe]

Dearest Griffin:
Purchase a nice pump spray sanitiser- one of the ones that is shaped like a large ink pen-complete with pocket clip- dump out hand sanitiser and rinse and clean container well- refill with vodka or other clear liquid of the adult kind (or even a nice cream sherry).
When things begin to bother you- like yucky sanitser containers-or discussions of container shape with your son-- remove sanitiser pen from pocket- spritz under tongue a couple of times- smile serenely.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Vodka is a valid sanitizer and odour remover.

...and for it's regularly prescribed use.

[Griffin NoName]

Thanks for the tip, or should I say tipple !!

[Lindorm]

Inventory number  65 65 610, Sanitizing hand towel, wet, extra large 190x220mm, is what keeps the Swedish railway network running and, whilst perhaps not squeaky clean, at least relatively presentable.

These are big wet wipes in a green foil package, standard issue to just about any railway worker since way back when, and one of those things that can be used for just about anything. They are good for wiping your hands and cleaning you off -even including lubricants, coupler grease, blood and intestinal contents of run-over elk and other more extreme stuff. They are also surprisingly good stain removers -I have used them to remove wine and coffee stains from silk ties! They also work very well for cleaning off dirty driver's desks and controller handles, removing squashed bugs from windshields and wing mirrors.

De-greasing and cleaning materials before glueing is dead easy, too. They also stop insect bites from itching, and can even be used as a decent firestarter. In some old official documents from the 1970'ies, they are even suggested to be a efficient remedy when splattered by PCB-contaminated oil (once used in large quantities in transformers, high-voltage switches and so on)

I have sometimes wondered what on earth might be in these magical wet-wipes, but reading Delta Green made me realize that perhaps it was best not to know everything, and stop wondering why that delivery guy always talked with such a strange and droning voice...