Kids ask: How can I tell if my hands are clean?
Maria Barba's first-graders at MacArthur Elementary School in Hoffman Estates asked, “How can I tell if my hands are clean? What are some fun facts about germs?”
Clean hands can help to keep germs away. A study in Detroit showed that kids who washed their hands four times a day reduced colds by 24 percent and reduced stomach upset by 51 percent. So hand washing really is a big deal in the fight against colds, flu and other bugs.
Angela Rupp, MT, MS, CIC, director of infection prevention and control at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said washing your hands gets rid of the bad germs.
“When you wash your hands, you are trying to get rid of transient bacteria and viruses,” Rupp said. “These are germs picked up from anything you touch.
“It's best to use warm water,” Rupp said. “Get your hands thoroughly wet. Apply soap to your hands and scrub the front surfaces, the back surfaces and in between your fingers.”
The length of time you continue to scrub with soap and water is important. Rupp says you should wash for about 10 to 15 seconds, long enough to sing one verse of “Happy Birthday to You” or one verse of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” If soap and water aren't available, use alcohol-based hand gels, Rupp said.
“They are very good at killing germs.”
When you're done washing, dry your hands with a paper towel. But don't toss it out quite yet. Keep your hands clean by protecting them from two popular germ hangouts faucets and door knobs. Rupp suggests that you use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and to cover the door knob as you open the bathroom door.
What's a germ, and how does it work? Germs are bacteria and viruses. There are good bacteria the kind we share our lives with they live on our bodies and everywhere in our environment.
And there are bad bacteria and viruses the kind that make us sick with illnesses like strep throat and tonsillitis.
Viruses try to get inside our bodies because they need living cells to reproduce. Chickenpox and flu are viruses. Other types of germs that use our bodies as cafeterias are fungi, like athlete's foot, and protozoa that cause illnesses like diarrhea.
As for fun facts about germs, Rupp says, “Germs are very smart they change and adapt because they like to infect people.”
Germs get around by traveling in droplets when people cough or sneeze. People with dirty hands leave them on desks and door knobs, where they can survive for up to two hours. If you touch those germs, and then touch your face, you can easily transfer them into your eyes, nose or mouth.
Rupp said germs have learned to resist certain antibiotics, but no germs have become resistant to soap and water or hand gels.
Already this year, people have become sick by norovirus, what some people think of as stomach flu with symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea.
“It's very infectious,” Rupp said. “Hand-washing is one of the best things to stop it from going through classrooms or offices.”
<p><b>Check it out</b></p>
<p>The Indian Trails Public Library District in Wheeling suggests these titles on germs:</p>
<p>• “Keep It Clean: Germ Free” by Cecelia Minden</p>
<p>• “Germs” by Don Nardo</p>
<p>• “Bill Nye the Science Guy's Great Big Book of Tiny Germs” by Bill Nye</p>
<p>• “The Flu” by Jim Ollhoff</p>
<p>• “The Germ Detectives” by Jim Ollhoff</p>
<p>• “What Are Germs?” by Jim Ollhoff</p>
<p>• “Yecch! Icky, Sticky, Gross Stuff in Your House” by Pam Rosenberg</p>
<p>• “Germ Wars! The Secrets of Protecting Your Body” by Melissa Stewart</p>