Getting Carried Away
Where I work the building management is taking H1N1 seriously. That’s a good thing and I don’t want to suggest otherwise. There’s a free-standing foam sanitizing dispenser in the lobby of each floor, it has flyer taped to it on hand washing too. Gelled alcohol dispensers are prevalent in each office suite.
But the odd thing is that each bathroom (or at least the bathrooms I’ve sampled specific to my gender) have a gelled alcohol dispenser, that’s in addition to the usual sinks and soap. Personally, I’d just be happy if they made sure that both soap dispensers were kept filled at the same time.
If a bathroom user washes his or her hands then the alcohol isn’t necessary. It can be less effective than hand-washing in some cases. But if a person is not inclined to wash their hands, certainly they won’t bother with the alcohol right?
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:35
I for one believe the stupid hand sanitizer revolution will likely be the demise of everyone. forget H1N1 (Which i believe is a virus), when the bacteria mutate enough to be resistant to our anti-bacterial agents, we will have nothing left.
Perhaps we should all move around in plastic bubblewrap and wearing SARS masks? With police officers at every corner to make sure we hold the hand rail and wipe our noses.
Bring on H1N1! If it wipes out a whole bunch of hand sanitizing minions, the world will be a far better place overall for those who survive it.
But that’s just my opinion.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:54
The US CDC says that there’s no mechanism for viruses (or bacteria) to become resistant to alcohol. Alcohol and some other things work differently than antibiotics and anitviral medications in that they’re not mediated by the cell walls. Alcohol operates physically on the bug and doesn’t have to be “let in” to a bacterial cell or into a virus-infected cell.
So, no resistance. Kinda like the difference between smashing an insect and getting it to take a poisoned bait.
However, anti-bacterial soaps CAN cause resistance. They operate differently than alcohol.