BALTIMORE, Aug 3, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. doctors say hand washing is the
number one step students and teachers can take to prevent sickness.
Experts from Baltimore's LifeBridge Health, which operates Sinai and Northwest
Hospitals, say each of the nation's 82 million students and teachers -- more
than one-quarter of the population -- need to do their part to keep themselves
and others healthy this coming school year.
Hand washing helps prevent illness because most germs are spread when people
pick them up from infected surfaces and then touch their eyes, noses or mouths.
However when hands are germ-free, bugs don't usually have a way to reach the
face, advises Mary Wallace, LifeBridge's Northwest Hospital infection control
manager.
"Because hands can pick up germs from so many different types of surfaces, it is
critical that students wash their hands after using the restroom, before and
after eating, whenever they are soiled, and periodically throughout the day,"
Wallace says in a statement.
"I often joke that the ways to not get sick are to wash your hands and don't eat
at questionable restaurants, but there's a lot of truth to that advice," says
Dr. John Cmar of LifeBridge's Sinai Hospital.
URL: www.upi.com
Copyright 2009 by United Press International