Wash your hands – and save the world from superbugs | Val Curtis
We're always being told that we should wash our hands, but many of us still find reasons to skip this basic everyday habit; maybe the water is too cold, or too hot, the soap doesn't smell nice or we're just in too much of a hurry. But now the results of a huge new study, just published in the Lancet, mean that we no longer have any excuses. This simple everyday practice could be vital, not just for our own and our family's health, but for that of the country and even all of our species.
Researchers at the University of Southampton randomly divided more than 20,000 people from GP lists into two groups, one of which was invited to visit a website designed to encourage people to wash their hands, while the other group didn't get access. After three years of follow-up, Paul Little and his team found that those in the website group reported having fewer colds, flu and gastroenteric infections. Participants' immediate families saw similar health benefits. And these self-reported findings were confirmed as those in the handwash website arm of the study also showed up less often in GPs' surgeries and were prescribed fewer antibiotics. The effects weren't huge, with 10% to 20% reductions in infections and consultations. But small effects multiplied to population level to produce huge benefits from what was a cheap, automated and easily accessed intervention.
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