Hand Sanitizer

  • Norovirus outbreak hits Corcordia College; alcohol-based sanitizers and wipes won't do to much

    Posted: March 28th, 2012 - 10:58am by Ben Chapman

    Author: 
    Ben Chapman

    According to lohud.com, a likely outbreak of norovirus has made at least 30 students of Corcodia College ill.

    It was first reported on the 800-student campus Friday. Within a couple of days, 30 students contracted the virus and four wound up in Lawrence Hospital Center in Bronxville.

    Katherine Chiciaza, 18, was in the school library Saturday morning when she became nauseous.
    “I had to come back to the dorm and throw up in the bathroom,” she said. “I felt like that the whole day.”
    The college sent out an email to students and staff, urging them to take precautions to avoid the virus, such as cleaning hands, and to stay hydrated if they get it.

    The school also dispatched cleaning crews, twice a day, to sanitize all common areas, from the dining halls to dorms and classrooms.

    Vittoria Rubino, 21, of the Bronx was armed with hand sanitizer and alcohol pads Tuesday as she arrived for class.
    “I work in the writing center, so I’ve sterilized the keyboard because everyone uses them,” Rubino said. “I know I’m getting a little crazy.”

    While hand sanitizer has its uses, reducing norovirus spread isn't one of them. Pretty much all commercially available hand sanitizers suck when it comes to reducing norovirus viability. Same with the alcohol-containing wipes. All Vittoria is probably doing is spreading virus particles around.

    I haven't found any reports of University facilities folks suggesting that students substitute hand sanitizer for hand washing.

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    Norovirus  |  0 Comments
    Alcohol, Hand Sanitizer
  • Not-so-great prison cocktails, pt. II: NZ prisoners drunk on hand sanitizer

    Posted: October 6th, 2011 - 9:06pm by Doug Powell

    Inmates at a Christchurch prison have concocted a toxic home brew out of hand sanitizer, getting drunk off the novel drink.

    APNZ reports hand sanitizer was given out to Christchurch residents to help prevent the spread of disease after the deadly February earthquake, and Rolleston Prison bosses decided to do the same.

    But three enterprising inmates have used the germ killer as the base for a brew, adding sugar-based products like powdered fruit drink to sweeten it.

    Inmate Tuarea Pahi, 24, got drunk and assaulted a prison officer, an attack he says he doesn't remember.

    It came as a shock to the officer because they had reportedly been on friendly terms before then.

    An extra 70 days has been added to Pahi's jail term after admitting the assault at a district court session inside the prison.

    The court heard how Pahi and two other inmates were caught "highly intoxicated" on September 4.

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    Wacky and Weird  |  2 Comments
    Australia, christchurh, Hand Sanitizer, Prison
  • The world has cooties

    Posted: October 13th, 2009 - 9:30am by Megan Hardigree

    I am sure I am not the only person who had to deal with cooties. I wasn’t sure cooties had a definition, but apparently it is a non-medical term for an invisible disease. When I was younger I thought, or was told, that boys had cooties (unless you were a boy and then girls had cooties). I never wanted to touch a boy or touch anything that had been touched by boys. If there was contamination I would quickly chant, “circle circle, dot dot, now I got my cootie shot.” There were hand motions that went along with it as well.

    I realize that H1N1, seasonal flu, and other infectious diseases are different than cooties, but in many places, people are acting as if everyone has cooties.

    An article by USA Today talks about how people, churches, work places, and hospitals are changing to avoid H1N1 and other influenza/diseases. Butt bumping and fist pumping has taken the place of shaking hands. Magazines and toys have been removed from waiting rooms in hospitals and clinics. And, my personal favorite, stethoscopes and chairs are being disinfected (I can’t believe this hasn’t been done before).

    Protect yourself from cooties and other diseases.
     

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    Handwashing  |  0 Comments
    Cooties, Hand Sanitizer
  • Are petting zoos safe for kids?

    Posted: February 9th, 2009 - 5:35pm by Casey Jacob

    Last week, an E.coli outbreak involving at least 17 kids and 3 adults was linked to a Denver cattle show.

    In light of that, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News spent a day at the petting zoo at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo asking parents if they were worried about the "germs" their kids were being exposed to.

    Some said yes; many others were confident in the precautions they were taking.

    The stepfather of a three-year-old wasn't worried. "We wash his hands," he said.

    One mother said of her thumb-sucking two-year-old,

    “I can’t keep her in a bubble. [But] it’s definitely something I think about every day with her.”

    One of the largest petting zoo outbreaks of E.coli O157:H7 to date was linked to the North Carolina State Fair in 2004. A study of the outbreak by Goode and colleagues found,

    Persons became infected after contact with manure and engaging in hand-to-mouth behaviors in a petting zoo having substantial E coli O157:H7 contamination.

    Use of alcohol-based hand-sanitizing gels was not protective [against infection with E.coli O157:H7], although knowledge of the risk for zoonotic infection was protective.

    Are petting zoos safe for kids? Maybe, if you're aware of the risks and make sure they don't eat any poop. But that might be easier said than done.

    In the San Antonio article, Bill Marler was quoted as saying the threat of exposure to new and dangerous pathogens was too high for him to risk taking a small child or anyone with a compromised immune system to a petting zoo.

    It's your call.

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    E. coli, Listeria  |  0 Comments
    Doneness, Hand Sanitizer, Meat, Petting Zoo, Poop', Zoonoses