Mom, you were right ... again.
A new study reveals that we’re all cleaning our hands poorly — a U.N.-approved six-step method gets your palms next to godliness better than the basic three-step approach that American officials have been recommending for years.
Researchers writing this week in the frighteningly named Journal of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology say the World Health Organization’s rub-and-tug reduces bacteria by 21% while the Centers for Disease Control technique only cut the wee beasties by 6.5%.
That may not sound like a big deal, but neither does one million tiny bacteria crawling on you...until you think about it.
The downside is that the U.N. method takes what the scientists say is 21% longer, though to the layman, it will feel like four days.
The existing method calls for just three simple steps: apply hand sanitizer to the palm, rub hands together, allow to dry. As the video accompanying this article shows, that takes about four seconds.
The U.N. method takes longer — what doesn’t at the U.N.? — but it’s also a lot sexier:
1. Apply hand sanitizer.
2. Rub one palm over the back of the other hand and interlock the fingers. Repeat with the other hand. I call this “barebacking.”
3. Interlock the fingers with the palms facing each other, which is your basic hand-cleaning missionary.
4. Curl the fingers together with the thumbs on opposite sides, which is basically 69-ing your hands.
5. Grab your thumb with the entire opposite hand and rotate the hand — the classic rub-and-tug.
6. Now for the post-sanitize snuggle: rub the fingertips of one hand into the palm of the other. Repeat for the other hand.
The scientists’ conclusion?
“The six-step technique is superior,” they wrote.
Fuente: www.nydailynews.com
