Posted By Raymond Rapp Safetygirl Why not write your own? Such as, 'washing hands is good for you - if want to prevent catching flu'. Bit corny I guess, but I'm sure you get the picture. Ray

Posted By Peter Zunda There's quite a number available here; http://www.washyourhandsofthem.com Although, in general, aimed at health workers, several are suitable for other uses.

Posted By Safetygirl peter, gerry raymond thanks very much for your advise. Kind regards safety girl

Posted By John Richards http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/...icyandGuidance/dH_063674

Posted By John Richards The route of infection/contagion is via mucous membranes. Of which the oral/nasal are the most dominant, but also the ocular mucous membrane offers a route for infection/contagion.

Posted By Swis Agree with Chris here.. Having a scientific background personally …. there’s hardly any evidence that viral infection can be transmitted through hands. And yet… every organisation is in the hype of promoting the hand washing routines to eliminate the spread of flu. No doubt washing hands is a good method for personal hygiene and spread of bacterial infection but viral???

Posted By Swis In hospitals, we encounter, different types of microbes not just viruses.. also hospitals contains people which are more susceptible to catch all sorts of infections etc..

Posted By ColinPink Little surprissed by the comments on this thread. The World Health Organisation said this on the 11th June "What can I do to protect myself from catching influenza A(H1N1)? The main route of transmission of the new influenza A(H1N1) virus seems to be similar to seasonal influenza, via droplets that are expelled by speaking, sneezing or coughing. You can prevent getting infected by avoiding close contact with people who show influenza-like symptoms (trying to maintain a distance of about 1 metre if possible) and taking the following measures: avoid touching your mouth and nose; clean hands thoroughly with soap and water, or cleanse them with an alcohol-based hand rub on a regular basis (especially if touching the mouth and nose, or surfaces that are potentially contaminated); avoid close contact with people who might be ill; reduce the time spent in crowded settings if possible; improve airflow in your living space by opening windows; practise good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active. " So until a higher authority says otherwise i suggest you stick to the guidance on washing hands. With regards to COSHH, its not massive ill health effects your organisations should be trying to stop its the massive tempory loss of work force. Some papers are suggesting 8% of the population will get ill every week. Thats a lot of your staff and income generating potential. The only reason to not encourage staff to not wash hands is the massive exposure from everyones private life. However every little helps i reckon. Colin

Posted By ColinPink Sorry bob, Just reread my statemnt and it doesn't read well. I agree that things like road traffic accidents are a much greater risk to loss of life etc than swine flu in its current form. But swine flu will have a much greater effect in the short term. Colin

Posted By Chris Packham At no time do I believe I suggested that hand hygiene was not important. I am a great believer that we need to maintain high standards of hand hygiene. What I was suggesting was that the main risk for infection, whether for normal influenza or swine flu was inhalation of airborne virus due to an infected person sneezing of coughing, and that for this type of infection hand hygiene is not the major route for us to concern ourselves with. Other micro-organisms use other routes of entry and this is where hand hygiene can be the most significant route of contact. Chris

Posted By Dave Merchant Chris is not helping with your confusion as what he's saying in his replies is largely incorrect. Allow me to clarify: 1) H1N1 is an UPPER respiratory tract infection, because the H1 (hemagglutinin-1) surface protein targets cells in that part of the lungs. H5N1 (Avian flu) in contrast targets deep alveolar tissues which is why it's so hard to spread into a pandemic but more likely to cause death from pneumonia, and why we're worried about a possible hybrid with H5N1's virulence and H1N1's transmissibility. 2) In close unprotected contact (less than 1m) direct airborne droplet transmission is the most likely route, as the majority of droplets expelled in a cough or sneeze travel less than 1m (due to gravity and drag). Sneeze in someone's face and sure it spreads, but people don't do that, and apart from specific situations (crowded public transport etc.) you rarely get that close to a stranger's face for long enough to allow them to sneeze in it - especially now. This is where the NHS/HPA mask guidance for healthcare gets its 1m rule from. 3) Above 1m, two transmission routes dominate - indirect via hands and direct via sub-micron airborne particles. In an enclosed environment with suitable humidity and UV levels, some of the smallest particles from a cough or sneeze can be held in mid-air by a combination of currents and Brownian motion; potentially allowing them to be inhaled some time later. The longest this has been shown to be viable, in a sealed test chamber, was 24 hours. In a typical room it'll much be less than that, and often they're too small for basic masks to stop them anyway. 4) Transfer to surfaces, either by fallout from airborne particles or transfer from the hands of the patient, can lead to viable levels of H1N1 persisting for up to 24 hours on smooth metals (handles, lift buttons etc.), up to an hour on fabrics. It depends on how porous it is - the virus doesn't remain viable on skin for more than about 15 minutes, but several published studies have shown we touch our lips and noses many times an hour without noticing, so this method of transfer is a lot more likely than people tend to think. 5) It is indeed true that if everyone wore a P3 mask, all day, every day, then almost nobody would be infected. However people don't wear them properly (they fiddle with them, scratch their noses, etc.) and masks tend to make the public _less_ likely to keep to strict hand hygiene than if they aren't wearing one. There is also a logistics counter-effect, as P3 masks (even if they were available in sufficient numbers) would require delivery or collection, meaning more travelling and peer association - on balance we consider those issues outweigh any benefits from directing the public to wear masks in general life. There's really no point in second-guessing the official guidance you're getting from HPA/WHO; not only do you not know as much as they do, but if you're shown to be taking a different approach and anyone even hints they may have been infected because of it, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be your underwriter. So, if you're caring for a patient, wear a mask when you're in their close presence. Wear it properly, and wash your hands a lot. Everyone else and everyplace else, wash your hands a lot and don't sneeze in someone's face. They'll punch you.

Posted By Ian Blenkharn I could not agree more with Dave's commentary. I am afraid there are a few here that claim some sort of detailed knowledge, especially in aspects of microbiology but often in just about anything else that takes their fancy, and offer ex-Cathedra statements that are simply ridiculous. This latest offering stems from a chat with several [unnamed] microbiologists (http://www.iosh.co.uk/index.cfm?go=discussion.view&forum=1&thread=46059). It is wrong. It is hopelessly wrong. It is dangerously wrong, despite attempts to back off and moderate those ex-Cathedra statements in later postings. Dave, your description of the transmission routes for influenza virus are correct. Not for the first time have I found it necessary to correct such utter rubbish. see http://www.iosh.co.uk/in...iew&forum=1&thread=46059 and http://www.iosh.co.uk/in...iew&forum=1&thread=39030 I urge others to take the information provided by others with the greatest caution. As it says in the heading of these forum pages 'Postings made by forum users should not be relied upon in making or refraining from making any decision.' That is very good advice. The offerings that I read from some continue to be hopelessly incorrect and dangereously misleading. Ian Blenkharn Consultant Microbiologist

Posted By Swis Ian, You've mentioned some other thread discussing the transmission of viral disease but forgot to mention the following… Thought it may also be useful to the members. No offence meant.

Posted By Swis Ooops!! Sorry forgot to add the link; http://www.iosh.co.uk/in...iew&forum=1&thread=45794 Ian – I hope that when I ask for evidence you would not come with the following comments as posted on the above mentioned link; “Swis - I have no intention of providing you with the 'evidence' that you seem to expect”.

Posted By Ian Blenkharn Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD006207. Interventions for the interruption or reduction of the spread of respiratory viruses. Jefferson T, Foxlee R, Del Mar C, Dooley L, Ferroni E, Hewak B, Prabhala A, Nair S, Rivetti A. This is perhaps the most Cochrane authoratative review of the sum of published literature I hope that you read it, All 67 pages of it. Even some of it.

Posted By Barrie (Badger) Etter The reason d etare for hand washing, lets breaking it down. 1. A person can contract the virus 24 - 48 hours before they realise they have it and consequently pass it on to others. 2. The body's immune system attempts to eject the virus via coughing or sneezing. 3. We humans have (mostly) been taught at mothers knee to either use a hankercheif or cover our faces when coughing or sneezing, therefore an aqueous vapour spray makes contact with hands and virus is out of body. 4. Human carrier meets client and shakes hands, tranfer point. 5. Client has itch to eye, nose or places some for of food in mouth ie, sweet, transfer complete, next subject infected. The eyes, nose and mouth are recognised under CoSHH as routes of entry for hazardous substances and whilst typing these notes I've eaten a snack, scratched my nose and rubbed my eye. These are all sub concious actions we do everey day, so hand sanitisation should be a requirement for the protection of employees as reqd by HSWA. The only thing you cannot cater for is the unprotected sneezes that become airboure, unless you insist on face masks. But then I've been adised they only have limited value and would be reqd to be changed every 30 mins. Nuff said now. Badger

Posted By Swis Virus need a host cell in order to replicate. It can not survive on it’s own without a host cell. Virus is always in the processes of replication with or without host cell. These mutations ultimately cause the virus to die after a short period of time in the absence of a host cell, hence weaker micro-organisms tend to loose the tendency to cause a disease (antibiotic rule). No doubt virus can be spread from an infected person to the surrounds. It’s life cycle varies on different surfaces. A lot of studies have shown that virus can only remain live on human hands for a few minutes ( 2-7 minutes, depending on which study you go for). So if a person touches their face etc with contaminated hands, there’re hardly any chance that they will transfer the virus to their face. ( don’t forget that it will take further period for virus to transfer from face to permeable membrane to reach the target tissues – so if a virus has only few minutes of life on human skin… transfer from hands to face and from face to target tissues presents with limit any chance of transmission of disease) My argument would be if a virus can not stay alive for more than a few minutes, how practical would it be for a worker to wash their hands with that time frame. And seconds

Posted By IOSH Moderator As gripping as this clash of "expert witnesses" is, I believe it has deviated form the original request posted by Safetygirl. Please restrict this thread to answering her question, which was I believe "links to an eye catching awareness poster" [I paraphrase]. If you want to discuss the efficacy of the advice published or the underlying Microbiology, then please start a separate thread, or risk this one being locked. Thanks. Jonathan

Posted By Barrie (Badger) Etter Dear Moderator I emailed Safetygirl a wad of posters afor putting my pen'th in .. am I partly forgiven? Badger =O}