“Cleanliness is the Hallmark of perfect standards and the best quality inspector is the conscience”- J.R.D.Tata
Cleanliness is next to godliness, this is what we have been taught throughout our academic lives but none said how to accomplish the same. People advise that simply washing hands with soap and running water is one of the most important and regular steps to avoid getting sick and spreading infections. This simple action taken today earnestly can change the whole concept of sanitation and cleanliness tomorrow. Places where soap and water are unavailable, sanitizers come to rescue. Sanitizers create a sense of safety as it is an over-the-counter dependable and effective way to lave hands.
Hand sanitizers, commonly called hand rubs have alcohol, precisely ethanol, iso-propanol as its active ingredient. Alcohol comprises 60% of the total components in hand sanitizers which helps in killing 90% of infectious organisms. Alcohol denatures the protein of bacterial cells and efficaciously kills certain infectious microbes. Sanitizers can have the following elements: Alcohol, Ammonia (Benzethonium/ Benzalkonium chloride), Chloride (chlorhexidine/ Cetrimonium), Antibacterial agent (Triclosan), and Essential oils. Hand sanitizers are easy to use and it provides protection against bacteria, viruses, fungus. The application of sanitizer requires little effort; take a coin size drop on one of the palms from the bottle, rub it gently on the tips of the other hand, spread the sanitizer on palms of both the hand until they dry. Agencies like WHO, CDCs, FDA approves sanitizer to be safe and effectual product against certain classes of organisms, spores, viruses, fungi. Excessive use of antibacterial agents like triclosan is harmful and its use is usually restricted. Triclosan may interfere with the endocrine system and hence, FDA ruled out many active ingredients of hand sanitizer and one among them being ṭriclosan. After reviewing the safety and effectiveness of hand sanitizers, pharmacies market number of hand sanitizers containing benzethonium and ethyl alcohol/ propanol than triclosan. Millions of people use hand rubs on a daily basis to avoid getting affected by pathogens, viruses, fungal spores.
Talking about viruses, recent outbreaks of corona (COVID-19) in many countries has threatened everyone around. There is now a total of 92,943 cases reported of COVID-19 globally, and 3160 deaths; not only china but other countries like America, Italy, Middle East, Germany, India, France, Australia, Spain, Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia are alarmed about this pandemic. COVID-19 has symptoms similar to SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), like the common cold, fever, cough, shortness of breathing, breathing difficulties. It is caused by the virus ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)’. Coronavirus is zoonotic and it propagates by way of direct contact with infected patients and following unhygienic sanitation practices. As per the Chinese data; a majority of infected people showed mild to moderate symptoms of respiratory disease, about 13.8% had severe symptoms, 6.1% had the grievous experience of respiratory failure, septic shock, and organ failure. Among the age groups of 80 and above, there is a huge fatality rate (21.9%) due to low immunity and medical conditions like hypertension and heart disease. Affected children make up to 2-3%, there are cases with symptoms of running nose that mark up to 4.8% of the total population. A mandatory step to prevent infection is by cleaning hands-on regular basis helps avoid infection, and none better than sanitizers could provide such diligence in keeping them clean. The WHO recommends using alcohol-based hand rubs predominantly as it is more effective against COVID-19 causing virus. People are unaware of the recovered cases from coronavirus across the globe, this recovery was possible because of the rising precautions that have been implemented by all the countries. Punctilious washing of hand is the best remedy to get rid of the nasty pathogens that stick to hands. Sanitizers have proved to be one of the best resolutions to fight back corona.
India fights back corona by employing the simple habit of cleaning hands using sanitizer, how are you planning to combat COVID19?
References:
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/soaps-or-sanitisers-what-fights-coronavirus-better/articleshow/74463416.cms
- https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-mission-briefing-on-covid-19—4-march-2020
- https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-issues-final-rule-safety-and-effectiveness-consumer-hand-sanitizers
- https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/11/health/hand-sanitizers-ingredients-safety-fda-rule-bn/index.html
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/hand-sanitizer
- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/china-s-aggressive-measures-have-slowed-coronavirus-they-may-not-work-other-countries
