Is Hand Washing Really Effective for Preventing Flu and Colds?

Did your mother tell you to wash your hands if you want to help prevent flu and colds? Although this wisdom has been passed down through the generations, there have been few studies looking at how effective hand washing is for eradicating the flu virus. Could it be that hand washing is an overstated, old wives tale and the flu virus can actually survive an encounter with simple soap and water?

A study published in the journal Clinical Infection and Disease addressed the issue of preventing flu and colds by hand washing. Not only did they evaluate simple soap and water hand washing techniques for preventing flu and colds, they also tested alcohol based rubs to determine their ability to destroy the flu virus.

To do the study, they poured a highly contagious strain of influenza A onto the hands of a group of volunteers. The flu infested hands of the volunteers were then cleansed using simple soap and water washing or by using alcohol based rubs. A third group, serving as the control group, received no intervention. The groups were asked to wait sixty minutes before any attempt at cleansing was made to see if the virus could survive the waiting period.

Interestingly, a almost a third of the volunteers had no detectable virus on their hands after the sixty minute waiting period despite the fact that no intervention was performed. This suggests that the hands have some natural ability to resist the flu virus and that the flu virus might not stick to the surface of hands for long periods of time.

In the two groups who had virus on their hands after the sixty minute period, their hands were washed with soap and water or cleaned with alcohol wipes and then analyzed for the presence of the virus. The results? The influenza virus was successfully removed with both techniques, although old-fashioned soap and water hand washing appeared to be superior to alcohol based wipes.

This study confirms the fact that washing with soap and water seems to be effective in preventing flu and colds. It also suggests that theres no need to waste money on alcohol based wipes when a good bar of soap and running water works even better.

Although hand washing is a great way to prevent flu and colds, keep in mind that flu and cold viruses can also travel through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes which can be another significant source of transmission. In this case, youre best off wearing a mask.