Germophobes R Us

There are issues surrounding the use of hand sanitizer and soap in our never ending pursuit of killing germs appropriately.

There is a recommendation to wash with soap for the duration of two rounds of "Happy Birthday". Previously, it was thought that hand santitizer was "take a squirt and rub". It should also be noted that it's the friction of rubbing in conjunction with the chemical which makes hand sanitizer so effective.

Now they're claiming a duration of 15 to 30 seconds is more efficacious with 45 seconds and beyond suffering from the laws of diminishing returns.

I come from a family big on hand santitizer. I don't typically partake because the alcohol is a bit rough on my tender alabaster white paws.

However, given the relative speed at which it works perhaps a bit of toughening up for my hands is in order.

Studies in Switzerland where E. coli was applied to hands which were then subjected to hand santitizer for 10 seconds to a full minute revealed that the bacteria count dropped drastically in the 10 to 15 second range then, true to form began suffering from the laws of diminishing returns with slight increases after 30 seconds and none after 45 seconds.