Cork and Kerry public urged to wash their hands on ‘World Hygiene Day’

Eleanor McCarthy, director of nursing and infection control for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, said that by going back to basics and applying regular hand hygiene, the risk of transmission of infections can be reduced.

“At the height of the pandemic, alcohol hand sanitiser was freely available in the community. Now, who carries it?” Mrs McCarthy asked.

“Hand hygiene has a vital place in healthcare, but it also has a place for us at home so we can protect ourselves and our families. The average person will touch their face about 23 times per hour, that's plenty of opportunities for germs and bacteria to spread.

“We’re living with multi-drug resistant bacteria; these are bugs that would have had an antibiotic to kill them 20 years ago, but now we don’t. There’s two ways in which we can get these multi-drug resistant bacteria. One of them is overuse of antibiotics and not taking a course of antibiotics correctly and the other one is through transmission.

“What transmission means is that you might touch a surface that’s contaminated with these bacteria or someone could bring it to you on their hands if they touch you - and then those bugs get into your gut. So, if we touch that surface where these bugs are and we bring our hands to our face 23 times an hour, the likelihood that it’s going to get into our mouth is quite high.

“The number one factor that has been proven time and time again to reduce the risk of transmission of infection from one person to another is hand hygiene. On World Hand Hygiene Day, please assess your own habits and see if you are washing your hands properly and often enough!”

The HSE had issued a guide on hand washing with soap and water at hse.ie/handhygiene.