Every year on October 15th Global Hand washing Day is observed to spread awareness about hand hygiene as hands are the most common medium of transferring viruses to our mouth and getting infected. For the year 2020, the theme for Global Handwashing Day is ‘Hand Hygiene for All’ that calls for all of society to achieve universal hand hygiene.

Hand hygiene  the need of the hour:

With the world battling the COVID-19 pandemic, washing hands and maintaining hand hygiene has become the need of the hour and is also one of the cheapest and easiest measure to prevent one from contracting the deadly coronavirus. While the scientists and health experts are still researching for a vaccine, the most important way to avoid getting infected is currently by washing hands regularly.

According to the CDC, washing hands with soap and water whenever possible can prevent 1 in 3 diarrheal illnesses and 1 in 5 respiratory infections, including a cold or the flu. Washing hands clean with soap and water whenever possible also reduces the amounts of all types of germs and chemicals on hands. However, it is strongly recommended to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to help avoid getting sick and restrict the germ spread to others.

Use good alcohol-based sanitizers:

Individuals should choose a sanitizer which has at least 70 per cent alcohol content. This is important because lesser alcohol content sanitizers are ineffective against many pathogens and do not offer complete sanitization of the hands. Currently, some sanitizers are being marketed as ‘alcohol-free sanitizers’ and one should avoid using those as there is not much evidence that suggests if they work at all.

Furthermore, since alcohol acts as a preservative, the alcohol-based sanitizers are less likely to be contaminated as compared to ‘alcohol-free’ sanitizers. The FDA has recommended buyers to purchase hand sanitizers that have 95 per cent ethanol or isopropanol.

Hence, on World Hand Washing Day by following regular hand washing practices and using everything in the right manner and the right place, we can keep ourselves safe and secure.

Dr. Brunda, Consultant
Internal Medicine
Aster CMI Hospital, Bengaluru

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MicroGO, a leading innovation company in the health and hygiene domain, has launched the next generation internet of things (IoT) enabled hygiene solution called GOassure^TMLITE – India’s first smart hand hygiene station that is lightweight, IOT enabled and assures good hand hygiene practices. The state-of-the-art solution is designed specially for healthcare and public spaces. The latest addition to the brand’s product portfolio that roots for good hygiene practices similar to GOassure^TM MAX, but in a 10X scalable model.

Hand hygiene is the first line of defence:

Hand hygiene is the first line of defence in personal space as well as in any industry. Good hand hygiene practices (defined by performing six steps and for 20 secs) is a non-negotiable aspect of hand hygiene. There is a recent  surge in availability of contact less dispensers in the market. However, there is a big  difference between merely performing and performing in the right manner.  In a pandemic like situation, right practices as per defined criteria are of paramount importance for not just oneself but for the family, co-workers and eventually for the entire country.

A patent pending technology, GOassure^TMLITE assures the users adheres to the WHO guidelines for good hand hygiene but also provides IoT enabled real-time monitoring and surveillance. It is available in wall-mountable or tabletop variants keeping in mind the varying needs of individuals and businesses and is also contact less and automatic. MicroGO is highly sensitive towards cost implication of its products on users and pays special focus on commercial viability along with right science. The calculated ROI (return on investment) of GOassure^TMLITE is  just 15 days for the businesses having 100 employees.

Speaking on the newly launched offering, Dr Rachna Dave, Founder, MicroGO says, “GOassure^TMLITE is a value for money product that will  assure the safe work environment. We set various SOPs for our customer partners as per their requirements and non-compliance to these SOPs can be monitored in real-time by them with GOassure^TM. Primarily targeted at the B2B sector, the product will be available from 01^st September and can be purchased directly from the MicroGO website (www.microgo.in) or via the channel partners. The product is also available on Government e-Market place (GeM) for GOI`s direct purchase. We believe that the GOassure^TMLITE is a step in the right direction towards mitigating the nCoV spread via hands and also educating our countrymen the right hand hygiene practices which goes a long way in restricting the spread of most of the communicable diseases”.

MicroGO, Chennai-based R&D-driven manufacturing company that enables the power of micro SWACHHTA^TM, has received funding support from the DST, BIRAC, IKP and ACT Grants to scale up this technology. The brand plans to manufacture 5000 units initially and aims to sell 3000 units by the 3^rd quarter of the financial year. In the pursuit of contributing towards a COVID-19 free India, MicroGO has introduced a unique COVID-19 free India offers. The COVID-19 free India offer will make GOassure^TMLITE (K model) available at a reduced price of INR 9,990 instead of INR 12,000. Additionally, the brand will provide complimentary hand rub GOhands^TM worth INR 1,500. GOhands^TM is a WHO recommended hand rub formulation for optimal hand hygiene.

Also Read: MICROGO TO DEVELOP AN ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION “SAFE DELIVERY, HEALTHY CHILD (SAVED)”

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The rapid spread of contagious Covid-19 corona virus infection across the globe is a game changer for our lifestyle, social life and commercial activity. We will never know normal life as we are used to – perhaps again in the near future.  There will be new normals’ and for all we know, social distancing and hand hygiene will be a part of our new lifestyle for quite some time to come, may be up to a year definitely, the hangover of Covid-19 will be there even after lockdown is gradually removed in future.

Game changer: Hand hygiene habit

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, USA has defined hand hygiene as a way of cleaning one’s hands that substantially reduces potential pathogens or disease causing microbes on the hands.  Now why is hand hygiene emphasized to such an extent?  This is related to a concept called as face touching.  There are limited studies on face touching habit.  This reference https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25637115/ states that the students in the study group touched their face 23 times an hour.  Other observational studies state we touch our face by habit about 16 times an hour.It is this face touching habit that transmits disease causing bacteria and viruses to the nose, eyes and lips/mouth.  The entry of such disease causing agents into the nose and mouth, causes infecting agents to enter the respiratory system and later into the lungs.  The intimate hand shaking habit transfers such bacteria and virus from people to people and ends up in transmission of diseases.  Hence, hand hygiene has a special place in management of communicable or contagious diseases.

WHO and hand hygiene:

World Health Organization (WHO) has understood the great importance of hand hygiene and is dedicated to the cause of ensuring this habit is well entrenched in medical sector and among general public.  Hence, conscious people carry sanitizers in pockets and use them every now and then.  Further, contact areas like door knobs and door handles that hold many viruses and bacteria are cleaned frequently with alcohol wipes.  At this juncture it is important to review this report:

‘The virus that causes COVID-19 remains for several hours to days on surfaces and in aerosols, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found. The study suggests that people may acquire the corona virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. Scientists discovered the virus is detectable for up to three hours in aerosols, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel’.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200320192755.htm

The other danger from Covid-19 is the fact that as per this WHO document: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/getting-workplace-ready-for-covid-19.pdf – when a Covid-19 infected person coughs or exhales, droplets of infected fluid are released which are released into the air and also deposit on contact surfaces.

The WHO has a global campaign called Save lives: Clean Your Hands to highlight the importance of hand hygiene among healthcare workers.  It is wise if general public in today’s times of corona virus pandemic to stick to hand hygiene habits.

How does hand hygiene help?

The corona virus or other viruses have a protective outer layer of fats and proteins.  When the hand is washed with plain water, it runs over the viruses since water and fats do not mix.   The viruses on hands are not washed away with water alone.  However, when soap is used, there is a surfactant action, where soap molecules bond with the fatty portions of the virus coat, and this breaks the virus to bits and pieces.  However, the contact time between hands and soap water washing should be minimum 20 seconds.  Otherwise the wash is not completely effective.

When water is not available or for faster removal of bacteria and viruses from the hand, alcohol minimum 60% or other disinfectant based hand sanitizers are used.  When the sanitizeris used the antiseptic substance including alcohol disrupts the structure of virus instantly, however, it is important to rub the antiseptic solution well on both sides of the hand and in between fingers.  It dries instantly, no need to use water.

For medical workers in particular, the WHO has a ‘My 5 moments for Hand Hygiene’ campaign:

1. before touching a patient,

2. before clean/aseptic procedures,

3. after body fluid exposure/risk,

4. after touching a patient, and.

5. after touching patient surroundings.

Hand hygiene is a game changer to prevent transmission of Covid-19 infection, the WHO method of hand hygiene is as follows:

1. Rub hands for hand hygiene, wash hands when visibly soiled

2. Apply a palmful of the product in a cupped hand, covering all surfaces

3. Rub hands palm to palm

4. Rub right palm over the left back of the hand (dorsum) with interlaced fingers and vice versa

5. Continue palm to palm with fingers interlaced

6. Rub backs of fingers to opposing palms with fingers interlocked

7. Rotational rubbing of left thumb clasped in right palm and vice versa

8. Rotational rubbing, backwards and forwards with clasped fingers of right hand in left palm and vice versa

9. After drying the hands will be safe

More details at: https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Hand_Hygiene_Why_How_and_When_Brochure.pdf, https://www.coolspringsfamilychiropractic.com/why-is-hand-hygiene-so-important/

The Covid-19 coronavirus infection has put the focus back on basic hygiene practices such as hand hygiene. Similarly, social distancing, lockdown, and use of appropriate face/mouth mask are protective measures from this dreaded animal origin virus. www.globalhandwashing.org has comprehensively studied, documented and is meticulously propagating the good habit of hand hygiene.

Sunil S Chiplunkar M Pharm (Pharmacology) MBA (Marketing) PGDHRM

VP – Business Development, Group Pharmaceuticals, Bangalore

Email: 1969sunilchiplunkar@gmailcom    Ph.: 6364578669

www.pharmaceuticalshealthcare.blogspot.in

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Maintaining Hand hygiene: The best way to enjoy monsoons is by keeping a distance from the germ onslaught. Your hands are the biggest carrier of germs and diseases. Instilling the habit of keeping hands clean by washing them frequently curtails the spread of the flu virus. Make sure you also keep a hand sanitizer handy when out and about. Antiseptic brands have effective handwashes which wash away a million germs and sanitizers with 99.9% germ kill which helps your family stay safe and protected.

Watch where you drink water from: Monsoons is the time when diseases like typhoid and jaundice thrive because we are not cautious about where we get our water from. Keeping drinking water units clean at home and making sure your source of hydration is from a trusted source when out, is imperative to avoid illness. Most of us don’t have the routine of consuming as much water as our body demands especially during monsoons. Be it kids or elders, high levels of humidity and perspiration during the monsoon season leads to severe dehydration within the body. Dehydration further makes the body prone to cold and fever. Therefore, initiating a habit of drinking plenty of purified water from a trusted water source (8-10 glasses a day) should help keeping germs at bay. Trusted water source being the operative phrase.

Maintaining social distance: By this, we definitely don’t mean stop interacting. Instead what we actually mean is if anyone around you is showing symptoms of flu try avoiding contact with them. And being a communicable disease, children can acquire the virus easily. So, if anyone does get sick, limit their contact with others as much as possible to avoid spreading the infection. Make sure they cover their mouth and nose with a tissue while coughing or sneezing.

Wellness is all about good habits: We know how much you love and care for your family. Therefore, making your family follow good health practices like eating nutritious food and exercising moderately every day is the best way to boost their immunity during monsoons. Staying healthy ensures poor health doesn’t stop your family from enjoying the wonderful season.

A good bath using Antiseptic Liquids in our Water: Who doesn’t like dancing in the rain! Especially children. While we should let the inner child in all of us out from time to time, taking a quick shower by adding Savlon antiseptic in a bucket of water after coming back home, even on a regular non-rainy day helps maintain germ protection thereby decreasing chances of infection.

While bringing relief from the grueling heat, the Monsoon season also witnesses a spike in disease outbreaks every year. Inculcating certain habits in personal hygiene regimen can go a long way in controlling the spread of diseases effectively. We should regularly wash our hands and sanitize them, especially when returning from outdoors. Adding chlorhexidine based antiseptic liquids in a bucket of water while taking a bath can steer away majority of infections in the rainy season.

Dr. Sachin Varma,

Chief Dermatologist and Cosmetologist,

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