Highlight HEALTH

The best way to stay healthy and avoid getting sick is to wash your hands. Some of the most recent scientific evidence comes from a study of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA or “staph”) is a bacteria that can enter the body through breaks in the skin and cause severe infections and even death, especially in people who are already sick. MRSA represents a major control problem in hospitals as it has developed a resistance to all penicillins, including methicillin and other narrow-spectrum beta-lactamase-resistant penicillin antibiotics [1]. Researchers concluded at the end of the study that hospitals could greatly limit the spread of MRSA through the use of increased barrier protection (gloves) by workers and more frequent hand washing [2].

Soap, antimicrobial soap and alcohol-based hand antiseptic
Essentially everything we call dirt is either oily or is stuck to us with oil. What makes soap unique is the ability to remove oil. Soap is a surfactant (or surface active agent, meaning a wetting agent that lowers the surface tension of a liquid) used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning. Many soaps are a mixture of sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids, derived from oils or fats by reacting them with sodium or potassium hydroxide. A soap molecule has a hydrophilic (meaning attracted to water) carboxylate “head” and long hydrophobic (meaning repelled by water) hydrocarbon “tail”. In water, soap molecules arrange themselves into tiny clusters called micelles. The hydrophilic head of each soap molecule faces outwards, forming the outer surface of the micelle. The hydrophobic tails group together on the inside. This micelle structure allows soap to adhere to substances that are otherwise insoluble in water (oil), trapping them in the hydrophobic center. The hydrophilic head of each soap molecule on the outer surface of the micelle attaches easily to polar molecules (meaning that one end of the molecule is more positively charged while the other is more negatively charged) such as water, allowing it to be flushed away with other water molecules. Additionally, soap molecules disrupt the surface tension of water by crowding around the water’s surface. The reduction in surface tension allows water to spread and wet surfaces. For this reason, surfactants are often said to “make water wetter”.

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