4️⃣ Hygiene
Infectious diseases aremost often by theHands transmit. Regular and thorough hand washing protects!

In cooperation with the Hygiene Technology Competence Center Bamberg and the Amberg-Weiden University of Applied Sciences

Wash your hands🧴, avoid diseases🤒

We perform a wide variety of activities with our hands – we touch objects, lift them up or hold them. We also touch our food with our hands, rub our eyes or touch other people.

When we do all of these things, we are constantly absorbing microbes and passing them on. This means that our hands are full of a wide variety of germs (bacteria, viruses, fungi).

Most of these microbes are harmless, some are even useful.

However, some of these microbes can transmit dangerous diseases.
If such germs stick to our hands, we pass them on to other people or absorb them ourselves.

Source:© Siemens Stiftung 2016. Content licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 international

⚠ DON'T FORGET:

This will prevent germs on your hands from entering thean organism and may harm you.


Wash your hands after every visit to the toilet 🧻!

This is essential because it is the only way to avoid pathogens from the intestinal tract or urine being passed on to other people - not only when shaking hands, but also when touching a door handle, for example.



Wash your hands after covering your mouth when sneezing or coughing 🤧!

Covering your hand when coughing or sneezing is better than sneezing or coughing freely. But the Viruses then stick to your hands. That's why you should always use a new tissue when sneezing. Alternatively, you can sneeze or cough into the crook of your arm, so your hands stay clean.


WASH YOUR HANDS - AND DO IT CORRECTLY! 👍🏻

Why is soap so important?

The surfactants contained in soap can change the way microbes adhere to the skin so that they can be washed off. This is a process that cannot take place to the same extent when washing with water alone and without the use of soap. However, you should not use too much soap, as it can attack the skin's sensitive acid mantle. This protective mantle, an acid-water-fat film, protects the skin from drying out and from pathogens. Therefore, too much soap or excessively frequent washing can disrupt the skin's natural defense function. However, if you use moisturizing soaps or washing lotions in normal amounts, this is not a danger when washing your hands.
© Siemens Stiftung 2016. Content licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 international

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR52yNp_bWE

Little researchers

Disinfect your hands makes the difference

Disinfecting your hands is even more effective.
While 80% of germs survive regular hand washing, 99.9% of pathogens are killed by disinfection. Disinfection does not remove the skin's natural acid mantle, as it does with soap. However, depending on the composition, alcohols contained in the disinfectant solution can attack the skin and degrease it. Therefore, hand disinfectants often contain moisturizing substances or alcohols that are less damaging to the skin. Disinfectant hand cleaning is usually only necessary for people who work in the healthcare sector, i.e. in clinics, doctor's offices and care facilities. For private home use, thorough soap cleaning is usually sufficient.
© Siemens Stiftung 2016. Content licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 international

🗒 More chapters

1️⃣ Microbiology

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