Bacteria-Laden Soap Not So Clean

Washing your hands regularly can help you stay healthy. But could it also get you sick?

THE GIST

Many soap dispensers in public places are contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria.

Washing with contaminated soap increases the concentration of bacteria on people's hands and on the surfaces they touch. Public health experts continue to urge people to wash their hands regularly with soap and warm water.

Soap may not always be as clean as it seems, suggests a new study, which found that every soap dispenser at an elementary school in Ohio was contaminated with bacteria that are known to cause illnesses. When kids washed with the soap, microbe levels on their hands soared.

It's not yet clear how much of a health risk people face from microbe-laden soap, and public health experts continue to urge regular hand washing as one of the most important things that people can do to stay healthy. But the findings suggest that administrators of schools, gyms and other public places might want to re-examine the kinds of soap dispensers they use and the methods they use to clean them.

Read more: http://news.discovery.com/human/soap-bacteria-clean-110506.html

CDC Warns Public About H3N2

As of Dec. 26, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 12 cases - since August - of human infection with a swine-origin influenza A (H3N2) virus. This virus carries the M gene from the 2009 H1N1 virus that sickened more than one million people and killed another 477 in the U.S.

Cases of H3N2 have been reported in Iowa, Indiana, Maine Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The latest three cases occurred in two children who attended the same day care in West Virginia and a man from Indiana who worked with swine. All 12 patients have recovered fully.

Most cases only report a mild illness, with three of the 12 requiring hospitalization for recovery. Since human-to-human transmission has not been sustained, the CDC gives no indications that this strain could lead to a repeat of the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic.

"Nonhuman influenza virus infections rarely result in human-to-human transmission, but the implications of sustained ongoing transmission between humans is potentially severe," the CDC wrote. And although the H3N2 strain is different enough from the seasonal flu virus and the flu vaccine is "not expected to provide significant protection," the CDC does urge everyone to get vaccinated.

Read more: http://www.cleanlink.com/news/article.asp?id=13863