Infections spread quickly if hospital staff members don’t wash hands

I recently attended a wedding, and at the reception I had an ah-ha moment.

When the hors d’ oeuvres are passed around, pick them up with your left hand. You don’t want to use your right hand because you’ll be shaking hands with that hand. And you just don’t know where all those hands have been.

The bride at the wedding was a doctor, and her father and brother were both doctors. So the place was crawling with doctors. And that’s perfect if someone needs CPR or breaks an ankle on the dance floor.

But shaking hands could be dangerous.

French researchers recently conducted a study to determine what might happen if a hospital staff member didn’t wash his hands after every contact with a patient.

They estimated that just one “superspreader” like that, who traveled throughout the hospital, would let loose a frightening level of infection, spreading a wide range of germs.

Several infection outbreaks in hospitals have been traced back to health care professionals who were lax about hand washing.

Wash your hands! That goes for everyone.

Here’s what longtime influenza and vaccine expert Tom Jefferson. M.D., has to say about the power of frequent hand washing: “This method can fight against the 200 pathogens that bring about flu symptoms as well as against gastrointestinal viruses and completely unknown germs.”

It’s that “completely unknown germs” part that gets me. I’m on my way to wash my hands right now. (Hopefully I won’t pass any doctors on the way back.)