Super Booger

The news has been filled with scary stories on the "super bug" aka methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (say that 5 times real fast), or MRSA. MRSA once only found in hospital settings is now lurking everywhere...spooky huh? So, how do you prevent it?

Wash your hands.

It sounds almost too good to be true...but it isn't. According to a survey by the American Society for Microbiology and the Soap and Detergent Association, although 89% of men claim to wash their hands every time they use a public restroom, only 66% were actually seen doing so. And as for women, 96% claim to always wash, only 88% were actually seen doing so.

Then you have to ask of those who do wash...are they washing enough? Do they sing through the "abc's?" or "Happy Birthday" twice? Yes, I am pretty meticulous when it comes to hand washing...that is what happens when you have a germ-phobia (or some may say I am borderline OCD). And if you are in a place you can't wash your hands, try some hand sanitizer (just don't drink it!).

A fact about MRSA: It is commonly carried on the skin or in the nose of healthy people.

So, don't pick your nose! And if you can't resist, disinfect those fingers! Because think about where you could be "possibly" spreading MRSA...

“The evidence for S. aureus and MRSA contamination of a huge variety of items in hospitals is overwhelming. Objects such as computer keyboards, door handles, tourniquets, pens, television sets, stethoscopes, telephones, beds and bedside tables, equipment packaging, paper and patient’s notes, and toys are just a few examples.” (Source Dr. Stephanie Dancer of South General Hospital in Glasgow writes in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.)

So...You can pick your friends. You can pick your nose, But you can't pick your friend's nose. And don't forget to clean the Super Booger off your finger!

Hand Sanitizer Danger

An email has been circulating since January of this year about hand sanitizers poisoning two young children. I wasn't sure if the email had any validity to it, so I researched and found it is indeed true.

Here is an AP article that ran on WPXI in Pittsburgh...

Alcohol In Hand Sanitizer Can Mean Danger
E-Mails Warn Of Poisoning In Children
POSTED: 11:55 am EDT May 30, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An e-mail circulating claims that a child spent two days in a hospital and nearly died after drinking a common product -- hand sanitizer.
Nashville television station WSMV reported that the warning appears to be legitimate. Snopes.com, a site that specializes in dispelling urban legends, confirmed two cases of severe alcohol poisoning from children drinking hand sanitizer.
Experts say a bottle of hand sanitizer can be 124 proof, which is a higher alcohol content than whiskey.
Tennessee Poison Control said they receive an average of one call a day about an accidental ingestion of hand sanitizer, and it has been banned from many prisons across the country because inmates were using it to get drunk, the station reported.

Now, if you are like me and carry a bottle of this stuff everywhere, please use caution and keep out of reach of your children.

If you do need immediate medical assistance, be sure to have the poison control number on hand...

1-800-222-1222