Everyone is jumping on the “Wash your Hands” Bandwagon. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) suggest that washing is the BEST way to help keep germs from spreading. When you wash your hands, you are using soap and water to physically dislodge germs from your skin and then rinse them away. During the coronavirus outbreak, it is a good idea to also wash your hands each time you enter a new place (such as your workplace or school) and after being in a public place.

The rest just rinsed their hands. If you can't access soap and water, sanitiser is the next best thing, according to a World Health Organisation advisor. If you are using bar soap, make sure that it is stored in a container that drains, or you will have a colony of bacteria living underneath it. Lather up the soap, and really scrub your hands, and scrub them all over, and all the way to your wrists.

Pathogens like bacteria and viruses can live for several hours on wet soap, says Elaine L. Larson , RN, PhD, an Anna C. Maxwell Professor Emerita and Special Lecturer and a School of Nursing Professor Emerita of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis is credited for advocating hand washing in medical clinics to prevent the spread of germs. The germs picked up on the hands are then transported and possibly re-deposited to a patient that may be very susceptible to an infection due to their weakened condition.

If your bar looks slimy, rinse it off under water before you lather your hands, and try to store it so it will dry out between uses. A 2011 study from researchers at the London School of Tropical Hygiene found that washing with water alone reduced bacteria on hands to about one-quarter of their prewash state.

He then insisted that there be a strict hand washing policy with a chlorinated antiseptic solution and eventually the death rates dropped to less than 1%, proving his theory that the chance of catching a bacterial disease can be prevented by simple handwashing hygiene practices.

If you can see the dirt or grease on your hands, then use soap and water to clean them. You should Wash Hands Happy Birthday your hands after using the restroom, before eating, before and after handling food, after coughing and sneezing and after handling trash (here's a full list of situations the require hand washing ).