Since up to 80 percent of virus transmission is said to be through hands, hand-washing is one of the most obvious ways (like good cough/sneeze etiquette, to use your elbow) to ward off contagions such as influenza viruses, Pandemic or otherwise.

This should not come as new advice. Those of you who remember the MRSA staph infection hooh-hah a year or so ago (the nasty, potentially lethal skin infections caused by Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus multidrug-resistant “superbug” organisms) may also remember admonitions to take simple precautions like washing one’s hands, among other sensible practices:

“Simple good hand hygiene goes far in washing worries away. ‘Hand cleansing is widely cited as the primary action to reduce health-care-associated infection and cross-transmission of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens’ [The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 6, Number 10, Oct. 2006]. In settings absent soap and water, alcohol-based hand cleaners are increasingly available, and can be very effective [if hands are not heavily soiled]. Otherwise, lather hands with soap and water for 20 seconds (‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ sung rapidly twice).”

Now as then, though for differently publicized reasons, Hand Hygiene is again in the news. Now, the motivation is staving off the contagion of Novel A/H1N1, swine-derived influenza, categorized as Pandemic by the World Health Organization since June 11.

Luckily for most of us, this Pandemic Flu is presenting in the Mild-to-Intermediate range on WHO’s three-point scale that ends in Severe, and it is hoped it will stay that way instead of mutating into something more sinister.

Although we are helpfully cautioned by the world’s most informed medical and scientific authorities that every pandemic is different (!), history does indicate that this virus will be around for the next two-to-three years. Thus, it behooves us to pay attention to changing news channeled from WHO and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) through sources like www.Flu.gov, and to effect such cautions as we can.

By way of help, one of the most up-to-date and well maintained web sites to be found on the subject of the much-publicized Pandemic Flu, is that of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), at www.ccohs.ca/pandemic, which offers a wealth of practical tips, including thorough instructions on a simple-sounding precaution that – like so many things – may not be all that simple after all:Wash your hands the right way, and at the right times (after using the washroom, before eating, and after touching common surfaces such as doorknobs, railings, telephones, etc.). Do not touch your eyes, mouth or nose as this helps the virus enter your body more easily. Follow personal hygiene steps such as cough etiquette to help slow the spread of the virus.

Ah, but just what IS “the right way”? The CCOHS kindly supplies a very explicit step-by-step poster that leaves no detail to chance. Available at www.ccohs.ca/pandemic/pdf/handwashing.pdf, this eloquent pictorial is easily worth the proverbial “thousand words.”

M. L. Kingsley