Hand washing
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| Terms | |
|---|---|
| Foodborne illness | |
| Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) • Hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls (HARPC) | |
| Critical control point | |
| Critical factors | |
| FAT TOM | |
| pH | |
| Water activity (aw) | |
| Bacterial pathogens | |
| Clostridium botulinum | |
| Escherichia coli | |
| Listeria | |
| Salmonella | |
| Vibrio cholerae | |
| Viral pathogens | |
| Enterovirus | |
| Hepatitis A | |
| Norovirus | |
| Rotavirus | |
| Parasitic pathogens | |
| Cryptosporidium | |
| Entamoeba histolytica | |
| Giardia | |
| Trichinella | |
Hand washing or hand hygiene is the act of cleaning one's hands with or without the use of water or another liquid, or with the use of soap for the purpose of removing soil, dirt, and/or microorganisms. The spelling "handwashing" in one word is also common.
Medical hand hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices related to the administration of medicine and medical care that prevents or minimizes disease and the spreading of disease. The main medical purpose of washing hands is to cleanse the hands of pathogens (including bacteria or viruses) and chemicals which can cause personal harm or disease. This is especially important for people who handle food or work in the medical field, but it is also an important practice for the general public.
People can become infected with respiratory illnesses such as influenza or the common cold, for example, if they do not wash their hands before touching their eyes, nose, or mouth. As a general rule, hand washing protects people poorly or not at all from droplet and airborne diseases, such as measles, chickenpox, influenza, and tuberculosis. It protects best against diseases transmitted through fecal-oral routes (such as many forms of gastroenteritis) and direct physical contact (such as impetigo).
Symbolic hand washing, using water only to wash hands, is a part of ritual hand washing featured in many religions, including Bahá'í Faith, Hinduism, and tevilah and netilat yadayim in Judaism. Similar to these are the practices of Lavabo in Christianity, Wudu in Islam and Misogi in Shintō.
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Wikipedia