Hey, Mr. Bacteria.
Tell me…what about these hand sanitizer things?
I woulda thought…and admittedly art is more my line than science…that anti-bacterial this and that was essentially useless. Since I’d guess that the main thing to worry about is the common cold…which is caused by a virus rather than bacteria…that they don’t help anything.
Paint me a picture.
Hand sanitizers like Purell can kill viruses as well as bacteria. Unfortunately, viruses like influenza spread from person to person mainly through respiratory droplets, not from physical contact with someone’s hands. Cold viruses can spread through hand contact, so in theory, hand sanitizers could cut down on colds. However, people consciously and unconsciously touch their mouths and noses many times an hour. So our hands are constantly being reloaded with germs despite any attempts to keep them clean.
So do hand santizers work? Technically yes, realistically no.