scholarly journals Hand Hygiene Practices and the Risk of Human Coronavirus Infections in a UK Community Cohort

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Sarah Beale ◽  
Anne M. Johnson ◽  
Maria Zambon ◽  
Andrew C. Hayward ◽  
Ellen B. Fragaszy ◽  
...  

Background: Hand hygiene may mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in community settings; however, empirical evidence is limited. Given reports of similar transmission mechanisms for COVID-19 and seasonal coronaviruses, we investigated whether hand hygiene impacted the risk of acquiring seasonal coronavirus infections. Methods: Data were drawn from three successive winter cohorts (2006-2009) of the England-wide Flu Watch study.  Participants (n=1633) provided baseline estimates of hand hygiene behaviour. Coronavirus infections were identified from nasal swabs using RT-PCR. Poisson mixed models estimated the effect of hand hygiene on personal risk of coronavirus illness, both unadjusted and adjusted for confounding by age and healthcare worker status. Results: Moderate-frequency handwashing (6-10 times per day) predicted a lower personal risk of coronavirus infection (adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) =0.64, p=0.04). There was no evidence for a dose-response effect of handwashing, with results for higher levels of hand hygiene (>10 times per day) not significant (aIRR =0.83, p=0.42). Conclusions: This is the first empirical evidence that regular handwashing can reduce personal risk of acquiring seasonal coronavirus infection. These findings support clear public health messaging around the protective effects of hand washing in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Sarah Beale ◽  
Anne M. Johnson ◽  
Maria Zambon ◽  
Andrew C. Hayward ◽  
Ellen B. Fragaszy ◽  
...  

Background: Hand hygiene may mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in community settings; however, empirical evidence is limited. Given reports of similar transmission mechanisms for COVID-19 and seasonal coronaviruses, we investigated whether hand hygiene impacted the risk of acquiring seasonal coronavirus infections. Methods: Data were drawn from three successive winter cohorts (2006-2009) of the England-wide Flu Watch study.  Participants (n=1633) provided baseline estimates of hand hygiene behaviour. Coronavirus infections were identified from nasal swabs using RT-PCR. Poisson mixed models estimated the effect of hand hygiene on personal risk of coronavirus illness, both unadjusted and adjusted for confounding by age and healthcare worker status. Results: Moderate-frequency handwashing (6-10 times per day) predicted a lower personal risk of coronavirus infection (adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) =0.64, p=0.04). There was no evidence for a dose-response effect of handwashing, with results for higher levels of hand hygiene (>10 times per day) not significant (aIRR =0.83, p=0.42). Conclusions: This is the first empirical evidence that regular handwashing can reduce personal risk of acquiring seasonal coronavirus infection. These findings support clear public health messaging around the protective effects of hand washing in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic.


Author(s):  
Yolisa Nalule ◽  
Helen Buxton ◽  
Alison Macintyre ◽  
Por Ir ◽  
Ponnary Pors ◽  
...  

Background: Globally, infections are the third leading cause of neonatal mortality. Predominant risk factors for facility-born newborns are poor hygiene practices that span both the facility and home environments. Current improvement interventions focus on only one environment and tar-get limited caregivers, primarily birth attendants and mothers. To inform the design of a hand hygiene behaviour change intervention in rural Cambodia, a formative mixed-methods research study was conducted to investigate the context specific behaviours and determinants of hand-washing among healthcare workers, maternal and non-maternal caregivers along the early new-born care continuum. Methods: Direct observations of hygiene practices of all individuals providing care to 46 newborns across eight facilities and associated communities were completed and hand hygiene compliance assessed in analysis. Semi structured interactive interviews were subsequently conducted with 35 midwives and household members to explore the corresponding cognitive, emotional, and environmental factors influencing the observed key hand hygiene behaviours. Results: Hand hygiene opportunities during newborn care were frequent in both set-tings (n = 1319) and predominantly performed by mothers, fathers and non-parental caregivers. Compliance to hand hygiene protocol across all caregivers, including midwives, was inadequate (0%). Practices were influenced by the lack of accessible physical infrastructure, time, increased workload, low infection risk perception, nurture-related motives, norms and inadequate knowledge. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that an effective intervention in this context should be multi-modal to address the different key behaviour determinants and target a wide range of caregivers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-861
Author(s):  
France Ncube ◽  
Artwell Kanda ◽  
Maude Chahwanda ◽  
Margaret Macherera ◽  
Bigboy Ngwenya

Abstract Hand hygiene is one of the most effective and efficient ways of controlling faecal–oral diseases. However, little is known about the predictors of hand hygiene behaviours among school children. A predesigned checklist guide was used to observe hygiene behaviours of 460 pupils from four rural schools in Shamva South district, Zimbabwe. A pretested questionnaire was administered to obtain demographic data of the observed school children. Membership of a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) club, age, gender and the level of education were associated with hand hygiene practices (p < 0.05). The findings indicated that investing in hand hygiene behaviour change processes among school children using the promotion, formation, resuscitation and empowerment of WASH clubs in schools is important in disease prevention among communities in developing countries.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
MIRIAM E. TUCKER

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Collins McLaughlin ◽  
Grace E. Anxieter ◽  
Amanda T. Hemmer

Author(s):  
Wafa A K Abbas ◽  
Muntahaa Rashaan

Literatures proved that Hand hygiene is the most important and effective infection prevention and control measure to prevent the spread of microorganisms causing HAIs and improving hand hygiene is consider a vital intervention to promote optimum patient safety in delivery room. Aim of the study; This study conducted to assess hand hygiene practices of health care personnel in the delivery room at the middle Euphrates teaching hospitals. Methods; A Descriptive qusi-expremental research design begin in 20th February to 26th May 2016, Current study sample involve all midwives and physicians in the delivery room (Total coverage.). Questionnaire used for data collection by interview forms and observational checklist was obtain from the extensive review of relevant literature and related studies Data analyzed through utilize (SPSS) software version (16) where, included descriptive analysis and inferential data analysis. The study conducted among 37 physicians and 97 midwives working in the delivery room are females. The current study indicate that the overall evaluation for the health staff practices regarding hand hygiene is fair at Karbala, Al-Najaf, Babylon and Diwaniah with high difference in health staff practices regarding infection control precautions (hand hygiene) and the different studied governorates at pvalue 0.001. based on the finding of present study majority of health care personnel have fair applies related to hand hygiene practices at different studied governorate hospitals. Updating practice of health care personnel through continuing inservice educational programs. Regular inspection and follow-up from the ministry of health for assurances good hand hygiene, the important of exist motivation system and punishment system to the neglected health care personnel.


Author(s):  
Aaron Lawson ◽  
Marie Vaganay-Miller ◽  
Robert Cameron

Every year, thousands of people from the UK travel to other countries for work and leisure. Europe, and particularly Spain, is one of the most popular travel destinations for people from the UK. However, it is known that travel to other countries can enhance the risk of communicable disease transmission from person to person, especially when a new one emerges. Adequate hand hygiene behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being a simple, effective method in preventing the spread of communicable diseases that may be contracted during travel abroad. There is a well-established body of work investigating hand hygiene practice and compliance in community settings, but no recent studies have examined the hand hygiene practice and compliance of the general population when travelling abroad or in a cross-European context. The findings of this study indicated that most UK members of the general population when travelling abroad have a good level of understanding of the importance of adequate hand hygiene practice and compliance and its role regarding communicable disease prevention and control. As such, self-reported levels of compliance were high. Similar findings were made for Spanish members of the general population. However, while self-reported perceptions of adequacy of hand hygiene performance were relatively high, particularly among UK respondents, this was not supported by responses specifically focused on hand hygiene behaviour. However, differences in self-reported adequacy regarding the importance of handwashing versus hand drying, the number of steps that should be followed and the length of time that should be spent washing and drying hands were found for each group. This suggests that self-reported compliance may reflect intention to practice hand hygiene rather than true compliance. It also suggests that there are gaps in knowledge regarding the adequate method of hand hygiene among the cohort as a whole, and indeed these differences may account be a factor in for the high transmission rates of communicable disease when travelling abroad.


2021 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Huang ◽  
M. Armando ◽  
S. Dufau ◽  
O. Florea ◽  
P. Brouqui ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Lorna Kwai Ping Suen ◽  
Janet Pui Lee Cheung

Early childhood is a formative period during which healthy habits are developed, including proper hand hygiene practices. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effectiveness of a 4-week series of educational sessions that consider the cognitive developmental stage of children on increasing their knowledge and promoting hand hygiene practices. The intervention group (n = 33) observed the hand hygiene program, whereas another group served as the waitlist control (n = 20). Creative activities were planned for the illustration of hand hygiene concepts in terms of “right moments”, “right steps”, and “right duration”. Hand sanitizer coverage was evaluated using a hand scanner. After the intervention, the experimental group had higher knowledge level toward hand hygiene than the control group (p < 0.001). Significant improvements in hand hygiene performance at the left palm and dorsum (p < 0.05), right palm (p < 0.05), and overall hand coverage (p < 0.05) were observed in the experimental group. The study demonstrated that the knowledge and proper hand hygiene (HH) practice of children can be positively influenced by the use of an age-appropriate education program. The results of this study have implications for school health educators and parents for promoting HH practices among children at home and at the school level.


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