Is it really true that washing hands without soap is pointless?

Hygiene: Does not really do anything to wash hands without soap?
Health experts repeatedly emphasize: Hand washing is the most important hygiene rule. But even though it is part of everyday life for every human, so many myths and legends entwine around it. Some people think it is no use to wash their hands if you do not use soap. Is that correct?
Protection against infectious diseases
Whether you are cleaning your nose, using the toilet, caressing an animal, or preparing raw meat, your hands come into contact with germs every day and can easily be transferred to others when shaking hands or over shared items. The hands are the most common carriers of pathogens according to health experts. Therefore, hand washing is an important contribution to protection against infectious diseases. On how to do it right, various myths and legends entwine. So some people think that it does not do any good if you wash your hands without soap and therefore do not worry if there is no soap again. Is that true??

The best protection against infections: proper and regular hand washing. Image: Alexander Raths - fotolia

With soap is better
The correct answer is No! "Even with pure water to rinse dirt and some pathogens from the hands," said Andrea Rückle of the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) in a message from the news agency dpa. However, it is much more effective when soap is used. "It removes dirt and microbes better from the skin than water alone," says the expert. Special products do not have to be used by other experts. So antibacterial soaps are classified as not efficient and sometimes even more harmful. The use of soap has another advantage: when it is used, you usually rub your hands better and wash them off more thoroughly. As a result, according to Rückle germs are rather eliminated.

Wash hands long enough
The length also plays an important role when washing hands: keeping your fingers under the stream of water for a short time hardly reaches anything and retains most of the pathogens on the palm of your hand. Washing your hands should take at least 20 seconds. Here a song can help. The Unicef ​​Children's Fund once recommended that children sing Happy Birthday twice by washing their hands. This is the optimal time to remove the most dangerous bacteria and viruses. The advice for children is not wrong even for adults. As Rückle further explained, the temperature of the water is not relevant. It does not matter if it is colder or warmer: Microbes are not removed better or worse. (Ad)