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Friday, August 26, 2016

The Art of Topping Up

I never know when inspiration for a blog may come
along.Sometimes it’s a result of a
question I received, or a newspaper, magazine or peer reviewed article I’ve
read, or some ridiculous post on Facebook.This week, it happened when I checked into my hotel room after a rather
brutal travel day that kept me up for over 22 hours.After ending up in the wrong hotel and
charming my way into a room and a cancellation at my other hotel, I crashed -
but not before I took the picture that happens to be the inspiration for this
blog.

Maybe it was because I was punch drunk from being over
tired, but the sight of these refillable containers in a well-respected hotel
chain made me cringe, and yet it didn’t stop me from jumping into the tub to
take a picture. I was also sure to avoid
the use of any of the soap they had offered the next morning. Why?
Because topping up bulk soaps is just plain gross. In fact 1 in 4 dispensers in public bathrooms
are contaminated. Combine that with the
fact that there is enough evidence from published studies proving that bacteria
can be found and thrive in soap dispensers, you can be sure that I will not be using
it and risk spreading those germs all over my hands (or body or hair).

One example is a study by Zapka et al
that looked at bacterial hand contamination and transfer after use of
refillable soap dispensers. The study showed that washing hands with
contaminated liquid soap actually increases the number of gram-negative
bacteria on hands, directly demonstrating that bacteria from contaminated hands
can be transferred to secondary surfaces. The researchers concluded that washing
with contaminated soap not only defeats the purpose of hand washing but may
contribute to the transmission of potentially harmful bacteria.

Don’t believe that the problem only lies with hand
soaps. The disinfectants we use for
daily disinfection, particularly if you’re using a concentrate that needs to be
diluted can be just a bad. There have
been reports of bacteria
growing in solutions of QUATs and that surfaces were dirtier after cleaning
than before cleaning when conducting ATP tests.
One of my favorite questions from the field is whether you can add some
of the same “juice” found in premoistened wipes and poor it into the wipes to
re-wet them because they have dried out.
The answer to that is NO. If you
do not want your wipes to dry, ensure the lid on your wipes container is closed!

I hope I haven’t scared you from using soap dispensers in
public. Hand hygiene is of course
critical to our well-being. I do hope
that you’ll look at refillable soap and disinfectant containers in a new way
and join
me in the “war” against topping up!