This article explores the effectiveness of popular products in preventing colds and stomach bugs. It discusses the role of hand sanitizers, vitamin C, and zinc, and the limitations of germ-busting measures.
No one likes being unwell, but is there any way to avoid it when friends, family and colleagues are all succumbing to colds and stomach bugs?Greg Foot and guests scrutinise the supposed germ-busting, immune-boosting effects of popular products, including hand sanitisers, vitamin C and zinc.The bacteria and viruses that cause colds, flu and stomach upsets consist of tiny invisible microbes. If these microbes get into your body and start multiplying, they can make you ill.
What’s more, when you get a cold it could be caused by any of a host of different viruses that all produce similar symptoms. This means that you’ll still be susceptible to many others – even if you live to 100 and catch a different cold every year.Virologist Prof Wendy Barclay says we succumb to more bugs when it’s cold for a few reasons. One is that viruses are fragile when outside the body, and can be killed by strong UV light from the sun during summer. Another is that in winter we’re mostly indoors, close to other people, so bugs can more easily be passed around.Our hands carry millions of bacteria and viruses, most of which won’t do us any harm, but if we come up into contact with certain strains and they get into our bodies, they can make us ill. Hand sanitisers – usually gels or liquids that you rub on your hands – claim to kill the majority of germs on our hands with the aim of protecting us from the harmful ones.Many hand sanitisers claim to kill 99.9% or more of bacteria and viruses. This may sound like a lot, but because a clean-looking hand can harbour millions of germs, you could still be left with several thousand potentially disease-causing microbes. So, although hand sanitisers can reduce the risk of you becoming ill, they can’t eliminate it since some germs will always be left behind – and it only takes a few misplaced microbes up your nose to cause a col
COLD FLU GERMS IMMUNE SYSTEM HAND SANITIZER
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