Pass the Purell: It's hip to be germ-free

They pull their sleeves down over their hands to open doors, surreptitiously sanitize while on buses, subways and airplanes. At the gym, they towel off their elliptical trainers like car detailers in search of a $100 tip. At work, they’re ready to break out the Clorox the minute somebody coughs.

Who are these incredibly sterile souls? They’re the citizens of a germ-conscious segment of the country you might call hand-sanitation nation.

“I notice more and more women in the bathroom using paper towels to open and close the door, or dashing out behind somebody else so they don’t have to touch the door at all,” says Mary Wilson, 38, of Seattle. “People will use their knuckles to punch elevator buttons, and the grocery stores all have Handiwipes to wipe off the baskets now. I’m sort of a closet germophobe, but I’m beginning to feel like much less of a freak these days. Other people are doing the same quirky things.”

While germophobes have long been the butt of jokes, recent reports of virulent new super bugs coupled with the inevitable return of cold and flu season may have actually made germ consciousness sort of, well, trendy.

Supermarkets, health clubs and restaurants now offer customers complimentary sanitizer packets, wipes, and hygienic gels and sprays. Online you’ll find everything from high-tech disinfecting light wands to embroidered hand sanitizer/tissue holders to designer antibacterial hand gel in “enticing warm fragrances” like black raspberry vanilla and brown sugar and fig. On TV, there’s both a germophobic detective (Tony Shalhoub’s Monk) and a germophobic game show host (Howie Mandel, who refuses to shake hands with anyone, including his Deal or No Deal contestants).

And no one’s laughing, at least not since stories of MRSA-related infections — and deaths — hit the news. Instead, people seem to be crossing over to the freshly disinfected side.

“I’ve always been a hand washer and now I’m a hand sanitizer, too,” says Linda Moore, 46, of Memphis, Tenn. “And as a result, I don’t get colds. I won’t do it right after I shake hands with someone, but I do clean up before I eat. My friends all used to tease me about it, but now they want it. Every time we sit down to lunch they all stick out their hands and ask me to give them a squirt.”

Moore isn’t the only one who swears by her germ-fighting gel. In the last few years, sales figures for various types of hand sanitizers have almost tripled, rising from nearly $28 million for 2002 to approximately $80 million for the year 2006. A recently released study conducted at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, showed the preference for alcohol hand rub increased from 4.3 percent to a whopping 51 percent among physicians in the last five years

And there’s good reason for its popularity.

How to clean up • When washing up with soap and water, lather and scrub for at least 20 seconds. If you don’t know how long that is, sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice (or once, if you’re doing the Marilyn Monroe/JFK version). Use a paper towel, air dryer or clean hand towel to dry off. Don’t share towels with others. • Hands should be washed before preparing or eating food; after going to the bathroom; before and after you take care of someone who’s sick; after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing; after taking out the garbage; after handling your pet; after cleaning up your pet’s – or child’s – “business,” and before and after treating a cut or wound. And hands definitely need to be washed — not sanitized — when they’re dirty. • If soap and water aren’t available, the CDC recommends that you use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean up. Alcohol content should be between 60-95 percent. Do not drink your hand sanitizer; more importantly, do not allow your child to drink your hand sanitizer.

A 2003 study involving 430 college students in Boulder, Colo., resulted in 43 percent less sick days for students who had alcohol gel hand-sanitizer dispensers installed in every room, bathroom and dining hall.

“Alcohol-based gel hand sanitizers are as effective as hand washing for most purposes,” says Dr. William Marshall, an infectious disease specialist at Mayo Clinic, “and they’re often easier to use because you can use them quickly.”

And “insta-clean” appeal is no small thing, especially for those of us who are too busy or too burdened to spend 30 seconds standing in front of a sink.

“When you’re running around chasing preschoolers, you may not have time to wash your hands properly,” says Leah Killian, a 25-year-old stay-at-home mom from Travis Air Force Base, Calif. “So I’m a big fan of antibacterial stuff. I can just squirt that on and keep going.”

Of course, for every sanitized soul out there, there’s a soap and water slacker who can’t be bothered with any of that silly hygiene stuff. A recent study offers a grimy glimpse at the other side of the great germ divide. 

A September 2007 observational study of more than 6,000 people across the nation found that only 77 percent of men and women washed their hands after using a public restroom, a 6 percent decline from a similar study done in 2005.  In some instances — such as the men’s room at Atlanta’s Turner Field — the number of hand washers tumbled to an eyebrow-raising low of 57 percent.

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