World Hand Hygiene Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Hand Germs

On May 5, we celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day. There are numerous fatal and hazardous diseases caused by microorganisms that exist everywhere. They are all attempting to enter us in some way, which could readily occur through our hands. The greatest defence against such microbial attacks is good hand hygiene. The World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a campaign to raise awareness of the significance of hand hygiene in healthcare upon realising this.

The background of World Hand Hygiene Day

Infectious diseases have always afflicted our planet. Some scientists believe that microbes may have contributed to one of the main mass extinction events. We countermeasure one, and then another abruptly appears. This has existed since the inception of our society. Prior to the discovery of handwashing, bacteria and viruses had long danced over our bodies.

Handwashing was part of many religious and cultural practises. The connection between handwashing and the transmission of disease was not made until 1846. Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician who identified the connection between hand hygiene and the transmission of disease. He observed that women giving birth in the maternity ward of his hospital were more likely to perish from fever than those in the adjacent ward. Midwives supervised the adjacent maternity ward. Semmelweis discovered that the physicians who frequented the maternity ward performed autopsies frequently and likely carried cadaverous particles on their hands. Midwives did not perform autopsies and their hands were sterile. As a result of Semmelweis’ introduction of chlorine-based handwashing, the mortality toll decreased dramatically. Nonetheless, this method did not catch on in the medical community.

In 1980, when a series of foodborne epidemics occurred, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) realised the importance of handwashing. They began washing their hands. Everyone followed suit this time. The use of soap for handwashing has exploded in prevalence in recent years. Soaps made the practise economical and efficient.

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5 FACTS ABOUT HAND GERMS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Some germs on your hands can survive for up to three hours, while others can survive even longer.

There will be more than two million bacteria and other microorganisms on our digits.

A germ can proliferate so rapidly that its population can double within minutes.

Approximately 80 percent of disease-causing bacteria are transmitted via our hands.

Wet hands transmit 1,000 times more pathogens than dry hands.

WORLD HAND HYGIENE DAY DATES

Year	Date	Day
2023	May 5	Friday
2024	May 5	Sunday
2025	May 5	Monday
2026	May 5	Tuesday
2027	May 5	Wednesday