To use antibac?

[bobstersmum]

As we are approaching new year I am having a rethink of the way I do things. I currently use antibac wipes, and antibac hand gel when out and about including on the kids hands. Is it necessary? I am a bit freaked out by germs but I know a lot of illnesses are viruses which aren't killed by antibac.
Aibu to use antibac so regularly? Would we all be healthier in the long run if we just used soap and water?

I have only used the stuff once when we had sickness in the house.

Washing with hot soapy water should be enough

I carry antibac with me. If I am eating out I will want to wash my hands before though.

I try not to touch bannister rails, but you have to touch lift buttons and chip and pin keypads and trolley handles unfortunately so I just use some antibac as I get back in the car.

I don't use it at all, and I've virtually no immune system. Just hot soapy water, baby wipes if my hands need a wipe (obviously dirty when out and about type thing)

@Oldraver most sickness bugs are caused by viruses so antibac gel does diddly squat. Hot water, soap and proper hand washing is what you need (with bleach / disinfectant for the loo / bathroom).

You really don't need it. I never use anti-bac hand gel or wipes. I just wash my hands in soap and hot water. IMO anti-bac is vastly overused these days.

I never use the stuff. V healthy

How does that sit with the hand gel they want you to use when entering/exiting hospitals? Is that pointless?

I work in a hospital. We use normal detergent wipes to clean beds and equipment between patients. If the patient has had anything infective, we use bleach.

Nope, it is not required.

Hospitals are completely different. Anti-bac is needed for infection control. Over use of anti-bac when it isn't needed means that bacteria build up resistance to it hence the increase in cases of MRSA etc.

Read up on antibacterial products and decide for yourself.
I have never used them beyond giving dd gel to take to school because often the loos don't have soap.
Nobody in the medical or science community recommends them unless, as pps have said, there's been a vomiting (not of the viral kind but of the food poisoning ) kind.

^ For reverence I only use water to wash my hands (properly) as that is all that is required.

See the thing is I've gotten into a habit of routinely using it. We aren't always ill or anything but during winter it feels like it. But I don't know if we'd be less ill if I didn't use it? It handy to use the gel for the kids when out and about as they do get filthy hands and touch everything.

I think I am pretty happy with using the gel, it's worked for me so far. That and the flu jab and washing my hands with soap whenever possible.

You'll be less ill OP. Using all that antibac is negatively impacting your immune system.

I just use soap and bleach down the loo. We are rarely ill.

Can you get resistance if you over use it?

I am not worried about my own toilets at all.

We don't use it and never have and we are all perfectly healthy. Of course the manufacturers of this stuff want you to believe you will be ill a lot more without it...

The only places I want to kill germs is on food preparation surfaces in the kitchen and also the toilet. Everything else just gets washed off with soapy hot water as and when.

I use it if I go to a public loo and there is no soap or as an emergency if myself or the kids have touched something gross, but don't use it regularly, just in emergancies.

Calm down. They need to be exposed to some germs to help build their immune systems! Don't keep using anti bacterial every 5 minutes! Only before they eat is sufficient or if they are around somebody who is poorly. Good Lord can't children get dirty at all anymore? It really isn't like the old days where we all used to splash in dirty puddles and play with mud.

If their hands need to be cleaned (e.g. before eating) but aren't visibly dirty, antibacterial gel is acceptable. If they ARE visibly dirty, then they need soap and water - but not antibacterial soap. Antibacterial soap is very drying and can cause skin damage, which actually increases bacterial counts on the skin. If your children aren't immunocompromised I'm not sure you need antibacterial gel or wipes ALL the time. This is when we are told to do hand hygiene in the hospital:

-prior to patient care
-prior to a sterile or clean procedure
-after patient care
-before eating or before feeding a patient
-after using the toilet (patient or yourself)
-after contaminating your hands with blood or body fluids

If your children's hands aren't visibly dirty and they aren't about to put them in their mouths or about to eat, they probably don't need to be cleaned. Now, if you saw something gross on a shopping trolley, absolutely you should clean it or ask for it to be cleaned before you use it.

Oops didn't realise we were talking handwashing in particular. I believe a bar of soap is best. Before eating and after using the loo. Soap will removes the germs from the skin. It doesn't kill the germs necessarily but it does remove them. Antibacs only kill the bacteria not all the germs and it doesn't remove germs as good as soap so it just leaves the harmful bugs.