There's a product, known as "Bag Cream" (pictures of a cow's udder, to get you onto the track) that my wife uses for dry skin/cracking hands that may be of use to some of you...
"Anti-bacterialogical soaps", from my readings, do a fair job of killing off bacteria, given, of course, that you have it on for a couple MINUTES...
Rinsing and rubbing your hands with hot/warm water WITH soap, will make them slippery enough for the germs to slide off..."drying them" with a towel will likewise take a percentile of the "survivours" off by friction and simple "wiping" (remembering these are now in and on the towel!)
I doubt that this is an "exact science", and the truth may lie between the purists of handwashing and, say "oldcoot" who advised that exposure to some germs/bacteria/viruses, etc will assist the immune system through life in being able to build up the immunology of "low level doses"...
Likewise, when "sniffles and sneezes" start to perpetuate themselves in the house, its a good thought to get out the bucket of hot water, the Javex, and start washing door knobs, handrails, fridge/oven handles etc...
And for the most "gruesome" things to consider "touching"...telephone receivers, tv/vcr/DVD remotes, unwashed toothbrush stands (where did you think the "yuckies" went from your mouth, and where did you put them?), unchanged vaccuum bags...toilet handles, sink handles, dispenser tops of "pump bottles" of soap...I expect you get the idea! Worst sites? Hotel rooms! Sadly, the residences of the "elderly" who's "housecleaners" are engaged only periodically for limited time slots, and therefor do not get the thorough cleaning required in critical spaces, and whose eyesight may be suspect...
One of the "greater gifts" one might give oneself or give to a parent or grandparent, might be to go to their home and really thoroughly "Sgt Major Party" the premises...there'd be nothing sadder than losing an aged relative from this year's "flu"...and besides, wouldn't they be "happy" that you would do this for them, and delighted with the "clean fresh smell" that met them each new morning? One of my siblings' "gift" to my Dad, the last surviving Grandparent....
Lifter
(Audeo would bear me out in SPADES on this one, I truly believe!)
