About the Author

Richard Cochrane is trained in chemistry and metallurgy but is far more interested and practiced as a political and fund raising consultant, writer and amateur historian. He grew up in a Navy family and with his two younger brothers carried on its 500+ year tradition of naval service to Great Britain and the USA then enjoyed a career with one of the largest advertising and public relations agencies working with numerous Fortune 500 companies and many of America's premier educational institutions. He maintains friendships and acquaintanceships around the world. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

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Like Mom Told You: Wash Your Hands

May 1st, 2009 • Richard Cochrane
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didnt-wash-handsThis week there has been a lot of attention to hand washing as a way to reduce catching the H1N1 “swine” flu bug. Laugh or cry (take your pick), but up until the late 19th century, doctors didn’t really see the need to wash their hands before picking up a scalpel.

 The result? A lot of gangrene. Most early-19th century doctors tended to attribute contagion to “bad air” and blamed disease on imbalances of the “four humors” (that’s blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, in case you weren’t familiar).

 ”Germ theory” (the revolutionary idea that germs cause disease) had been around for a while, but it wasn’t till Louis Pasteur got behind it in the 1860s that people started listening. It took a while, but doctors like Joseph Lister eventually connected the dots and realized that hospitals and doctors had the potential to pass on life-threatening germs to patients.

 Lister went on to pioneer the idea of actually cleaning wounds and using disinfectant. Remember him next time you reach for the Purell.

By the way you should scrub your hands for at least 20-seconds to be effective. By the way singing  ”Happy Birthday” to yourself takes about that long.

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