Anti-bacterial soaps and hand sanitizers: helpful or harmful?

I chose to answer this request as I feel as though it's something I can answer from both a personal and (loosely) professional prospective.

A few weeks ago I noticed a lot of people in my workplace coughing, sneezing and sniffling, it got to the point where it was all I could hear. It quickly became apparent that there was some kind of bug going around, the most likely culprit being the common cold.

Anyway, being a bit of a hypochondriac I quickly started reading into how our immune system works, "common cold" prevention techniques and how the virus itself works.

What I concluded from my probably highly neurotic time spent researching online anyway was that the best prevention methods are to avoid coming into contact with anyone or anything that carry the bacteria. You're probably thinking "well surely, isn't that obvious!", but I've been quite lucky growing up in that I haven't been that prone to catching what everyone around me has (so subsequently I've never paid that much attention). For sometime I thought I was superhuman, with a kickass immune system actually. That theory quickly died off when I did have a cold sometime last year though.

So I found out that the best ways to keep this "plague", as I started calling it from getting the best of me I started taking action! To start with I started drinking considerably more water, and breathed in only through my nose; as apparently there is more mucus within your nose lining, compared to our mouths, which helps trap and expel the bacteria before it manages to get into our bodies.

By this point you may also be thinking, "Wait, isn't this hub meant to be about hand sanitizers? All this crazed fool has talked about so far is his irrational fear of bacteria!" - Fear not though! (Good on you if you've gotten this far too by the way) as this is where the hand sanitizer comes in (see it was all just a build up! I was just creating some atmosphere, not quite sure what kind of atmosphere you require when talking about hand sanitizer though...)

I had noticed a slight ritual in a colleague of mine, that before eating her lunch she would always run her hands in this gel that I had never even seen or heard of before! This of course, was non other than anti-bacterial gel, "Cuticura Original" to be exact.

Initially I was a little dubious of trying this gel, as even though I adore the thought that 99.99% of those little badies will be eliminated within 15 seconds of application, I really don't like the sticky, uncomfortable feeling left on my hands after most creams, gels etc do. This one however, didn't so, in - my eyes, its perfection!

I started using it a great deal of the time, along with drinking more water, an breathing through my nose an I am yet to catch what looks like has been a passing "bug"!

So, now to hear what the professionals have to say.

I have been doing a bit of research on this as I always like to know everything there is to know about anything new I start using be it new medications, body washes etc.

The general impression I gathered from reading various studies and professional opinions is that anti bacterial gels are an excellent idea, and will become more central to our day to day lives. As currently they're are generally only found in hospitals or toilets, in the future companies may encourage their employees to use them, as according to one study the amount of bacteria found on general desk top equipment equals that to the average office toilet!

The only factor that has been brought to light is that such gels have to be at least 60% alcohol, as this is the ingredient that kills the bacteria. Any less then this and the gel may even help mobilise the bacteria, increasing the chance of infection.

So, in conclusion, hand sanitizers seem to have the thumbs up from both a consumer and the professionals - smiles all round!