Proper Hand Hygiene Is Key to Avoiding Illness During Cold and ...(including between fingers and under nail...),Health

-- Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds (about the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday).

-- Rinse hands under running water.

-- Always dry hands thoroughly.

3. Help your children keep clean anywhere they are. When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based instant hand sanitizers such as PURELL(R) effectively kill 99.99% of germs that may cause illness. There is no evidence that germs become resistant to alcohol -- the main ingredient in PURELL(R) -- or to other antibiotics as a result of using alcohol-based instant hand sanitizers. Show children how to use hand sanitizers properly:

-- Apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the palm of one hand.

-- Rub hands together -- so that product covers all surfaces of hands and

fingers -- until hands are dry.

Then: remind, remind, remind. Encourage your children to wash their hands frequently throughout the day, particularly before eating, and after using the bathroom and playing outside. Check with your school to see if you can send your older children in with a travel-size container of PURELL(R) to carry in their backpack, for quick and easy hand cleansing when soap and water are not readily available.

PURELL(R) Instant Hand Sanitizer consumer products are marketed by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc.

The CDC is not affiliated with Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., any of its affiliated companies, or the PURELL(R) brand.