Hand eczema due to frequent hand washing in combat with COVID-19

Hand Eczema in High School Students in Poland: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract is missing (Short communication)

Hand hygiene status and its associated factors among housemaids working in communal living residences in Jimma city, southwest Ethiopia

Objective

Hand hygiene is a milestone, cost-effective, and convenient strategy to prevent the transfer of pathogenic micro-organisms. However, housemaids operating inside a kitchen can be the source of infection. In addition, hand hygiene among housemaids working in dwellings was underexplored. This study aimed to assess the hand hygiene status and associated factors among housemaids working in communal living residences in Jimma City, Southwest Ethiopia.

Methods

A total of 230 housemaids were included in this cross-sectional study. Total samples were proportionally allocated for each residence and a simple random sampling technique was applied to select the study participants. Hand hygiene status and relevant characteristics were collected through face-to-face interviews and observations. Hand swab samples were collected and tested for bacterial contaminants. Then, it was inoculated aseptically using streak-plating methods on mannitol salt agar (MSA), MacConkey agar (MCA), salmonella-shigella agar (SSA), and eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar and then incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. Data was edited, cleaned, and double-entered into Epidata version 3.1 and then exported to the statistical package for social science statistics version 26 for further analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to identify associated factors. Statistically significant was declared at P value < 0.05.

Results

Two hundred twenty-five housemaids were interviewed with a response rate of 97.8 %. The results showed that the proportion of good hand hygiene status among the housemaids was only 28.0 %. Although the majority of participants reported washing their hands frequently, the prevalence of bacterial contaminants on their hands was high at 72 %. The study identified several factors associated with hand hygiene status, including the occupational status of heads of households (AOR = 0.030, 95 % CI: 0.003, 0.348; P = 0.0050), the effectiveness of the heads of household (AOR = 13.955, 95 % CI: 1.442, 13.500; P = 0.0230), and the removal of accessories during handwashing (AOR = 20.844, 95 % CI: 2.190, 9.842; P = 0.0080).

Conclusion

Overall, the hand hygiene status of housemaids was found to be poor and influenced by demographics and other relevant characteristics. The study emphasizes the need for a multimodal strategy involving household heads, local and national authorities, and other stakeholders to raise awareness and advocate for hand hygiene to prevent communicable diseases in the wider community, particularly in the study area.

The Relationship Between Meaning in Life and Health Behaviors in Adults Aged 55 Years and Over During the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Mediating Role of Risk Perception and the Moderating Role of Powerful Others Health Locus of Control

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted many people's meaning in life and health behaviors. This study aimed to verify the relationship among meaning in life (MIL), epidemic risk perception, health locus of control (HLC), and preventive health behaviors among older adults after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic.

METHOD

In this longitudinal study, 164 participants aged 55 years and above completed the following measures at time 1 (February 19, 2021) and one month later at time 2 (March 19, 2021): Meaning in Life in the Epidemic Questionnaire, Epidemic Risk Perception Questionnaire, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, and Health Behaviors Before and After the Epidemic Survey. Hayes' SPSS Process Macro was used to analyze the mediating effect of epidemic risk perception (model 4) and the moderating role of powerful others HLC in the mediation model (model 14).

RESULTS

The results showed that after controlling for gender, age, education level, and health behaviors at the baseline, risk perception had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between MIL and preventive health behaviors (β = .02, SE = .01, 95% CI [.00, .04]). In addition, powerful others HLC had a moderating effect on the second half of the mediating effect (β = .02, p = .02, 95% CI [.00, .03]). Specifically, compared to the older adults with low powerful others HLC, the risk perception of older adults with high powerful others HLC increased preventive health behaviors.

CONCLUSION

Practitioners should adequately cultivate older adults' risk awareness and reinforce the importance of advice from doctors and professionals, thereby effectively enhancing the preventive health behaviors of older adults in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Optimizing Safe Dental Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recommendations Based on a Guide Developed for Dental Practices in China

The current global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is still exerting severe global implications, and its development in various regions is complex and variable. The high risk of cross-infection poses a great challenge to the dental practice environment; it is therefore urgent to develop a set of pandemic prevention measures to ensure dental practice safety during the COVID-19 outbreak. Therefore, we combined the epidemiological characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), public emergency measures for COVID-19, characteristics of dental practice, and relevant literature reports to develop a set of dynamic practice measures for dental practices in high-, medium-, and low-risk areas affected by COVID-19. This will help dental practices to achieve standard prevention and ensure their safe and smooth operation during the pandemic. It is hoped that these measures will provide a reference basis for dental hospitals and dental clinics in their care and pandemic prevention work.

Handekzem – Gleiche Therapie für alle Formen?

Es gibt nicht einen einzigen Typ des chronischen Handekzems (CHE) – weder morphologisch noch immunologisch. Schutz und Präventionsmaßnahmen können für alle Typen des CHE definiert werden. Die Therapie muss passen und zielgerichtet sein. Einige Therapien können jedoch für alle Typen des Handekzems angeboten werden wie topische Kortikosteroide, Calcineurinantagonisten, UV-Therapie und Alitretinoin, ggf. auch Dupilumab, was in größeren Studien untersucht werden sollte. Die Wahrnehmung des Handekzems sollte gerade in Zeiten der Irritation durch Desinfektion der Hände erhöht werden, damit Prävention und frühzeitige Therapie erfolgen können.