If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.
Unfortunately, most hand sanitizers are alcohol-based and, at their current alcohol concentration, don’t generally work against norovirus. Other viruses have a fat-based outer envelope that’s more easily broken down by alcohol-based hand sanitizers, but norovirus is different. It has a thick, protein-based shell called a capsid, which most alcohol can’t penetrate. Unlike alcohol, soap and water (plus the more vigorous handwashing motions) actually dissolve and break apart the capsid. Hand sanitizers aren’t totally ineffective - some alcohol-based hand sanitizers work to a degree against certain strains of noro, but soap and water is the gold standard. In fact, one study found that long-term care facilities that had widespread use of hand sanitizer actually had a higher risk for noro because they weren’t washing their hands with soap and water as often. While there is some research into alternative hand sanitizers that could kill noro, there’s not likely to be a commercially available one in the U.S. any time soon since they’d have to be submitted as a brand new product for FDA review and approval. That process can cost millions of dollars, and manufacturers aren’t lining up to spend that kind of money right now.
Generally, kids get their first dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine between 12 to 15 months old, and the second between 4-6 years. But there are exceptions for children living near an outbreak area, or kids who are traveling internationally to an area where measles is common. In those cases, babies as young as 6 months can get their first dose, and kids under 4 can get their second dose as long as it’s at least a month after the first. If a child is vaccinated early, they’ll need a third dose later on - that’s because their immune systems aren’t fully developed, so they won’t build the long-term immunity to measles from that first dose that they would if they got it at a year old. But it does drastically reduce their risk in the short-term. That’s crucial since young babies are at higher risk for severe complications from measles. If you live near a measles outbreak area, are traveling to the South Plains/Panhandle region of Texas, or have an international flight planned with a child who isn’t fully vaccinated, talk to your child’s pediatrician about when to get the MMR vaccine.
In his new book, John Green explores the devastating effects that TB is still having every day as the most deadly infectious disease in the world.