BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene is considered as an important means of @entity281 control. We explored whether guided hand hygiene together with transmission-limiting behaviour reduces @entity281 episodes and lost days of work in a common work environment in an open cluster-randomized 3-arm intervention trial. METHODS: A total of 21 clusters (683 @entity1 ) were randomized to implement hand hygiene with soap and water (257 @entity1 ), with @entity167 -based hand rub (202 @entity1 ), or to serve as a control (224 @entity1 ). @entity1 in both intervention arms also received standardized instructions on how to limit the transmission of @entity281 . The intervention period (16 months) included the emergence of the 2009 @entity683 pandemic and the subsequent national hand hygiene campaign influencing also the control arm. RESULTS: In the total follow-up period there was a 6.7% reduction of @entity281 episodes in the soap-and water arm (p = 0.04). Before the onset of the anti-pandemic campaign, a statistically significant (p = 0.002) difference in the mean occurrence of @entity281 episodes was observed between the control (6.0 per year) and the soap-and-water arm (5.0 per year) but not between the control and the @entity167 -rub arm (5.6 per year). Neither intervention had a decreasing effect on absence from work. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that intensified hand hygiene using water and soap together with behavioural recommendations can reduce the occurrence of self-reported acute illnesses in common work environment. Surprisingly, the occurrence of reported sick leaves also increased in the soap-and water-arm. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00981877 SOURCE OF FUNDING: The Finnish Work Environment Fund and the National Institute for Health and Welfare.

Hand washing with soap and water together with behavioural recommendations prevents XXXX in common work environment: an open cluster-randomized trial.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Participants', 'persons'] @entity281 :: ('MESH:D007239', 'Disease') :: ['infection', 'infections'] @entity167 :: ('CHEBI:16236', 'Chemical') :: ['alcohol'] @entity683 :: ('MESH:D007251', 'Disease') :: ['influenza']
@entity281 :: (MESH:D007239,Disease) :: ['infections']
