For instance, you may saunter into the grocery store with nice clean hands but the second you touch that shopping cart handle you are exposed to every yucky thing you can imagine. Who knows what disease-ridden person may have pushed that cart before you or what snotty-nosed infant rode in the seat with his grubby hands all over the handle?

Public restrooms are another dangerous place when it comes to germs. We ask our kids if they washed their hands as they come out of the bathroom, but really, what does it matter? Think about all the people who do not wash their hands--all their germs are crawling contentedly about the door handle which your kid just grabbed. The waiting room at the doctor's office is another potentially hazardous place. If you are not careful, you may leave with something worse than the illness which brought you there in the first place.

The list of places where germs wait is sickening, but fortunately we do not have to go cringing through life defenseless. Hand sanitizer has proven to be a useful tool in fighting 99.99% of common illness-causing germs. In a recent study involving sixteen schools, kids and teachers were divided into control and product groups. The product groups employed hand sanitizer before and after entering the classroom. The study found a 19.8% absentee reduction among children in the product group, a great finding for parents and schools alike.

Using products like Purell hand wipes or liquid sanitizing gels combats germs. Keep sanitizing wipes in your purse, your vehicle, your briefcase, beside the diaper changing table-anywhere you need convenient protection from lurking germs. Like hand washing, getting into the habit of using hand sanitizer can be a great disease fighter.