Health News Share Email Print Handwashing: A good defense against disease Regular handwashing can help you avoid illnesses like the flu. Another important step? Getting the flu vaccine every year. Find out if you're on the list of people for whom the vaccine is especially important. Reviewed 8/3/2023 Sources Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Show Me the Science—How to Wash Your Hands." https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "When and How to Wash Your Hands." https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html. National Library of Medicine. "Hand Washing Practices in a College Town Environment." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23621052/. Related stories Health information main Health tools go Select a health topic ADHD Aging Alcohol use disorder Allergies Alternative medicine Alzheimer's disease Arthritis Asthma Babies Backs Bladder Bones Brain Breast cancer Cancer Cancer prevention Caregiving Cervical cancer Children and parenting Cholesterol Colds Colorectal cancer Coronavirus Dental care Depression Diabetes Disaster preparedness Down syndrome Ears Eating disorders Emergencies End of life/Palliative care Environmental health Epilepsy Eyes Fall prevention Family and relationships Feet Fitness and exercise Flu Food safety Hair Headache Health assessments Health calculators Healthcare Heart attack Heart health Hepatitis Hernia High blood pressure Hips HIV/AIDS Holiday health Hormones Imaging Incontinence Joints Kidneys Knees Leukemia Liver Lung cancer Lungs Medications Men's health Menopause Mental health Multiple sclerosis Nails Nose Nutrition Obesity Oral cancer Ovaries Pain Parkinson's disease Pets Pneumonia Pregnancy Prostate cancer Rehabilitation Reproductive health Safety School health Sexuality Sexually transmitted infections Skin Skin cancer Sleep Smoking Sports injuries Stomach pain Stress and anxiety Stroke Substance use disorder Summer safety Surgery Teen health Throat Thyroid Travel Vaccines Vascular health Violence Vitamins and supplements Weight management Winter health Women's health Workplace health Wound care i Providers Family Medicine Internal Medicine Infectious Diseases Pediatrics RSS If you have questions or comments, please contact Randolph Health. Problems reading or opening a page? Legal restrictions and terms of use applicable to this site.