Seen under ultraviolet light, simulated germs glow from a hand’s wrinkles, cuticles, and“subungual spaces,” even after a normal hand-washing.
Zung Wan Kim, a surgeon in Port Chester, New York, preps for surgery like a prizefighter before a major bout. First he punches a soap dispenser button with his foot and delivers a low blow to a faucet switch with his knee. Then he rubs the soap over his hands for more than a minute and rinses it off with graceful left and right hooks under the stream of water. He jabs at his nails with a sterile brush for more than another minute, rinses, scrubs his hands with a sterile sponge, rinses again, and then repeats the initial wash and rinse. Ding! The bell goes off on Kim's timer, ending a full five-minute round of hand-washing.
