By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An arsenal of hand
sanitizers, hygiene education and good old-fashioned soap failed
to prevent asthma attacks among school children in one Alabama
county. For children with asthma, the common cold is the top
trigger of symptom attacks. So in theory, cleaner hands at
school could mean fewer colds being passed around - and fewer
asthma attacks. But in a new clinical trial, researchers found
that kids at schools with a "hand hygiene" plan, including
alcohol-based hand sanitizers, suffered asthma attacks just
often as their peers at other schools. The findings are not,
however, the final word, according to Lynn B. Gerald, a
professor of health promotion sciences at the University of
Arizona in Tucson who led the study. That's because the trial
hit an obstacle when the H1N1 "swine" flu epidemic broke out
right at the study's outset: All of the schools in the trial
became a lot more vigilant about clean hands, Gerald said.
Schools that weren't part of the hand-hygiene progr