Ever wonder where those hands have been?

By Karen Knapp

You may want to wash your hands before you read this!

I find it so interesting that there are people who never, ever pay attention to hand hygiene. Simple hygiene, like washing your hands several times a day. Did you know that washing your hands several times a day is the most effective way to avoid catching a cold?

Most mothers harp and beg, "Make sure you to wash your hands after you use the bathroom!" As a child, that handwashing was probably at best a lick and a promise, as you ran your hands quickly under the cold water for what was most likely a few seconds or less, and proceeded to deposit the morning's dirt on the hand towel. As a child, you may have spent hours and hours playing outside, touching everything you could possibly lay your hands on, including dogs, cats, horses, "gross things" that you'd find on the side of the road; the jungle gym, the swing set; the baseball bat, somebody else's glove that you borrowed to play catch, and on and on. Never gave it a thought, did you, at that age that there was any connection at all between what might make you us sick and those few seconds that it takes to wash your hands.

Ask a nurse, however, about hand washing and they'll probably say something like this: Three times through "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is about how long it takes to really wash your hands correctly. That means with hot water and soap - top and bottom, between the fingers, and all the way up the wrists. The antibacterial judge and jury is still out - apparently it makes no difference in the end if you use the fanciest, most expensive antibacterial soap you can find or just the plainest generic soap carried at the corner drugstore. Just WASH!

So, you're probably wondering why the discussion about clean hands. Well, here's a thought to ponder: How many times have you walked up to the stage, picked up a microphone (that was STILL WARM from the last singer, and that moments before was in cradled carefully in their hands, and, worst yet, next to their mouth) without even thinking about whether that person EVER washed their hands … you firmly grasped the microphone, brought it up to your mouth, and started your song.

The fact is, close person-to-person contact is something that is pretty well unavoidable when you participate in an activity like karaoke.

Here's the real kicker - Germs are most easily spread by our hands and our mouths. The bacteria responsible for things like herpes zoster (cold sores on the mouth) and MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) are known to survive on surfaces without a warm body host (on the microphone) for extended periods of time.

Even the most diligent hosting company may only thoroughly clean their microphones a few times a year or more often than that - it is a long, laborious process, and the reality of it is, unless something that is transmittable is left on the microphone by the person who last used it right before that cleaning, it is an exercise in futility. Those foam windscreens are a viable option but who, really, likes to sing through those anyway?

Applying alcohol in spray form (not gin or vodka!) is effective but the alcohol must actually DRY between singers, so unless a hosting company has 5-6 microphones (and at $100 or more per mic for good microphones, who has the money to do that?) and alternates them for singers following a good spray with alcohol, that is just not practical.

The fact is, the truly practical solution to this "germ transmission" problem from the karaoke microphone is not easily found.

As an individual, your only real recourse is to go and buy yourself a GOOD microphone (if you're a good singer and care what you sound like) or a less expensive one (if you don't really care) and carry it and your personal CDG collection with you when you go to sing. This is a common practice in Japan. If you decide to get a microphone for your own use and no one else's, you're pretty well guaranteed to remain free of any sort of transmittable illness (including, of course, the common cold)….Assuming, of course, that you wash your hands as you leave the restroom, or reach into your pocket for an antibacterial wipe following a nice, friendly handshake from someone you're meeting for the first time.

It takes just seconds to remove the host mic from the cable and attach your own. This is probably something the host will prefer to do themselves. Just tell them you have own mic that you'd like to use it, and would they please attach it for you. (Yanking on the microphone and the cable, trying to pull them apart, without pressing the little "release" button results in damaged cords…good mic cords are expensive!)

Places like Guitar Center on Hwy 99 in Lynnwood carry a great selection of name-brand microphones with prices varying from $25 to thousands of dollars. Karaoke Sound and Lighting in Everett also carries an assortment of microphones.

Figure it this way, though: Why worry about it now if you've sung for years and could never for certain point to the karaoke microphone as the source of your last cold and cough?