Chicago ? The government issued guidelines Friday urging doctors and nurses to abandon the ritual of washing their hands with soap and water between patients and instead rub on fast-drying alcohol gels to kill more germs.

The goal: reduce the hospital spread of viruses and bacteria that infect an estimated 2 million people in the United States each year and kill about 90,000.

Many hospitals, anticipating the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, already have made the change, and studies show this can cut their infection rates in half.

Soap and water have been the standard for generations. But washing up properly between each patient can take a full minute and often is skipped to save time, especially in busy intensive care units where the risk of spreading germs is greatest.

While the alcohol-based gels and solutions kill more microbes, the main advantage is they are easier to use. With vials clipped to their uniforms, nurses can quickly swish their hands while on the move without stopping at a sink. The CDC estimates this saves an hour in an eight-hour intensive care shift.

The solutions are intended only to kill germs, not remove visible dirt. So hospital workers still are expected to wash if they get messy hands. Also, surgeons have the choice of using the gels or sticking with antimicrobial soap.

Many brands of the solutions are available in grocery stores. They vary in how they look, feel and smell. But all contain 60 percent to 90 percent ethanol or isopropanol, and they are considered equally effective at killing germs.

The new guidelines apply only to hospitals and clinics, where there are many particularly nasty microbes.

At home, where such dangerous bugs are far less common, experts say ordinary soap and water are probably all people routinely need.