Actually soap does help with preventing illness, but is anti-bacterial soap any better?

When looking at it from the point of fighting off colds and flu, anti-bacterial soap does not do any better than regular soap. Since colds and flu are caused by viruses - not bacteria - this kind of soap does not affect getting sick this way. In fact, it can cause more harm than good.

It has already been shown that the overuse of antibiotics has caused some bacteria based illnesses to become harder to treat as the bacteria become drug resistant. The same thing happens with the anti-bacterial soaps. Even if they kill most of the bacteria in the areas being washed, the few that did not die (were resistant) will multiply and can become the dominant form of the bacteria, which would then be completely immune to the soap.

The anti-bacterial soaps can also be harsh on the skin and actually kill off the good kinds of bacteria that live with us. People are becoming more aware of the good kinds of bacteria that live in our digestive system and many have learned that restoring a healthy population of these good bacteria can actually help with overall health as well as digestive health. In addition to the bacteria that live in our digestive system, we have bacteria that live on our skin and perform important functions there. By getting rid of the good bacteria on the skin we can become more susceptible to things like skin fungus and certain kinds of eczema.

It is important to wash your hands. Always after using the restroom and always before preparing food. The lack of proper hand washing is a leading contributor to many public (and private) disease outbreaks. However, washing with antibacterial soap is not going to be any better for you long term than using soap without antibacterial properties.

The best long term protection is going to be working on building your immune system up so that it can handle any malicious bacteria that comes along as well as the viruses that seem to come at us at certain times of the year.