Survey finds airport restroom users seldom wash

Sun Times ^ | 09/16/03 | JIM RITTER

[bedolido]

More than one of four users of O'Hare Airport washrooms didn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom, according to a survey that found even dirtier hands in New York's airport.

But in Toronto, 96 percent of airport bathroom users washed up. The high rate likely is due to fears over the SARS virus, which hit the Canadian city hard, researchers said.

Observers who hung out in airport bathrooms spied on 7,541 users in six cities. Observers were instructed to comb their hair and put on makeup while discreetly recording hand-washing behavior.

The percentage of non-washers was 29 percent in New York, 26 percent in Chicago, San Francisco and Miami and 19 percent in Dallas.

"The same people that fail to wash after using restrooms go on to pick up children, handle food, greet family and use other public facilities," said Dr. Judy Daly, secretary of the American Society for Microbiology, which sponsored the survey.

The survey, conducted last month by Wirthlin Worldwide, was reported at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy at McCormick Place.

The findings indicate many people lie when it comes to hand-washing. In an earlier survey, 95 percent of adults claimed they always wash their hands after using public restrooms.

With the exception of Toronto, there has been no significant increase in hand-washing compared with observational studies in 1996 and 2000. And researchers fear rates could drop in Toronto as SARS fears ebb. During the epidemic's peak, the media bombarded residents with reminders to wash their hands.

Germs enter your body if your unwashed hands touch your nose, mouth, eyes and open wounds. Hand-washing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce the transmission of colds, flu, diarrhea, SARS and other diseases.

Health officials advise washing before preparing or eating food, treating a wound or a sick person and inserting or removing contact lenses. Wash after going to the bathroom; handling uncooked meat, poultry and fish; changing a diaper; blowing your nose; coughing; sneezing; taking out the garbage, or handling an animal.

Use soap and warm running water. Rub hands together for at least 10 to 15 seconds. Wash all surfaces thoroughly, including wrists and under the fingernails. Forget anti-bacterial soap; ordinary soap works just fine.

Some aren't keeping it clean

A survey found the following percentages of people do not wash their hands after using airport restrooms:

Dallas/Fort Worth: males, 31 percent; females, 8 percent
John F. Kennedy, New York: males, 37 percent; females, 22 percent
Miami Dade County: males, 30 percent; females, 21 percent
O'Hare: males, 38 percent; females, 15 percent
San Francisco: males, 20 percent; females, 41 percent
Toronto: males, 5 percent; females, 3 percent
Total: males, 26 percent, females, 17 percent
SOURCE: American Society for Microbiology

[ErnBatavia]

the WalMart restroom I was in last week. It looked like someone had crapped on the wall.

I recently learned something from a plumber out here in the SoCal desert.....it's a cultural sort of thing that Latinos often use the paper, but don't flush it - it's either tossed on the floor of a public bathroom, or in a home, there's a box for it...but it's NOT flushed. Maybe back home, it saved digging another pit or something.

Wifey noticed that the stall at Hometown Buffet has a sign inside the door requesting "deposit soiled toilet paper in the commode".

[CygnusXI]

No offence man, but I would have called you a damn "do-gooder", and barged right past you.
:)

[xsmommy]

this thread is hilarious!!

[Rebelbase]

"urine is essentially sterile. "

Until you eat asparagas.

[mewzilla]

Trust me, if you've touched the door, the stall, anything in the restroom you still need to wash :)

[Registered]

Yeh, we need to start a thread on things you can do to avoid washing your hands after using a public bathroom....nobody's mentioned using your shoe to flush the john..Next?

[_Jim]

Dallas/Fort Worth:         males, 31 percent; females, 8 percent 
John F. Kennedy, New York: males, 37 percent; females, 22 percent
Miami Dade County:         males, 30 percent; females, 21 percent
O'Hare:                    males, 38 percent; females, 15 percent
San Francisco:             males, 20 percent; females, 41 percent
Toronto:                   males,  5 percent; females, 3 percent

Total:                     males, 26 percent, females, 17 percent

SOURCE: American Society for Microbiology

Hmmm ... I wonder what the stats for CHINA might look like ...

[Registered]

Well, from first hand experience (no pun intended) I'd say the Chinese would be off the charts!

[bedolido]

thanks for cleaning up the survey (hope you washed your hands afterwards)... btw how did you get it to line up in HTML?

[11th Earl of Mar]

I always wash my hands and NEVER touch the doorknob on the way out.

I told a friend, who thought I was too picky, that touching that doorknob is the sanitary equivilent of shaking hands with a man's penis.

[bedolido]

San Francisco: males, 20 percent; females, 41 percent

the "guys" in frisco use the washrooms for peeing too?

[VRWC_minion]

I disagree that washing your hands in public rest room, especially an airport, is smart thing to do and if it stops transmission of diseases. If all I have touched in the bathroom is myself after using the urinal and if I'm relatively clean then I will not receive any germs.

If however, I use the sink to clean I may contact the faucet, the soap disoneser and the paper towel dispenser. Each time I increase my chance of having someone elses germs transfer to me.

[bedolido]

I told a friend, who thought I was too picky, that touching that doorknob is the sanitary equivilent of shaking hands with a man's penis.

Now your talking about the San Francisco airport right?

[_Jim]

btw how did you get it to line up in HTML?

I set the text up between <pre> and </pre> tages than added the required spaces to get the needed alignment ...

[whd23]

The "I don't pee on my hands" responses are very amusing. My take on washing after using the restroom is that it's just a good opportunity to clean your hands. You go through the day touching surfaces that many other people have also been handling (and how clean were their hands?).

Yes, "that's why we have immune systems" but we also have the ability to heal cuts and I don't deliberately break my skin open....

[11th Earl of Mar]

Hmmm ... I wonder what the stats for CHINA might look like

Or France...

But I guess no one in France bothers to use the toilet.

[TontoKowalski]

Yeh, we need to start a thread on things you can do to avoid washing your hands after using a public bathroom....nobody's mentioned using your shoe to flush the john..Next?

The "Look Ma, No Hands" shake.

[_Jim]

If however, I use the sink to clean I may contact the faucet,

FORTUNATELY they are going to those 'proximity' switches that then snap the water on and off ...

[A Broken Glass Republican]

I never wash my hands in public bathrooms. I never touch anything in public bathrooms if at all possible (Which would include their faucets and towel dispensers). I kick doors open and flush with my foot. (And ONLY flush in a way that I can quicky RUN from the area before the SPEW from the flushing toilet rises into the air.)

If someone catches something from me, sobeit. But I'm not putting myself in a position to catch something from someone else, if at all possible. Survival of the fittest!!

[Wright is right!]

Most restrooms at airports don't HAVE doors. The entries are serpentine line-of-sight blockers, and you can walk right up to the urinal without first touching ANYTHING.

Michael