Posted on 09/16/2003 6:42:02 AM PDT by 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
There are two kinds. One is on a roll requiring you to push down a big lever. The second is the drop down pull out kind.
The big lever needs to be touched and the pull out kind have been touched by the prior person.
We are surrounded by germs. There is no escape. If you were to put your skin under a microscope, you would be grossed out. Everybody has thousands and thousands of parasitic mites and other microscopic bugs on them. When you get under your sheets at night, there are many thousands of dust mites waiting for you. Doesn't matter if you laundered your sheets that afternoon either.
There is no escape from germs. And if there were, our immune systems would become so weak that the next germ could well kill us.
which is which. Those who wash their hands probably leave with more germs than those who don't.
Sounds like a soap opera or a western movie from the 60's.
Really?
The system's analyst in me says "The previous person, in obtaining a paper towel for him/herself has removed paper towel 'N' revealing a new, untouched, paper towel 'N+1'."
Unseen splatter ...
I second that. Actually, I will wash my hands if the sink has a automatic motion sensor, or if the handles are levers that are easily operated with my elbow or the back of my wrist. I flush with my elbow or my foot. I attempt to not physically touch anything, except perhaps clean paper towels, if they can be acquired without touching anything else.
Getting out the door is often the hard part. If a wastebasket is close to the door, I will use a paper towel to open the door & prop it with my foot while I throw the towel away. I sometimes grasp the edge of the door, if I can get hold of it. If I absolutely have to touch the handle, I will touch it in an odd place that requires an awkward, uncomfortable grasp, as it is less likely to have been touched there. Long sleeves can be pulled down if necessary.
Not really ... if you consider the "99% percent reduction rule" is applicable here ... were you NOT to wash ever, the exponential growth of 'germs' would be immense. Studies have shown that such simple practices as 'hand washing' are efective ... remember the last time you rubbed your eye and about five to ten minutes later it was seeping and maybe stinging - GERMS baby, from your own hand ...
It depends on the type.
That is because homosexual men are much more neat/fastidious than straights, while lesbians are more sloppy than straight women.
You are assuming that folks who don't wash in high traffic areas are not washing elswhere and not washing when they get to their destination. Our relative time traveling in contact with high travel areas is small compared to other times.
Thus I feel much dirtier after shaking somebody's hand then I do after dropping my zipper in the men's room to take a leak. Of course, if I rushed to the bathroom to wash my hands everytime I shook somebody's hand, I would very quickly not have much of a social life.
It wasn't so fortunate at the Cleveland airport during the blackout. Reportedly there wasn't a single flushable toilet in the whole place, with thousands of stranded travelers.
Arriving HOURs before a flight (handling touching what: dozens of surfaces, luggage, steering wheel, public door nadles ) ... hours ON the flight (handling, again DOZENS of artilces ALREADY touched by Lord knows who) ... an hour, perhaps to DRIVE to destination (handling the rental car's steering wheel) -
- I wonder how puffy this person's EYES would be should he/she rub them (MEANING germs are constantly growing, proliferating, spreading WITHOUT constant attention, WITHOUT hand washing being performed on a periodic and regular basis) ...
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