Hand washing science

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Profile Orgil

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Message 1162520 - Posted: 15 Oct 2011, 5:14:48 UTC
Last modified: 15 Oct 2011, 5:30:08 UTC

I am not sure about womens toilet but in mens toilet about 30-50% people do not wash their hands or barely wash this is true everywhere. That is why 92% of cell phones have bacteria pollution but in 16% there is fecal bacteria pollution according to University of London finding.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-10-14/1-in-6-cellphones-have-traces-of-fecal-E-coli/50774456/1

I'll try to carry sanitizing paper more often in case when I shake hands with people try to clean my hands.
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Profile Bob DeWoody
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Message 1162813 - Posted: 16 Oct 2011, 4:02:56 UTC

Why do you think the CDC is so worried about a global pandemic of some new lethal virus? Human hands are generally the dirtiest parts of the body, biologically speaking.
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Message 1162876 - Posted: 16 Oct 2011, 14:09:07 UTC - in response to Message 1162854.  

The plain fact is that Bacteria is everywhere. On your sink, your skin, bed... everywhere. Heck watch the Mythbusters episode on toothbrushes in the bathroom. Not surprising that fecal bacteria is everywhere even when a bathroom is thoroughly cleaned.

This is where the uneducated meet science. It's one thing to read about the horrible numbers of bacteria found. It's another to realize that the amount is so low that it would cause an infection unless you were stabbed with the "dirty" item and then it would be a minor infection.

I'll repeat. Bacteria is everywhere. Most bacteria is harmless to humans and actually forms a bacterial border between you and the bad bacteria. Antimicrobial soaps are actually doing you a disservice because it wipes out the good bacteria on your hands. Thus eliminating that nice bacterial border you are supposed to have and opening you up to those nasty germs that are all around you.

On a side note, I doubt washing ones hands in a public restroom is all that great of an idea. You be using faucet that someone else, who may not be that clean, used. Then after touching it and washing your hands you once again touch the handle thus reinnoculating yourself with their poo handed nastiness. Then you spread it all over your hands with the paper towels from the dispenser that your unclean friend just touched. Sooo the point is that you can worry about poo in public or hold it until you get home and stew in your own poo


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Message 1163058 - Posted: 17 Oct 2011, 0:08:50 UTC - in response to Message 1163018.  

Most places these days now have warm air dryers for your hands. The old days of roller towels and paper towels have gone.

Yes love those germ blowers. Tons and tons of stuff blows up from the floor.

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Message 1163090 - Posted: 17 Oct 2011, 2:45:58 UTC - in response to Message 1163058.  

the air dryers are nice but you still may need to push that button.


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Message 1163138 - Posted: 17 Oct 2011, 8:50:33 UTC

I had a girlfriend once that got all creeped out when she saw programs on TV showing all the bugs that reside on and in our bodies. Once after seeing that episode of mythbusters she threw out every sponge and wash cloth in the house. I tried to explain to her that we have lived with these bugs for millions of years and that most of them help us. I wasn't all that successful.
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Message 1163143 - Posted: 17 Oct 2011, 9:45:44 UTC

Yes we have lived with those germs since the dawn of mankind. To much paranoia about them have proven to be harmful for our specie.

Homes where everything is to clean as been proven to be a cause of allergies for the children living there, as their bodies didn’t got any defenses against intruders like pollen and such.

Also the abusive use of antibiotics had brought new mutations of multi resistant bacteria, simple example the Staphylococcus Aureus.

Like in everything in life there must be balance. I believe that most of us when we where kids, we did some stupid stuff and we where a little careless about cleaning. If you had a pet like a dog how many times you have shared your snack with him? Did you got sick coz of this?

I wonder if some of today’s parents have idea of some of the things that kids’s do at kindergardeen, like eating earth, licking floors, sharing food :D
I think they would be mortified if they knew the truth.
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Message 1163183 - Posted: 17 Oct 2011, 12:41:40 UTC - in response to Message 1163163.  
Last modified: 17 Oct 2011, 12:44:53 UTC

Bravo now avoid all other surfaces in the store since the lackwit that used the bathroom before you touched every imaginable surface. See that's the fun. So you washed your hands but the ditch digger before you wiped using his fingers then walked out and started touching every electronic device in the store. Thus negating any "cleansing" you may have thought you've done for yourself in the restroom.

Heh the wife doesn't like touching door handles at stores. I can understand. Most are clearly covered with a visible layer of crud. But that handle is probably no worse than the table we sit at in a restaurant.

Heck They go nuts at grocery stores as well. providing cleansing wipes for the handles of the carts. I don't intend on sticking my hands in any orifice while at the store so how is a dirty handle affecting my life? It doesn't


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Message 1172258 - Posted: 19 Nov 2011, 18:36:49 UTC

My daughter is a nurse. When she was in nursing school, students were instructed to rub some UV sensitive gel into their hands.
Then they were told to wash it off. After checking under UV light, their hands were still completely covered. It did not fully wash off until about twenty minutes of hard scrubbing. Ordinary soap does not kill bacteria, it washes away dirt.
Think about surgeons scrubbing up before an op. They take ages scrubbing, turn the water on and off with their elbows, and after all that they still wear sterile gloves!
So, it may not just be people who dont wash their hands spreading bacteria, but perhaps we all do, and they just spread a few million/billion? more than us.
Just a thought.

Regards,


A
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Message boards : Science (non-SETI) : Hand washing science


 
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