Hand Washing Kills Germs

{NOTE: This was written in a pre-COVID-19 world and with help from my husband}

I’d have to say that one of my biggest pet peeves is people not washing their hands, especially after they use the restroom. Guys, I hate to say it but men are worse than women at this. The biggest excuse a man will toss at you for not washing his hands is “I have been taught how not to pee on myself”, or “It’s clean”. Well, let’s think about this for a minute. A quick observation of restroom habits in the men’s room revealed that in a 15-minute period, more than half of the men who used the facilities did not wash their hands. Of those men, nearly 30% of those men used the stalls and left without washing their hands. This means that when you touch the flush handle or the door handle to exit the facilities those inconsiderate people’s germs are running wild on those surfaces and are being transferred to your hands.

According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hand washing is the single most important way of preventing the spread of infections. The CDC also reports that 40 million Americans get sick from hand-borne bacteria each year and 80,000 people die.

Let’s dig a little deeper. Let’s think about where these people had their grubby hands before they used the restroom. Did they blow their nose or cough or sneeze into their hands? Did they just take out the trash, handle raw food, or change a diaper? Did you just shake that person’s hand? Did you use the handrail on the stairs on your way up to your office? Did you touch the door handle or knob after they did? Did you use the same telephone or computer keyboard? Ok, enough said about this, for now, let’s examine some numbers.

A study from the American Society of Microbiology showed that 97% of all females and 92% of males say they wash their hands, however further investigation revealed that only 75% of the females and 58% of the males actually washed their hands. Think about it, just about 1 in every 2 men you meet did not wash their hands and 1 in every 3 women are in the same boat. For kids the numbers are far worse, 50% of the middle and high school students claim that they wash, but investigation revealed that 33% of the females and only 8% of the males actually did.

Okay, so we understand that people are not washing their hands, but what is the big deal? Studies reveal that the Rotavirus is easily transferred from hand to hand and can live on hard work surfaced in a restroom. The Rotavirus causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhea and can cause these symptoms for up to a week. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), Rotavirus infections are responsible for approximately 3 million cases of diarrhea and 55,000 hospitalizations for diarrhea and dehydration in children under 5 years old each year in the United States. Rotavirus spreads extremely quickly and very easily. The virus is transmitted by hand-to-mouth contact with the stool of an infected person. The virus can be passed from one person to another by touching a hand contaminated by the virus. The virus can also be transmitted by merely touching a surface or object that has been contaminated by an infected person. The virus then enters the body through contact with the mouth. What did that just read about hand-to-mouth contact with the stool? Yuck, that is just gross.

The Fecal Coliforms are found in the feces, which contain germs that thrive in an unclean restroom. Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) is another and probably the most widely known of the Fecal Coliforms. E. Coli can cause food poisoning symptoms and in some cases death. Then there are Parasites, which can also be transferred by hand-to-hand contact. These parasitic worms can cause liver, lung, brain, and lymphatic damage.

Those are just some of the medical reasons to wash your hands. What are some sociological reasons to wash your hands? It is just being plain old gross and non-hygienic. Okay, I’ll get off of my soapbox and I’ll admit it, Yes, I’m a Germophobe and I’m probably not going to shake your hand, so deal with it.

Husband input: I once worked with this guy named William, William was very well known to not wash his hands and his excuse was “I know where my dick has been”. Alright, thanks a lot you crude animal, but maybe the rest of us don’t care to touch your dick or touch where it has been. We had this public candy dish and there was a small Post-it pad next to it. If the pad was face up (yellow) then you shouldn’t eat from the candy dish as William has put his nasty paws in it. It was flipped over (the reverse side of the note), and then it was safe to eat from it, as William hasn’t touched it yet today.