The Truth About Hand Washing and Bacteria
Are you a person that takes care to
properly wash your hands? Well, if you answered yes then you are one of a
worldwide minority of people who wash their hands.
Surveys conducted in the United
States suggest that while 2/3 of people do wash their hands, 95 percent
of them are washing them wrong. In Britain, one experiment found that
while 99 percent of the people tested admitted to washing their hands
after using the facilities, a camera revealed that only 32% of the men
and 64% of the women actually washed their hands with soap and water.
You may be asking 'why did the test
subjects lie?' Well the only viable answer to that question is that they
sincerely believed that their hands weren't dirty enough to spread
disease or infect. But after
viewing these unexpected places that are dirtier than your toilet, we
promise you will never not wash your hands (or lie about it) again!
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Keyboards: Your
computer keyboard, yes the one you are typing on right now, can have up
to 200 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. During a test of the
equipment in a busy London office, microbiologists found a few keyboards
that were so dirty that they were classified as 150 times the
acceptable limit for bacteria.
The most common bacteria found on the keyboards was Staphylococcus,
which lives in our noses, throats, hair and skin. This is the bacteria
that spreads when we touch our faces or sneeze into our hands, and fail
to wash them after. Many of the items on this list are here because they
are heavily ridden with staph.
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Restaurant menus: Of
course, with everyone touching, sneezing or coughing on the menu in
front of them, it's no wonder that they usually carry 100 time more
bacteria than a restaurant toilet seat. In fact, a large percentage of
food-borne diseases like E. coli spread in restaurants when someone has
contaminated hands.
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Door knobs: It's not
secret that hands are one of the dirtiest parts of the body, so when we
touch a door knob, we are spreading all of our germs and then some onto
the handle for the next unsuspecting person to pick up.
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Your Pillow: Believe
it or not, but your pillow is dirtier than a toilet seat! Dead skin
cells, dust mites, spores, and other body secretions remain on the
pillow you rest your head on every night. Therefore, it is important to
change pillow cases once a week to ensure optimal hygiene.
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Money: In a recent
study in the United Kingdom, it was found that 26 percent of hands have
fecal matter on them, as well as 14 percent of banknotes and 10 percent
of credit cards. That means any of the money you handle could infect you
with the common cold, the flu or even stomach poisoning.
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Kitchen sponges:
Everything that you make or do in the kitchen involves some form of
bacteria. Yet what is meant to be a cleaning vehicle may actually be the
dirtiest thing in your house! It has 10 million bacteria per square
inch, making a quarter of million times dirtier than your toilet seat.
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Cellphones: Your
cellphone is packed with bacteria from your hands, face and everything
in between. Cellphones are about 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat
because we are touching them and spitting into them all day long.
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Ice:
A recent study of fast food restaurants in the United States found that
70 percent of the ice served has more bacteria than the water in the
toilet bowl. We'll take our soda lukewarm! |
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Toothbrush: Although
it may only enter your mouth, your toothbrush is ridden with bacteria.
Research has found that one tooth brush can harbor more than 100 million
bacteria, including dangerous E. coli bacteria, which can cause
diarrhea, and staph. Make sure you change your brush on a regular basis! |
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Light switch: The
light switch can have up to 217 bacteria per square inch, which means
that every time you turn the light on and off, you could be exposed to
dangerous bacteria that has accumulated there over time. Make sure that
you clean the light switches regularly at your home and office with
bleach! Remember, you should wash your hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap for a total of around 40 seconds to a minute. Make sure the soap reaches a rich lathery consistency before washing it off. If everyone washes their hands the way they should, it is predicted that over a million deaths from disease a year could be prevented. So for your good and the good of all, wash your hands responsibly!
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Labels: Bacteria, cell phone, door knobs, ice, keyboards, kitchen sponges, light switch, money, pillows, restaurant menus, staphylococcus, tooth brush, wash your hands
posted by G S Iyer at 9:16 AM
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