Women's Hands Cleaner Than Men, Study Says

[Brownian Motion]

Yahoo! News

Women's Hands Cleaner Than Men, Study Says

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical WriterWed Sep 21, 2:40 PM ET

Men are dirtier than women. So scientists confirmed by spying in public restrooms, watching as one-quarter of men left without washing their hands.

The worst offenders were at an Atlanta Braves game.

In contrast, 90 percent of the women did wash up.

Wednesday's results mark the American Society of Microbiology's latest look at how many people take what is considered the single easiest step to staying healthy: spending 20 seconds rubbing with soap under the faucet.

It also explains why these infection experts tend to use paper towels to open bathroom doors. There is no telling what germs the person before you left on the knob.

"It's a gamble," said microbiologist Judy Daly of Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, the society's secretary.

Back in 1996, the society first studied how often people follow mom's advice to always wash up after using the toilet. Researchers lingered in public restrooms, putting on makeup or combing their hair, while surreptitiously counting. They concluded about one-third of people did not wash.

The group sponsored an education campaign about how hand-washing can stop the spread of flu, diarrhea and other infectious diseases. Every few years, researchers repeat the spying.

This time, 83 percent of people washed, reported Harris Interactive, a research company that last month monitored more than 6,300 public restroom users for the society.

That is a little better overall. But take a closer look:

_The worst hygiene was at Atlanta's Turner Field baseball stadium, where 37 percent of men left the bathroom without washing, and 16 percent of the women did.

_New York's Penn Station had the biggest gender disparity, where 64 percent of men washed their hands compared with 92 percent of women. Grand Central Station was almost as bad.

_The best hygiene was at San Francisco's Ferry Terminal Farmers Market and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and Shedd Aquarium, where only about 12 percent of people left without washing.

People exaggerate about hygiene. A Harris telephone survey of 1,000 more adults found 91 percent insisted they wash in public restrooms. Additionally, 77 percent claimed to always wash before handling or eating food, and 32 percent after coughing or sneezing.

It is hard to double-check the latter claims. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says poor hand-washing contributes to almost half of all foodborne disease outbreaks.

With influenza season approaching, microbiologists warn that it is easy to catch a cold or the flu by shaking hands with someone who just used that hand to cover a sneeze. The viruses can stay alive for two hours on hands, and for 20 minutes on hard, dry surfaces those germy hands touch.

So sneeze into your elbow instead and wash frequently. There is no need for special anti-bacterial cleansers, Daly said, although alcohol-based hand gels can substitute when soap's not available.

___

On the Net:

Microbiologists' clean hands info: http://www.washup.org

[vibes]

I'd love for our resident MD to weigh in on this, but I've often heard that being too careful about cleanliness and germs can actually weaken a person's immune system. Anyone else heard this?

[Kalo]

Was that you I saw at the Braves game, Vibes, doing the flush and rush?

[vibes]

Damn. I thought no one was looking.

[patricia]

=vibes,Sep 21 2005, 07:19 PM]

I'd love for our resident MD to weigh in on this, but I've often heard that being too careful about cleanliness and germs can actually weaken a person's immune system.  Anyone else heard this?

←

Yes I have heard that, as a child. But, it was from my father who knew that kids actually eat dirt and all kinds of stuff outside. My mother was a "wash your hands" mother, as were most of the mothers of my friends. She not only insisted on my brothers and I washing our hands after using the toilet, but, if we sneezed or touched anything, while we were preparing food, she made us wash our hands, before continuing.

My friend who grew up in Italy says that North Americans are way too paranoid about germs. She's convinced that that's why everybody seems to get sick from every virus that floats by. She says that a certain amount of exposure to germs builds up immunity, in small amounts, thus a resistance to most germs that would otherwise make us sick.

Who knows? It doesn't hurt to maintain a modicum of cleanliness and to wash our hands after using the toilet and before touching food, I would think.

I seem to remember a doctor saying that if we want to prevent much of the groin infections contracted by the touching of genitalia, particularly gynocological infections, we would do well to wash our hands both before AND after using the toilet. Also, try to avoid touching your mouth without washing your hands. Now that makes sense.

Also, if you've handled money, wash your hands before you touch food or eat anything. MONEY is one of the most dirty things of all. It's probably the only thing that most people will pick up out of the gutter.

Edited September 22, 2005 by patricia

[Jazzmoose]

Of course, what the researchers fail to realize is that the men knew they were being watched. If not being watched, the percentage of nonwashers goes up to 83.6%....

[Spontooneous]

I always wash after I post here.

[vibes]

Washing after one posts here would probably be more appropriate.

[montg]

I recently read an account of a study that put a shared bowl of of beer nuts from a bar under the microscope. Traces of urine from people not washing were all over those little delicacies.

[dave9199]

Mmmmmmm......urine.

[catesta]

I recently read an account of a study that put a shared bowl of of beer nuts from a bar under the microscope. Traces of urine from people not washing were all over those little delicacies.

←

Yep, I saw something on TV recently saying the same thing. And it wasn't just traces of urine they found.

I get real uptight when I go into a place and there is no soap and or towels.

I've always been a freak about washing. Back in the days when I was running a lawn care route I used to keep sani-wipes and soap in the truck. Oh hell who am I kidding, I still do.

Edited September 22, 2005 by catesta

[DTMX]

I recently read an account of a study that put a shared bowl of of beer nuts from a bar under the microscope. Traces of urine from people not washing were all over those little delicacies.

←

That must have been the bowl of peenuts...

[Soulstation1]

or even worse

a bowl of $hitnuts

[AllenLowe]

actually, just a bowl of nuts -

[BERIGAN]

I recently read an account of a study that put a shared bowl of of beer nuts from a bar under the microscope. Traces of urine from people not washing were all over those little delicacies.

←

Yep, I saw something on TV recently saying the same thing. And it wasn't just traces of urine they found.

I get real uptight when I go into a place and there is no soap and or towels.

I've always been a freak about washing. Back in the days when I was running a lawn care route I used to keep sani-wipes and soap in the truck. Oh hell who am I kidding, I still do.

←

Perhaps you and I should get married!

I have always (well not when I was really young) washed my hands a lot. I even grab a towel to open the door at public restrooms! Hey, guys who just peed on their hands before having some nuts, will touch the door handle!

Now, about women...I would say overall women are cleaner...but...I dated one nice gal...didn't smell or nothin', but I noticed one day she didn't to wash her hands...ever! Before fixing food, after unloading groceries....needless to say, we didn't date for long!

[AllenLowe]

let's not forget Typhoid Mary, who spread the disease, apparently from failing to wash her hands after every bowel movement -

[Dave James]

What I'd like to know is who funds these studies. I think if you asked the average person on the street if women's hands were cleaner than men's, the answer would be overwhelmingly, "yes". So, why pay money to provide a scientific answer to a question that everyone can already answer and that no one even cares about in the first place. Kind of like the attorney full employment act masquerading as the tax code, providing the public with useless information is what keeps a fair number of scientists busy and well paid, but adds absolutely nothing to the national knockwurst. It's like funding a study to find out if ex-convicts tend to go to jail more often than the general population. What's the point?

Up over and out.

Edited September 22, 2005 by Dave James