Public lavatory hygiene

[WendyS]

I'm shocked by the number of people I see in public loos who never wash their hands afterwards. Perhaps we should start a mass campaign to call out to such offenders "Excuse me but did you realise you've forgotten to wash your hands?" Surely we'll never beat food poisoning and MRSA if we don't educate people to take more responsibility for hygiene at a personal level?

[Drusilla]

It's an age old problem in dirty England. The Aussies even joke about the driest thing in an Englishman's house is his bath towel. I remember having a teacher at school who would check our hands in class after we'd been to the lavatory and before we ate lunch. Admittedly, some kids just dipped their hands under a running tap, but most of us washed properly. Adults don't seem to want to take on that kind of responsibility anymore.

[irisred]

There's a woman at work that does the same thing - everytime I've seen her in the bathroom at work she leaves without washing her hands, just out of the cubicle and straight back to her desk. Grim!!

[netibiza]

I agree but what is worse is, when having washed your hands you then have to turn the doorknob (usually) to get out and the person in front hasn't washed theirs. So I then use a wet wipe to wipe my hands again.

[barb1314]

Even worse...imagine then the germs in a bowl of peanuts or crisps in a pub or a bowl of mints in a restaurant...YUK YUK YUK....turns my stomach that's for sure!!!!

[Chessman]

Couldn't agree more Wendy, I always carry a small pack of wipes, because after you've been, especially No2s, whats normally the first thing you do before you wash your hands, you adjust your clothes, with the hands that you've just used to clean yourself, ugh.

[VINNY100_2]

But then again Drusilla,the aussies also say an Englishman will never pee in the bath?I will never eat nuts in a pub...because its true some people dont wash there hands..but having said that ...alot do..in...my pub anyway.. and my children do..!!when they've used the loo..Ive also been in bars in Barcalona...where apart from the Spanish not washing there hands..the hole in the floor they call a toilet..is often .. Filthy to say the least.!!..Btw...I use to share a pad with a bunch of aussies...and trust me when they had a few lemonades..the last thing on there mind was washing there Hands(:)

[irisred]

Saying all of that... and i agree for the most part it is disgusting.

However, we are making ourselves really ill by being too clean and not letting our bodies build up any defenses. They say the reason allergies and asthma are on the increase are because we are too sterile and obsessed with being clean these days...

I still wash my hands every time tho!!

[OBonio]

You're right. We'll never beat food poisoning and there will always be super bugs. End of story. Even if eveyone in the world was the cleanest a human could possibly be, there will still be cases of food poisoning, MRSA, VRSA etc.

There was a joke I heard a couple of years back. 3 blokes in the toilet. One an Oxford grad, one an Exeter grad and one a non grad. Oxford grad finishes and says 'I was taught to clean my hands 5 times after using the toilet'. The Exeter grad finishes and says 'I was taught to clean my hands 3 times after urintaing'. The non grad finishes up, turns to the other two and says 'I was taught not to **** on my hands.'

[jno]

Aussies say an Englishman hides his money under the soap - two insults for the price of one.

[irisred]

Aussies are just jealous we have both soap and money... and we know what to do with both of them!

[Buenchico]

I assume that 'WendyS' means that you're female (but with screen-names you never can tell!) so where your hands go during a visit to the loo may well be rather different to where mine go. I freely admit that I don't always bother to wash my hands after simply using a urinal. This isn't just laziness - it's common sense. The only things which are going to be on my fingers (which weren't there before my visit) are sweat from the skin of my penis (which is no different from the sweat that comes out of my fingers anyway) and possiblty a few splashes of urine. Now fresh urine is almost completely sterile as far as the level of bacteria is concerned. (This is why miners, trapped by a roof fall, are taught that they should urinate on the open wounds of their colleagues. Fresh urine is an antiseptic). Of course, when my visit to the loo requires me to take a seat, I'll always wash my hands afterwards.

I would be interested to know how many people, who have contributed to this thread, use tea-towels (probably most of them) and, in particular, how many people use tea towels which have become damp and then allowed to dry before being used again (without being hot-washed in between). If you use a tea-towel, which has been in use for more than one day, to dry a plate, you'll probably be putting far more bacteria onto that plate than if you handled it immediately after picking up faeces! If you're really concerned about hygiene, burn all your tea towels. Just allow things to drain and then, if necessary, polish with kitchen towel.

Just a final thought, though: It's worth remembering that many medical experts express concern that we're bringing up today's children in too sterile an environment. They suggest that children's immune systems are not being allowed to fully develop and that this may be the cause of many allergies experienced in later life. So whatever we do, we'll never get it right!

Chris