handwashing after using the toilet

[nannybeach]

For all those of you who recently casually commented that you dont wash yours hands after visiting the toilet, today is "World Handwashing day", without facilitis for this germs and problems are rife.We do have the facilities to hand fresh clean water, no excuse. Would you want operating on with a surgeon who had just had a poo and not washed!

[Ankleswingers]

I have no concerns there op. I am
Fastidious with handwashing, as is DH and
we are drumming the importance of
It into our children too.

The amount of dirty bastards out there who don't wash their hands is astounding.

[Flamingale]

After witnessing at work the amount of women that barely wash their hands after using the toilets, or worse still don't wash their hands at all, I wash mine thoroughly. Then I make sure not to touch any handles or doors with my bare hands.

[intheholidaymood]

The amount of times I see women leave a toilet in a public place without washing there hands is just disgusting. We also drum it into our children the importance. To think of all the poo and wee under their nails is stomach wrenching and then all over the doors, handles, shopping trolley. Ewwww!!

[AlyTab]

Not that I'm advocating not washing your hands because I wash mine every time, but how would there be shit and piss under your nails? Maybe if you were only using 1 or 2 sheets then yeah, but that's clearly not enough anyway. Just scrunch and wipe, then wash your hands. Also over washing lowers your bodies ability to build up it's immune system.

[nannybeach]

There is are germs you want to be in contact with for your health and a lot that you do not, world of difference.A lot of people dont actualy realise your imune system is in you gut.

[KoalaD]

Also over washing lowers your bodies ability to build up it's immune system.

No. Washing your hands regularly with plain soap and water is the best way to avoid getting sick.

[CockacidalManiac]

I was a nurse for too long not to wash my hands automatically.

[AlyTab]

I know, I meant over-washing. I have OCD that is a lot better now, but I used to wash my hands so frequently that the skin started to come off. I had a very low immune system and a skin infection and was I'll. THAT'S what I meant by washing your hands too frequently, I never said anything about regularly washing them after visiting the bathroom, before eating etc.

[MusicToMyEars800]

It's mank, I always wash my hands after going to the toilet and make sure my DC's do too.

[GrandmaSuckingEggs]

I call people out who don't wash their hands after using public toilets.

I look like a completely grumpy cowbag and I've had a few horrid things said to me but I don't give a fuck- it's disgusting and people deserve to be confronted for it

[NoMoreRoomOnTheBroom]

I think it's fucking disgusting not washing your hands after using the toilet and I'm with you GrandmaSuckingEggs its absolutely Vile.

[PollyPerky]

I think people need educating or re-educating on this.

I, for one, don't get wee or poo on my hands when using the loo.
I doubt many adults do. In the west we use loo paper not hands to wipe our bums- you've got to be pretty clumsy to get poo on your hands and under your nails

The reason to wash your hands is because the flush of the loo sends millions of bacteria as far as 15 feet away from the pan so the door handles etc can harbour bacteria.

The door handles and handles into the loo block are far more contaminated with everyday germs than a loo seat. or loo handle.

The trolley you push and the keys on the credit card key pad are known to have more bacteria.

[GrandmaSuckingEggs]

I never touch door handles, credit card key pads, trolley handles etc. with my bare hands. I get some pretty strange looks when I whip out my tissues but who cares!

[nannybeach]

At least some nice clean folk on here! Sorry those who think, like PollyPerky you have to be clumsy for getting pee or poo on your hands, I hate to break it to you, but, using lots of scunched up paper for wiping will NOT prevent germs from reaching your hands, er toilet paper is permiable and porous! Those of you (like me) who have been nursing know even gloves arent immune, if you wash someone who has opened their bowels, with gloves on, your hands will still smell, and of course germs are microscopic!

[Delatron]

I wash hands thoroughly but cover my hands also with my jumper sleeves? So never touch the flush, door handle etc. I wash hands on top of this preventative measure. Don't know if this helps or not?!

[2old2beamum]

Another one here who is fastidious about hand washing, my hands feel they are crawling until I do.
My main concern is the warm hand driers in toilets, just think of all the bacteria blowing around. I always carry a micro fibre cloth to dry my hands, but what about the people before me. OCD or what!

[disahsterdahling]

There was an interesting article in the Times about this this week. Here it is, (copied and pasted as it would be behind a paywall):

To wash your hands or not to wash your hands? Imagine you are in a public loo. Alone. No one is watching. Do you go straight to the sink and wash your hands or, fearful of touching more surfaces than you absolutely have to, sneak out?

Well a recent survey by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society suggests that one in five of us heads straight for the door, and this is probably a conservative estimate based on previous surveys that suggest the proportion who don’t wash their hands is often much higher. In their defence, they know what they touched just before turning the tap, but they can’t be so sure about the hundreds of other users that day. Indeed, the more you think about it, the more rational it seems to be selfish and skip the hand-washing, but are public conveniences really a breeding ground for nasty bacteria and viruses?

A survey suggests that one in five of us avoids washing hands at a public toiletA survey suggests that one in five of us avoids washing hands at a public toilet
GETTY IMAGES
As a young lad I vividly remember visiting the loos on a French campsite with my father, who had a bit of a thing about other people’s bacteria. He was the sort of chap who would open the door with his knee, hover over the loo seat (if present in France) and flush with his elbow. “Never wash your hands in a public loo,” he told me. “Wait until you get back to the caravan.”

And it wasn’t just my father who made me wary of public conveniences. In my twenties I had a pee — along with about 200 other men — during half-time at Twickenham. Standing next to me at the urinal was a microbiologist friend of mine who looked stunned when I headed for the sink afterwards. “Never wash your hands in a public loo,” he said, echoing my father’s advice. But was he right?

In a word, no. A 2011 study of 12 public conveniences found that the pattern of bacteria and viruses they harbour are surprisingly similar to those found in our bathrooms at home. The difference, of course, is that they are other people’s bacteria and viruses, and the busier the facility the greater is the likelihood of one of them being something nasty.


A 2014 study by a team in Chicago did turn up a few unpleasant pathogens, including herpes and genital wart viruses and a bacterium that causes impetigo, but the vast majority of microbes found on swabbing various surfaces were harmless species that live on our skin.

There have been documented cases of people picking up nasty infections from public conveniences — including a girl who caught gonorrhoea from a loo seat (BMJ 2003) — but these are vanishingly rare. In truth, the cold, barren environment of most public conveniences is extremely hostile to bacteria and viruses and many die within minutes of landing on surfaces such as taps, flushes and loo seats.

As a doctor I am more scrupulous with my hand hygiene than most and probably wash my hands about 50 times a day. Despite my upbringing, that also includes trips to public loos. But I am careful. My particular bête noire is the manual tap because you have to touch it again after you have washed your hands, which seems to defeat the whole object.

Modern facilities with automatic taps make me feel more comfortable, but how should you dry your hands? We know that hand-drying is important in reducing transmission of bacteria and viruses but, given the choice, should you go for the paper towel, the hand-dryer or the back of your jeans?

It depends who you ask. Studies funded by tissue manufacturers suggest that hand-dryers simply blow all the microbes floating in the air over your hands — and there are plenty, not least from the “plume” of mist produced by flushing. Studies funded by hand-dryer manufacturers such as Dyson show their no-touch products in a much better light. I am not aware of any published studies into the back-of-the-jeans technique. Perhaps it is something I should look into.

How dangerous are public loos?

● The RPS survey also revealed that most people (84 per cent) who wash their hands don’t wash them properly or for long enough (minimum 20 seconds). For full details and tips visit the RPS at bit.ly/2xSdB4s

● The handles on the doors into the loo — the main entrance and cubicle — tend to have the highest bacterial counts, according to published research

● The toilet seat and flush handle come next, but have a disproportionately higher number of gut bacteria as a result of faecal contamination

● Taps, despite my paranoia, are only the fifth most contaminated surface, and they mostly harbour skin bacteria that are just as easily exchanged when shaking hands or touching surfaces ranging from keyboards to grab handles on buses and trains.

● The cubicle closest to the entrance (the one most people walk past) is often the least used and may be the cleanest

● Hang your bags and coat on the back of the door. Don’t put them on the floor

● Automatic no-touch devices reduce the risk of cross-contamination, but if you are really particular you can always take in your own wipes and antibacterial hand rub.

● For more details of what lurks where read this paper: bit.ly/2wsYxY4

[Anatidae]

Also over washing lowers your bodies ability to build up it's immune system.

Untrue.

There’s germs and germs. You need to wash your hands after visiting the loo. Always. Trust me

[Delatron]

Oh this is brilliant! Interesting about the first cubicle, I always suspected that! So taps aren't that bad, the door handle on the way in is bad. Flush and loo seat also bad, bleurggh to the faecal matter but I guess what you would expect.

I am keeping my current strategy; sleeve over hand on the way in. Hover over toilet seat. Cover hand for flush. Wash hands thoroughly. Dry thoroughly. Don't touch any handles on the way out. I fear I may be a little obsessed...

[Apileofballyhoo]

I always wash the tap so that I can turn it off safely. And I don't touch the door handle on the way out if I can help it.

[MollyHuaCha]

If there’s a paper towel, I use that to turn off the tap, then push open the exit door before quickly tapping my toe on the bin pedal in order to get the paper towel in the bin before the door closes.

It’s all been known to go horribly wrong... bin clattering around on the floor just as new people enter to go to the toilet...

[Mxyzptlk]

I often give the tap a quick wash too, ballyhoo, while feeling like a bit of a weirdo. It makes sense, tho.

[AuldHeathen]

My husband has a couple of times complained to management in restaurants because he was in the gents at the same time as the chef. And he noticed said chef leaving without washing his hands.

[nannybeach]

Have read several articles saying hand dryers breed stuff like legionairs, and that we are better to got back to roller towells.

[2old2beamum]

Auldheathen a young lad we went out to dinner at a restaurant with went to the toilet and heard someone being sick and out came the head chef!