AIBU to ask why you don't wash your hands?

[sadiekate]

People who don't wash their hands after they go to the toilet.
People who don't wash their hands before preparing/eating food.
People who don't wash their hands after changing nappies.
People who don't wash their hands after putting the bins out.
People who don't wash their hands after handling raw meat.
We all know we are supposed to do these things. And yet lots of people don't. If you don't, why? I promise I'm not intending to criticise anyone, I am just genuinely curious to know, given the risks not washing hands entails, why it isn't a habit for so many.

I think an interesting question would be whether people who don’t wash their hands constantly get ill all the time - are they constantly plagued with upset stomachs and other bugs?

I accept some people do use gel and it appears they aren't washing. However the gel didn't exist fifteen years ago and there were plenty of people who left public bathrooms without washing their hands. So I am sure lots of them still do that.

Well according to some of you I’m gross then...
I dint mind tbh. I’m still alive, my dcs are alive. No one has ever been ill (as in last time dc went to the GP was 8 years ago. He is only 14yo) nor have they had any norovirus or D&V bug or any other digestive illnesses.
Nor have my PIL or parents who have similar ‘ways’, despite father and FIL having cancer and being unwell.

Basically, the risks are vastly over inflated fir most people and are not doing us any favour health wise.

she washes with water and we all survived before soap

But we didn't. That's the point. Improvement of hygiene conditions in hospitals had the biggest impact on the survival rates of those admitted to hospitals.

Again, my 3 year old had salmonella poisoning. Watch your child in hospital with that and tell me again that a few germs won't harm you

I am absolutely disgusted by this thread and the responses. I have occasionally seen women in toilets not washing their hands, but assumed they would at least be ashamed of it and not publicly defending the habit.

I am now thinking of how the handrails on stairs and buses and counters in public places are all probably covered in piss of these delightful MN posters above.

Btw the best way to protect yourself from germs isn’t to clean verything around you.
It’s ensuring that your immune system is as strong as possible by doing a lot of self care (aka diet, sleeping enough etc...)

Lilian nope, people who don’t clean their hands constantly aren’t ill all the time.
Our bodies are designed to cope with that level of ‘germs’.

she washes with water and we all survived before soap

And that is completely false. Have you heard of the plague?! Have you seen the statistics for death in childbirth at the end of 19th century, when doctors insisted on being present but have not yet discovered soap? Those were all infections. Look up child mortality rates in times past.

As I said above, EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

@Carboholic I one read a news article on research done on handrails on the tube and amongst other delightful specimens there was indeed faecal matter discovered on the rails 🤢

Interestingly "Do you always wash you hands after using the loo?" used to be used as a control question in health surveys to weed out the less reliable responders, the assumption clearly being that almost nobody ALWAYS washed their hands.

Because they are mingers, that's why.

I'm a nurse who's looked at lots of the research on hand washing and undertook lots of training around infection control.

Germs are everywhere. Yes, washing your hands after the toilet is probably a good idea but I bet you're exposed to more germs when you go into Tesco!

It's easy. Don't touch your face while you're out and wash your hands immediately when you get home. I struggle to understand why this is so hard to grasp

urine is sterile when it leaves the body so no germs

Urine is sterile while in the body, it collects germs on the way out and if you don't wash after a shit, it's collecting all those ecoli on its journey.

Look, be a minger I don't give a toss. Give all the excuses you want. Carry on with what you're doing. The rest of us will wash you off.

@Queenifthenights Actually coming from a culture that washes their arses after using the toilet I have never ‘grabbed shit out of my arse’. However I also wash my hands with soap afterwards.

I’ve never had shit covered hands when washing I’ve also never suffered from cystitis or thrush and I bet I’m cleaner than you are at any given time.

How racist. Not to mention a really weird way to defend not washing your hands after using the toilet.

I am shocked buy most of the replies here. I genuinely thought that in 2018 in a developed country full of educated people, basic hygiene habits were the norm. We are not talking about disinfecting your house top to bottom with bleach!

It's way more than 'I don't wash my hand and I survived'. It is about ignoring that decades (if not centuries) of studies brought us here, in a word where people live longer and healthier because we now know, as a community and as individuals, how to defend from harmful germs and bacteria. You body might be ok with that, but not everyone's is the same. You are spreading virus and germs around for babies, elderly or adults with a weaker immune system to pick up.

But cleaning has not being the reason for this improvement.
Not in its own.
What made the biggest difference is sanitary system (as drains for dirty water as well as access to clean water) as well as the massive improvement in our standards of living (aka the improvement on what we eat, starting with the fact we are not short of food anymore, and we have access to meat and a variety of vegetables).

In HOSPITAL conditions, cleaning has made a huge difference because you clearly have a much much higher concentrations of bugs going round. And people who are ill themselves. Not a good conmbination.
In everyday life, the situation is different. We are in constant contact with bugs. That’s our normal. Actually we have in our bodies, lost of bacteria and virus constantly there. As well as their material (lots of it).
What we need to be careful about is to not mix hospital situation (where you will wash your hands before touching anyone) and home.
A restaurant situation (where the risk of infecting a high number of people plus the fact you don’t know if some people are not immunocompromised) with home (where you know if people are unwell or not
A factory where food is manufactured and home.

Fwiw with salmonella, it’s as likely that a child developing salmonella that they will have caught it from a packet of salad than from chicken badly cooked/a board not being cleaned well enough.

Have you seen the toilet habits of the average child (mine included)?

That’s reason enough to be meticulous about hand washing after the toilet in my house and even more so in public.

I think an interesting question would be whether people who don’t wash their hands constantly get ill all the time - are they constantly plagued with upset stomachs and other bugs?

If they get food poisoning, they will say it's a virus.

I had a friend whose family are always 'catching Norovirus', only they all get it at the same time and nobody else we know ever has it. She doesn't see the need to wash hands after a wee or refrigerate food carefully.

There's no link apparently.

@poster fuzzywuzzy I am not surprised anymore, but will repeat my EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

@poster RadicalFern I ALWAYS wash my hands, and so do all my friends and family, and my partner, and the workers at the nursery my child goes to. I assume this control question was from the fifties, where you could have just as easily asked "How much did you smoke in your last pregnancy" and if the answer was "Not at all", they'd exclude you for lying.

I am really surprised by this. I mean, there are women here who claim they need to wash their towel every day and change their bra twice a day because that somehow gets dirty, but at the same time people are not washing their hands between touching shit, shit covered door handles in toilets, shit covered tube handrails, and food.

urine is sterile when it leaves the body so no germs

Does not mean I want yours on my hands or face, thank you very much!!

Oh come on.
The OP has put washing their hands after going to the loo at the same level than washing your hands after taking the bins out. And some posters are now adding washing your hands after going to Tesco.
It’s clear that these are NOT at the same level.

Think we have a case of knowing too much about where you ca;find germs and at the same knowing too little about what it means and how our bodies can react.
The story about faecal matter on the rail in the underground is more about a ‘ewww faeces. I’ve been in contact with someone else faeces....’ rather than a real issue on a health pov. Otherwise, it’s millions of people who would get ill every year.

This thread has made me feel rather ill. The claims about using hand sanitiser as a substitute for hand washing are interesting...I wonder how many of those people actually use one proven to be effective and then use it correctly. I fly a lot and am paranoid about filthy people...now even more so.

I wash my hands after everything listed, sometimes twice in a row. I am a complete germophobe though

Sounds like the systems of a lot of people on this thread are used to their own shit. But by not washing your hands YOU PUT OTHERS AT RISK. Also, a lot of diseases including meningitis can be spread through poor hygiene - just because you and your kids have developed a cast iron gut, doesn’t mean others will be protected.

www.hct.nhs.uk/your-health/managing-conditions/meningitis/

Out and about I won't use the soap because I have allergies to certain soaps and I never know what's in the dispenser and I'd rather not have red, raw, itchy hands. I use hot water, then dry, then use a hand sanitizer.

At home I obviously have soap I'm not allergic to, so it's fine.

I suffer with OCD (clinically diagnosed) and all the points OP listed I have to wash my hands.

In regards to the OCD (for me), contamination is a huge red anxiety alert. I'm comfortable in my own space (home) but as soon as I go out...

I also don't like being touched/being on packed transport/in shops etc (again fear of contamination) so busy places are obvs breeding grounds for germs.

I have to wash my hands in public restrooms (however useless some say it is, I can't leave without water and soap touching my hands) and use paper/elbows to turn taps on and open doors. If soap isn't available, I rinse with water and use anti bac wipes until I can properly do it.

Luckily, I don't have eczema but sometimes suffer with dry hands but it's a worthy price to pay especially when I know and see others so lax! (I hardly get sick too, I put it down to my condition?)

Sorry! That was long but I guess from others on this thread that do similar to me, aren't the 'extreme' just more aware?

I wonder how many remember to clean under their nails? Especially the ones who don't wash as often

@barry - OR you could bring your preferred brand of soap with you like I do (I have sensitive skin)? Lots of excuses here.