Moonbear said:
I think I will opt not to shake your hand if I meet you...sounds like you might be trying to defend not washing hands.
I was my hands, but I feel it's more of a social convention than an actual epidemiological necessity. It's nice to have clean hands, but I seriously doubt the veracity of any claims that hand-washing really prevents any diseases.
Hand washing after using the restroom is intended to prevent diarrheal diseases.
I'm aware. Take, for example, very large bike rides like AIDS/LifeCycle: 2,500 people using porta-potties every day for a week, with nothing to wash their hands with other than wet towelettes. The incidence of gastroenteritis, suspected to have been caused by poor sanitation: perhaps 3-4. That's right, in some of the most unsanitary conditions present in the entire western world, an incredibly small number of people ever catch anything.
Furthermore, the same organisms that cause gastroenteritis are present in dirt, on and in our food, on our skin, on the skin of our loved ones, on our pets, in our apartments, and virtually everywhere on earth. Properly-maintained, modern western bathrooms are cleaner than almost any other facilities you're ever going to use, including buses, cabs, and common areas in office buildings.
Where do you think that comes from?
Do you
know where that comes from? No, you certainly don't.
On the topic of soap, it's been shown many times in studies that the friction of rubbing one's hands together under running water is the most effective component of good hand-washing, NOT the use or quantity of soap.
Keep washing your hands folks -- it's a reasonable idea. Should you get outraged when someone else does a courtesy rinse? Should you post alarmist threads about hand-washing on the internet and try to recruit other people to share in your outrage? Probably not. Find something important to worry about.
- Warren
