Handwashing
October 2008

MICHIGAN: Masks, hand washing, prevent spread of flu-like symptoms by up to 50 percent
27.oct.08
University of Michigan
Laura Bailey
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/uom-mhw102708.php
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Wearing masks and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers may prevent the spread of flu symptoms by as much as 50 percent, a landmark new study suggests.
In a first-of-its-kind look at the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions in controlling the spread of the flu virus in a community setting, researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health studied more than 1,000 student subjects from seven U-M residence halls during last year's flu season.
"The first-year results (2006-2007) indicate that mask use and alcohol-based hand sanitizer help reduce influenza- like illness rates, ranging from 10 to 50 percent over the study period," said Allison Aiello, co-principal investigator and assistant professor of epidemiology at the U-M SPH. Dr. Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology, is also a principal investigator of the study.
Aiello stressed the first year of the two-year project, called M-Flu, was a very mild flu season and only a few cases were positive for flu, so results should be interpreted cautiously. Ongoing studies will test for other viruses that may be responsible for the influenza-like illness symptoms observed, she said.
"Nevertheless, these initial results are encouraging since masks and hand hygiene may be effective for preventing a range of respiratory illnesses," Aiello said.
The findings, "Mask Use Reduces Seasonal Influenza-like Illness In The Community Setting," was presented Sunday at The Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
At the start of flu season in the last two years, participants were randomly assigned to six weeks of wearing a standard medical procedure mask alone, mask use and hand sanitizer use, or a control group with no intervention. Researchers followed students for incidence of influenza like illness symptoms, defined as cough with at least one other characteristic symptom such as fever, chills or body aches, Monto said.
From the third week on, both the mask only and mask/hand sanitizer interventions showed a significant or nearly significant reduction in the rate of influenza-like illness symptoms in comparison to the control group. The observed reduction in rate of flu-like symptoms remained even after adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, hand washing practices, sleep quality, and flu vaccination.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as hand washing and masks---especially in a pandemic flu outbreak---are critical to study because pharmaceutical interventions such as vaccinations and antivirals may not be available in sufficient quantity for preventing and controlling pandemic influenza outbreaks.
In February 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in collaboration with other federal agencies, education, businesses, healthcare and private sectors developed an interim planning guide on the use of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) to mitigate an influenza pandemic.
The measures include voluntary home quarantine, isolation and treatment of cases, social distancing, personal protection such as face masks and hand hygiene, and school dismissal.
"Although a few of these measures can be evaluated during seasonal influenza outbreaks, many are difficult or impossible to evaluate in advance of a pandemic," Monto said. "However, use of face masks and hand hygiene interventions can be evaluated now, during seasonal influenza outbreaks, which can provide concrete evidence for decision makers."
Further studies are needed to confirm whether mask use may be an effective means of reducing influenza in shared living settings. Since it was not possible to blind subjects, knowledge of the intervention may have influenced influenza-like symptom reporting and therefore the results of this study should be interpreted with caution, Aiello said.
"During year two of the study (2007-2008) a major outbreak of influenza took place," Aiello said. "Forthcoming studies will examine whether results observed during this more severe outbreak mirror those observed during the milder year one influenza season. Influenza virus identification will also be examined as an additional outcome."
EDITORS: Listen and link to a podcast related to this story at
http://www.ns.umich.edu/podcast/audio.php?id=470
The M-Flu study is a collaboration between SPH, U-M Housing, and University of Michigan Heath Services. The study was funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Co-authors include: Genevra Murray, PhD; Rebecca Coulborn, BS; Anne-Michelle Noone, all of the U-M SPH Department of Epidemiology.
For information about M-Flu, including video, news clips, FAQs, visit:
http://www.sph.umich.edu/mflu/
For information about the U-M SPH: http://www.sph.umich.edu/
For information about Aiello:
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=1071
For information about Monto:
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=545

ABSTRACT: Fault tree analysis on handwashing for hygiene management
11.may.08
Food Control (Volume 20, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 223-229)
Aeri Parka and Seung Ju Lee
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09567135
Abstract
FTA (fault tree analysis) of the handwashing process was performed to investigate the causes for faults in hygiene management. The causes were deductively identified as the events causing every possible hazard by constructing a fault tree. The fault tree was constructed in a hierarchical structure with a single top event (occurrence of faults in hand washing), seven intermediate events, and fifteen basic events connected by a Boolean operator AND gate, or an OR gate. Qualitative analysis on the fault tree yielded minimal cut sets, structural importance, and common cause vulnerability. Quantitative analysis yielded simulation of the final top event fault, cut set importance, item importance, and sensitivity. Those factors are basically a measure to represent the priority order of the basic events causing the top event. The critical basic events turned out to be human errors in hand manipulation in terms of scrubbing the palms, backs, fingers, and fingertips of the hands, as well as failure to use hygienic towels for hand drying due to not using disposable paper towels and unhygienic storage of the towels. The priority order of the basic events was consistent between the qualitative and quantitative analyses. Consequently, we found that FTA, with qualitative and quantitative analyses, was a good alternative approach to hazard analysis in HACCP system implementation.

NEW ZEALAND: Hand washing can save lives
15.oct.08
NZFSA
http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/publications/media-releases/2008/2008-10-15-global-handwashing-day.htm
Soap is a top weapon in the war against infectious diseases – that’s the key message of Global Handwashing Day, today.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has long promoted hand washing as the most effective action people can take to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Thorough hand hygiene not only protects the individual but also those around them.
“Hand hygiene is critical to food safety,” says Dr Donald Campbell, NZFSA’s Principal Advisor (Public Health). “Safe food relies on cooks having clean hands because food is a fertile ground for bacteria, and numbers can double in very short times. With poor hand hygiene it’s very easy to unknowingly infect large numbers of people.”
Global Handwashing Day – 15 October – is part of the UN International Year of Sanitation, and calls for improved hygiene practices worldwide. The UN points out that although people around the world wash their hands with water, very few wash with soap at the critical occasions. The World Health Organisation (WHO) claims that simple hand washing with soap could reduce by half the estimated two million child deaths caused by diarrhoea every year.
A survey of hand washing habits conducted by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service for NZFSA’s Foodsafe Partnership late last year showed that Kiwis are just as guilty of poor hand washing. Auckland Medical Officer of Health, Dr Greg Simmons, who helped organise the survey, commented at the time: “The hand washing habits of the New Zealand public appear to leave much to be desired: 13.3% of those observed did not practise any form of hand hygiene at all after going to the toilet.”
For Global Handwashing Day NZFSA is endorsing the 20+20 rule: wash hands for 20 seconds with soap and hot water and dry for 20 seconds with a clean, dry towel or paper towel.
The message will be further emphasised in the Foodsafe Partnership’s upcoming Foodsafe Week, from 10th to 16th November (visit www.foodsafe.org.nz).

In the fight to save lives, washing hands takes centre stage
14.oct.08
UNICEF UK News
http://www.unicef.org.uk/press/news_detail.asp?news_id=1208
Today marks the first ever Global Handwashing Day, celebrated in over 70 countries across five continents in an effort to mobilise and motivate millions around the world to wash their hands with soap.
Handwashing with soap is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrheal disease and pneumonia, which together are responsible for approximately 3.5 million child deaths every year.
International Year of Sanitation
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation (IYS). Global Handwashing Day reinforces the IYS’s call for improved sanitation and hygiene practices.
Children are highly susceptible to the diseases caused by a lack of effective sanitation and poor hygiene. More than 5,000 children under the age of five die every day as a result of diarrheal diseases, caused in part by unsafe water, lack of access to basic sanitation facilities and poor hygiene.
By washing hands with soap, families and communities can help reduce child morbidity rates from diarrheal diseases by almost 50 per cent.
To achieve this reduction, and for large scale, community-sensitive, and sustainable change to occur, partnerships with national and local governments, international organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), religious and community leaders, schools and the private sector are essential.
Focus on children and schools
The inaugural Global Handwashing Day focuses on children and schools. After learning about improved hygiene behaviour in schools, children can act as agents of change by taking these messages home to their families and communities. From Afghanistan to Peru, children, school teachers, and parents will join celebrities, government officials, members of civil society and the private sector to raise awareness about handwashing with soap.
Handwashing with soap, particularly after using the toilet and before eating, could significantly impact health, survival, child mortality, and help reduce poverty. Stepping up investment for water, sanitation and hygiene will speed the achievement of all eight Millennium Development Goals.
Other Global Handwashing Day activities around the world include the release of a handwashing song performed by The Wiggles that targets children, celebrity Public Service Announcements, and simultaneous handwashing events involving children around the world.
Global Handwashing Day is an initiative of the Public Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW), which is spearheaded by UNICEF; USAID; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; World Bank; Water and Sanitation Program; Unilever; and Procter and Gamble.

UK: Northerners' hands up to 3 times dirtier than those living in the South
14.oct.08
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Gemma Howe
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/lsoh-nhu101008.php
The further north you go, the more likely you are to have faecal bacteria on your hands, especially if you are a man, according to a preliminary study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
But women living in the South and Wales have little to feel smug about. In London, they are three times as likely as their men folk to have dirty hands, and in Cardiff, twice as likely. The men of London registered the most impressive score among all those surveyed, with a mere 6% found to have faecal bugs on their hands. Overall more than one on four commuters have bacteria which come from faeces on their hands.
The Dirty Hands Study was conducted in order to provide a snapshot of the nation's hand hygiene habits, as part of the world's first Global Handwashing Day today. Commuters' hands were swabbed at bus stops outside five train stations around the UK (Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Euston and Cardiff).
The results indicated that commuters in Newcastle were up to three times more likely than those in London to have faecal bacteria on their hands (44% compared to 13%) while those in Birmingham and Cardiff were roughly equal in the hand hygiene stakes (23% and 24% respectively). Commuters in Liverpool also registered a high score for faecal bacteria, with a contamination rate of 34%.
In Newcastle and Liverpool, men were more likely than women to show contamination (53% of men compared to 30% of women in Newcastle, and 36% of men compared to 31% of women in Liverpool), although in the other three centres, the women's hands were dirtier. Almost twice as many women than men in Cardiff were found to have contamination (29% compared to 15 %) while in Euston, they were more than three times likelier than the men to have faecal bacteria on their hands (the men here registered an impressive 6%, compared to a rate of 21% in the women). In Birmingham, the rate for women was slightly higher than the men (26% compared to 21%).
The bacteria that were found are all from the gut, and do not necessarily always cause disease, although they do indicate that hands have not been washed properly.
Dr Val Curtis, Director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, comments: 'We were flabbergasted by the finding that so many people had faecal bugs on their hands. The figures were far higher than we had anticipated, and suggest that there is a real problem with people washing their hands in the UK. If any of these people had been suffering from a diarrhoeal disease, the potential for it to be passed around would be greatly increased by their failure to wash their hands after going to the toilet'.
Global Handwashing Day was initiated by the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (www.globalhandwashing.org), which is dedicated to promoting handwashing with soap to reduce diarrhoea in developing countries and implement large-scale handwashing interventions by combining the expertise and resources of the soap industry with the facilities and resources of governments. Global Handwashing Day activities are being implemented in more than forty countries and focus on raising awareness among policymakers and the public about the role handwashing plays in public health.
For more information about Global Handwashing Day, please go to: www.globalhandwashingday.org. All materials on the website are available to be downloaded, or can be used in publication

BARFBLOG: Water, soap and paper towel: Aggieville bars have the handwashing tools
15.oct.08
barfblog
Doug Powell
Barfblog Post -- Aggieville Bars
As part of the first Global Handwashing Day, students Mayra Rivarola and Skyler Wilkinson visited 11 restaurant bathrooms in Aggieville, Manhattan (Kansas) to ensure patrons were at least provided the tools to properly wash their hands.
Barfblog Post -- Global Handwashing Day
All of the bathrooms rated highly. Only 1-of-the-11 had a failure, a lack of paper towel.
So, wash your damn hands. And don’t eat poop. Lots of pics on the blog.
Barfblog Post -- Georgetown students

WASHINGTON: Global Handwashing Day: a little bit of soap, a powerful affect on human health
14.oct.08
Soap and Detergent Association
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/global-handwashing-day-little-bit/story.aspx?guid={61638A2E-405D-40C0-94B6-7E4527D26290}&dist=hppr
WASHINGTON -- Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) Offers Year-Round Resources for Educators, Consumers on the Connection Between Hygiene and Health
- New Book Against Disease Reminds Us "That sanitary diligence is as pertinent to health today as it was a century ago."
The message of the first-ever Global Handwashing Day on October 15, 2008 -- as designated by the United Nations General Assembly -- is meant to last longer than 24 hours. The universal call for improved hygiene practices around the world reminds all of us that a little bit of soap can very easily enhance the health of millions of people.
"People all over the world wash their hands with water. The belief that washing with water alone to remove visible dirt is sufficient to make hands clean is commonplace in many countries. However, because handwashing with soap is the single most cost-effective health intervention, there is a critical need to educate people regarding the benefits of adding soap to their personal hygiene regime," said Nancy Bock, Vice President of Education at The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA - www.cleaning101.com)
Since 1926, SDA has made available numerous educational materials, at limited or no cost, to help researchers, health educators, teachers and consumers learn and share information on the benefits and proper use of hygiene and cleaning products.
Against Disease
The new book Against Disease: The Impact of Hygiene and Cleanliness on Health examines the historical scientific record on the role of sanitation, medical advances, and personal hygiene and cleanliness in reducing the incidence of disease-related morbidity and mortality.
The book, available at AgainstDisease.com, is authored by Dr. Allison Aiello of the University of Michigan School of Public Health; Dr. Elaine Larson of Columbia University; and Richard Sedlak, SDA Senior Vice President, Technical & International Affairs.
"The health revolution is still ongoing in the form of personal hygiene and household cleanliness -- two important disease prevention strategies," the authors write. "This fact is clear: good personal and household hygiene practices, although often overlooked in the past, remain vital contributors to good health."
Clean Hands Campaign
SDA is part of the Clean Hands Campaign, a partnership with the American Society for Microbiology. The Campaign has new educational brochures and posters are now available at www.washup.org. The materials include English and Spanish language versions.
Cleaning101.com/HandHygiene
A variety of fact sheets and hygiene and health related news items, brochures and posters are housed on SDA's Hand Hygiene Information page. These materials can be accessed online at www.cleaning101.com/handhygiene.
The Soap and Detergent Association ( www.cleaning101.com), the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products Industry(TM), is the non-profit trade association representing manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional cleaning products, their ingredients and finished packaging; oleochemical producers; and chemical distributors to the cleaning product industry. SDA members produce more than 90 percent of the cleaning products marketed in the U.S. The SDA is located at 1500 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005.

BARFBLOG: Global Handwashing Day: no hand left behind
13.oct.08
barfblog
Barfblog Post
Michéle Samarya-Timm, of the Franklin Township Health Department in New Jersey writes,
Take a moment to look down at your hands. Are they clean? How about the hands of the person sitting next to you? Or the hands of the person shaking your hand, fixing your sandwich, caring for your child?
Increasing the practice of handwashing with soap is the international goal of the World Health Organization with the first-ever Global Handwashing Day, scheduled for Wednesday, October 15, 2008.
http://www.who.int/gpsc/events/2008/15_10_08/en/index.html
Handwashing with soap is an exceptionally efficacious and cost-effective health intervention, but one that is often considered trivial in our busy, hectic lives. Repeated observational studies show that many people don’t wash their hands as often or as thoroughly as they should. If conscientious handwashing can prevent you (and your loved ones!) from experiencing the inconvenience of vomiting and diarrhea, or reduce your risk for skin infections, eye infections, intestinal worms, and other communicable diseases, isn’t it worth it?
The challenge of Global Handwashing Day is to transform handwashing with soap from an abstract good idea into an automatic behavior performed in homes, schools, workplaces and communities. Turning handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet into an ingrained habit could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter. In short, handwashing with soap could save 1 million lives per year.
http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/
Today and everyday you can make a difference. Speak up if a restroom is not adequately supplied with running water, soap and hand dryers/paper towels. Ask that foodhandler to wash his/her hands before making your sandwich. Most importantly, wash your hands after using the toilet and before you eat. And teach your kids to do the same.
Handwashing with soap is a cornerstone of public health across the globe and here at home. Handwashing with soap reduces disease. It’s cheap. It’s easy. It works to keep you healthy.
On this Global Handwashing Day, help ensure no hand is left behind.

INDONESIA: Handwashing with soap saves lives
12.oct.08
IRIN
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80870
JAKARTA -- Many of the deaths caused by diarrhoea and respiratory infections in Indonesia could have been prevented had people washed their hands more often with soap, the Health Ministry has said.
According to the World Health Organization, of the 161,000 children that died in Indonesia in 2006, 18 percent died from diarrhoea and 14 percent from pneumonia.
The Health Ministry cited US Agency for International Development (USAID) figures showing that only 14 percent of Indonesians wash their hands with soap before eating, 11.7 percent after defecating and 7.4 percent before feeding a child.
"We have to admit that the health condition of most Indonesians remains a cause for great concern," Wan Alkadri, the Health Ministry's director for health environment, told a news conference on 9 October announcing Global Hand-Washing Day, an initiative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which will be held on 15 October.
"One of the indicators of the poor health condition is the high rate of deaths among babies and children under five from diarrhoea and respiratory infections," he said.
"We call on the public to use the momentum of Global Handwashing Day to make handwashing with soap a habit at home, in schools and in the community where people live," he said. "Washing hands with soap is the easiest way to save lives."
UNICEF, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Programme, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and several other agencies will jointly launch the first-ever Global Handwashing Day.
Effective, inexpensive
Handwashing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrhoeal and acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries every year, according to a statement on the campaign website.
Together, diseases are responsible for the majority of all child deaths, but despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote, the website said.
Sanitation project
The Health Ministry has earmarked 600 billion rupiah (US$63 million) for a project that will provide good sanitation facilities in 10,000 villages by 2012. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rp 3 trillion, with the rest to be funded by the World Bank and other sources.
A multi-donor partnership of the World Bank called the Water and Sanitation Program said in a report released this year that at 55 percent in 2004, adequate sanitation coverage in Indonesia was well below the regional average of 67 percent for southeast Asian countries.
Nationwide, sanitation coverage has increased by 9 percent since 1990, representing significant progress towards the target of 73 percent set by the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
However, at the current rate of delivering adequate sanitation and clean water, Indonesia will fall short of the MDG sanitation target by 10 percent - the equivalent of 25 million people.

UNICEF ambassadors, The Wiggles, use jingle to encourage kids to wash hands
10.oct.08
UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28522&Cr=UNICEF&Cr1=
Popular Australian children’s entertainers and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassadors, The Wiggles, have created a catchy tune to help motivate millions of children worldwide to transform the mundane act of handwashing into an enjoyable habit, thereby improving hygiene and reducing the risk of disease.
The Wiggles have donated the song to UNICEF to help the agency mark the first-ever Global Handwashing Day on 15 October.
With approximately 5,000 children dying each day as a result of waterborne diseases, the UN agency has suggested handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet to help reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases by almost 50 per cent.
Helping to raise awareness and support for related UNICEF water and sanitation projects, The Wiggles have embarked on several fundraising initiatives since being name as Goodwill Ambassadors in February.
“UNICEF gives all children, regardless of race or religion, the best start in life. For that reason, we feel deeply honoured to… work with UNICEF to help improve the lives of children around the world,” said ‘Red Wiggle’ Murray Cook.
Global Handwashing Day is a public-private initiative spearheaded by UNICEF and other partners, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme, Procter and Gamble, and Unilever.
The event aims to bring handwashing to the top of the global hygiene agenda, and support the spirit of the UN International Year of Sanitation (2008).

GERMANY: Preventing colds: Washing your hands is more effective than taking vitamins
08.oct.08
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
Hilda Bastian
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/ifqa-pcw100808.php
The days are getting shorter, temperatures are dropping, and the cold and flu season is beginning. Many people have started taking vitamin C tablets as a precautionary measure. But research has shown that vitamin supplements do not provide nearly as much protection as other measures, like frequently washing your hands – and that high doses can even be harmful. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has published information and a quiz on the subject of prevention, helping to separate widespread myths from facts.
Promising news is quickly assumed to be true
Many people overestimate the benefits of vitamin C and other antioxidants. For years it was believed that taking vitamin C supplements not only provided protection against colds, but also against cancer, thereby helping people to live longer. An easy-to-understand summary of the research in this area, refuting these beliefs, has now been published on IQWiG's website www.informedhealthonline.org. "Not only is there no proof that some antioxidants prolong life, but there is some evidence that certain products may even lead to earlier death", says Professor Peter Sawicki, the Institute's Director.
"Positive" news gives people hope, which can quickly spread, become deeply held beliefs. Professor Sawicki: "It can be very difficult to accept that these beliefs are myths, but they are not true if further research does not confirm them or the research points to the opposite conclusion."
Simple strategies can prevent respiratory infections
Whether it is caused by a mild cold or the flu, a runny nose and sore throat are signs of a viral infection. Many people are absolutely convinced that vitamin C provides protection against respiratory infections. Yet research has shown that vitamin C does not prevent infection, and that high doses can even be harmful.
There are many simple but effective ways to lower the risk of respiratory infections. These include frequently washing your hands with normal soap and water, and not touching your face with your hands. People who already have a respiratory infection can stop it from spreading by throwing away tissues immediately after using them and not shaking hands with other people.
In a quiz published on www.informedhealthonline.org today, you can test how much you know about preventing illness and find out some facts which may surprise you.

ARIZONA: Gross out: roaches, slime, and bad hand washing at Texas Roadhouse on Stapley
07.oct.08
Chow Bella Blog
Amy Silverman
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2008/10/gross_out_roaches_slime_and_ba.php
At this point, I've gotten accustomed to seeing news of cockroaches and soda guns with "bacterial slime" -- both of which afflicted the Texas Roadhouse on Stapley Drive, during a recent inspection.
But there was something about the litany of complaints involving hands that got me:
A food service worker was observed washing hands without soap.
A food service worker (the same one?) was observed using bare hands to put lemon wedges in iced tea.
There was no hot water at the bakery handwashing sink, and no soap at the wait station handwashing sink.
It reminded me of an old PSA that used to run on TV when I was a kid:
Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
Wash your hands after changing baby, too.
Cuz we don't want to get hepatitis....
And we don't want hepatitis to get you.
Who? You!
So you -- yes, you! Please wash your hands before you stick that lemon in my Diet Coke!

NEVADA: Handwashing stressed after rise in illnesses
04.oct.08
Reno Gazette-Journal
http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081004/NEWS/810040345/1321
The Washoe District Health Department is reminding people to use "effective handwashing procedures" following a rise of gastrointestinal illnesses.
The department reported Friday there has been a rise in the number of cases of acute, or sudden, illnesses affecting the digestive system. The illnesses have symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and/or abdominal cramping, which typically last from 24 to 72 hours.

Don’t eat poop (like those kids at Georgetown); proper handwashing and proper tools
Oct. 3, 2008
Dr. Douglas Powell
Foodsafety.ksu.edu
I used to steal toilet paper.
As an undergraduate 25 years ago, and once my girlfriend showed me how to get at the theft-proof rolls in the university centre, the supplies of toilet paper in our household became one less student expense.
My hockey bag is still filled with those little soaps and shampoos from hotel rooms around the globe.
I was the kind of student -- and apparently I'm not alone -- University of Guelph administrators in Canada were worried about when they say that residence students should provide their own handwashing soap.
In 2005, the university switched to sanitizers instead of soap and paper towels in the residence washrooms because soap dispensers, paper towels and garbage cans went missing.
That was before a 2006 norovirus outbreak sickened over 150 students, primarily in one university residence.
The university subsequently returned soap and paper towels to all residences to help control the outbreak.
Students at Georgetown University are now being implored to wash their hands after a norovoirus outbreak linked to the school’s dining hall caused 175 students to vomit their way to the hospital. Said one university official, “Handwashing is going to be our mantra for a very long time around here.”
That’s great. A little late, but better than before. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 25 per cent of the 76 million annual cases of foodborne illness in the U.S. could be eliminated with proper handwashing.
That's a lot fewer sick people.
But, as Jon Stewart quipped in 2002, “If you think the 10 commandments being posted in a school is going to change behavior of children, then you think ‘Employees Must Wash Hands’ is keeping the piss out of your happy meals. It's not.”
So why don't more people wash their hands?
While some practice a Howard Hughes-like paranoia, study after study shows that many are lazy when it comes to handwashing. The proclamations to practice proper handwashing, on restroom posters, in daycare facilities, in media scare stories, will always fail to register with those who are impervious to risk -- that bad things happen to someone else, not me.
But as the Guelph example demonstrates, anything that can even slightly encourage proper handwashing and hygiene in general needs to be encouraged -- and that means ready availability of soap, water and paper towels.
Once available, the facilities have to actually be used, whether in the workplace, the home, the university residence, or, the farm.
The steps in proper handwashing, as concluded from the preponderance of available evidence, are:
• wet hands with water;
• use enough soap to build a good lather;
• scrub hands vigorously, creating friction and reaching all areas of the fingers and hands for at least 10 seconds to loosen pathogens on the fingers and hands;
• rinse hands with thorough amounts of water while continuing to rub hands; and,
• dry hands with paper towel.
Water temperature is not a critical factor -- water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands -- so use whatever is comfortable.
The friction from rubbing hands with paper towels helps remove additional bacteria and viruses.
The next time you visit a bathroom that is missing soap, water or paper towels, let someone in charge know. And next time you see someone skip out on the suds in the bathroom, look at them and say, “Dude, wash your hands!”
Don’t eat poop.
Douglas Powell is an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University
dpowell@ksu.edu
785-317-0560

BLOG: Your mother was right! Wash your hands
03.oct.08
Worms and Germs Blog
Scott Weece
https://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.wormsandgermsblog.com%2Findex.xml
You may notice a recurring theme in many of our posts and on virtually all of the information sheets on the Worms & Germs Resources page: an emphasis on handwashing. There is increasing emphasis on hand hygiene (i.e. hand washing and use of alcohol hand sanitizers) education in hospitals because the hands of healthcare workers are a major (if not the most important) means of disease transmission between patients. Despite hand hygiene being easy, cheap and effective, people rarely wash their hands as often as they should, and they often don't do it properly.
Most of the research about hand hygiene that has been published has focused on its use and impact in human hospitals, but this area is now also being studied more with regard to animals and veterinary medicine. A study published earlier this year in Veterinary Microbiology provided more evidence that hand hygiene is a critical infection control measure when dealing with animals. The study, coordinated by Dr. Maureen Anderson (of Worms&Germs fame) looked at MRSA carriage rate in veterinarians who work with horses. In addition to finding a high rate of MRSA carriage among these veterinarians (which was consistent with other reports indicating that equine vets are at higher than average risk for exposure to MRSA), the study looked at factors associated with MRSA carriage. Vets that reported routinely washing their hands between farms and those that reported washing their hands after contact with potentially infectious cases had a significantly lower rate of MRSA carriage. That should come as absolutely no surprise, but it's one more piece of evidence that we need to pay more attention to this routine infection control measure, in human hospitals, in veterinary environments and in households.
Remember, the 10 most important sources of infection are the fingers on your hands!