Posted on 09/23/2005 10:08:23 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Women's Hands Cleaner Than Men, Study Says
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Wed Sep 21, 2:40 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Men are dirtier than women. So scientists confirmed by spying in public restrooms, watching as one-quarter of men left without washing their hands.
The worst offenders were at an Atlanta Braves game.
In contrast, 90 percent of the women did wash up.
Wednesday's results mark the American Society of Microbiology's latest look at how many people take what is considered the single easiest step to staying healthy: spending 20 seconds rubbing with soap under the faucet.
It also explains why these infection experts tend to use paper towels to open bathroom doors. There is no telling what germs the person before you left on the knob.
"It's a gamble," said microbiologist Judy Daly of Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, the society's secretary.
Back in 1996, the society first studied how often people follow mom's advice to always wash up after using the toilet. Researchers lingered in public restrooms, putting on makeup or combing their hair, while surreptitiously counting. They concluded about one-third of people did not wash.
The group sponsored an education campaign about how hand-washing can stop the spread of flu, diarrhea and other infectious diseases. Every few years, researchers repeat the spying.
This time, 83 percent of people washed, reported Harris Interactive, a research company that last month monitored more than 6,300 public restroom users for the society.
That is a little better overall. But take a closer look:
_The worst hygiene was at Atlanta's Turner Field baseball stadium, where 37 percent of men left the bathroom without washing, and 16 percent of the women did.
_New York's Penn Station had the biggest gender disparity, where 64 percent of men washed their hands compared with 92 percent of women. Grand Central Station was almost as bad.
_The best hygiene was at San Francisco's Ferry Terminal Farmers Market and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and Shedd Aquarium, where only about 12 percent of people left without washing.
People exaggerate about hygiene. A Harris telephone survey of 1,000 more adults found 91 percent insisted they wash in public restrooms. Additionally, 77 percent claimed to always wash before handling or eating food, and 32 percent after coughing or sneezing.
It is hard to double-check the latter claims. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says poor hand-washing contributes to almost half of all foodborne disease outbreaks.
With influenza season approaching, microbiologists warn that it is easy to catch a cold or the flu by shaking hands with someone who just used that hand to cover a sneeze. The viruses can stay alive for two hours on hands, and for 20 minutes on hard, dry surfaces those germy hands touch.
So sneeze into your elbow instead and wash frequently. There is no need for special anti-bacterial cleansers, Daly said, although alcohol-based hand gels can substitute when soap's not available.
your tax dollars hard at work making the world safe for humanity.
I believe it. I also believe that women have cleaner ears than men too.
I know every place my d#*cks been in recently years, and it's cleaner than the faucets in a men's room at a Atlanta Braves game.
I'm not going to hang around and wash up with one of THOSE in there...
But womens bathrooms are dirty then mens bathrooms because of womenly things.
Also I think it would be obvious that men wash their hands less then women do.
A Yankee Boy noticed a Sothron Boy leave a urinal, and head for the door. The Yankee remarked, "up Nawth, our mothers teach us to wash our hands after we urinate".
The Sothron Boy replied,
"Fine, but our mothers teach us not to pee on our hands"!
I take mine everywhere I go. I also don't pee on my hands when I go either. ;-)
A baseball game seems like a good control group for researching how men race out of restrooms and women are in no particular hurry.
"Women's Hands Cleaner Than Men, Study Says"
Aren't you glad we have these modern, scientific studies to impart such brilliant insights?
Women's hands are cleaner than men's because we have to do what they won't...
Here's a suggestion: When checking out of restaurants, don't take any free mints if humans take them out by hand; because, the mints may be contaminated with URINE.
Hold muh beer, and let's see who has the cleaner hands.
ROFLMAO!!!!!
Are they saying "Popi was sloppy?"
Maybe it has something to do with the smell of fish.
About ten years ago I was in the bathroom at the computer company I worked at at the time. I saw the Training Manager make a beeline from the "#2" stall to the door.
I never shook hands with him again...
First, unwrap the mints before you eat them.
Second, don't take the big green or pink mints from the men's room. EVER.
My Dad always told me to wash my hands BEFORE unzipping. He said you need to be careful when handling a delicate instrument. LOL
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