I wouldn't say I always think about it when going to the
toilet, but
everytime when I see those
hygiene-promoting ads, or somebody walking out
of the toilets without
washing her hands, I ask myself:
" Why should I
wash my hands??" It doesn't make much sense.
Some lab experiments during my course Introduction
Microbiology (now 8
years ago, but it sure did make an impression). One experiment was to simulate
the
toilet-going-ritual:
1. petri dishes with a bacteria cocktail containing
E. coli and some
cocci et. al.
2. Touch it
with your bare hand, 2, 4, 6 and 8 layers of
toilet paper (we used the grey
recycled type).
3. Then leave your hands unwashed, rinse with water or wash them with water and soap.
4. Last
parameter is yes/no using the
faucet.
There were stunning results in all groups doing these tests: even after using 6 layers
and washing your hands, those damn
bacteria were hitch hiking on your body.
Only after
8 layers of paper + washing the culturable bacteria were
negligible.
And who knows about that? Who is going to count 8 layers of toilet paper
every time?
Even if you do, there's another problem: the water tap. You're
"safe" if it's one with a handle, push button or an automatic one. But think
about it the next time, do you turn the
faucet open with your
dirty
hands, leaving some bacteria behind on the metal? You know, after washing, you
close it with your clean hand and you got your bacteria back.
Last step is the door
handle. If there's one person before you who didn't
wash his/her
hands, you still can't
escape those "toilet bacteria". Same
problem as with the faucet.
There's an option though if the above doesn't give you a comfortable idea;
something I was told during my
tropical hygiene class: use only your left
hand during your toilet activities so your right hand will stay relatively
clean for eating and shaking hands.
But regarding those bacteria, you can't escape them,
You are never alone.