Faecal bacteria join the commute

[paulham]

More than one in four commuters has bacteria from faeces on their hands, an investigation suggests.

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine swabbed 409 people at bus and train stations in five major cities in England and Wales.

The further north they went, the more often they found commuters with faecal bacteria on their hands - men in Newcastle were the worst offenders.

Experts stressed the importance of hand hygiene for preventing illness.

The bacteria found suggested people were not washing their hands properly after using the toilet, said the researchers.

Toilet hands

In Newcastle and Liverpool, men were more likely than women to show contamination - 53% of men compared with 30% of women in Newcastle and 36% of men compared with 31% of women in Liverpool.
   

In the other three cities - London, Cardiff and Birmingham - the women's hands were dirtier.

People who had used the bus had higher rates of hand contamination than those who had used the train.

Manual workers had cleaner hands than other professionals, students, retired people or the unemployed.
Dr Val Curtis, director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "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."

Professor Mike Catchpole, director of the Health Protection Agency's Centre for Infections, said: "These results are startling and should be enough to make anyone reach for the soap.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7667499.stm

And you thought the general public just talked shite!

Be careful out there Lou! It's a mine field.

[loulou]

I never shake hands with people and am one of those people who wash hands about 20 times a day. If I touch money i feel the need to wash and my latest phobia is the handrail on the escalators. I either pull my sleeve over my hand or just try to stay balanced without holding on.

[loulou]

I read computer keyboards are the worst carrier of germs so now i am typing with gloves on. No not really but i have detolled today.

[paulham]

Have you detolled tonight?

[loulou]

I detol all the time.

[drterror666]

I hate that faecal bacteria.  The last time I saw one it tried to spill my pint!  True story!  I told him to hoof it or there was going to be trouble.  I never saw it again.

[paulham]

[Forth Bridges]

don;t these people take bath/showers in the mornings before going out, or is the air so bad?