Randerolf

In the face of the bird flu news, I thought I'd reinforce the importance of hand washing. Then I found this article.

BBC Health



Be sure to lather up well. The scrubbing is one of the more important parts. Scrub and sing the Birthday Song twice. Or Freebird by Lynard Skynard.

I’ve also heard that the air jets aren’t sanitary as they just blow air from the bathroom* ( piss, shit, etc etc) all over your hands. Disposable single service paper towels are the way to go.

EDIT: *Barthroom is not a word.

inkriminator

Step 7. Open Door
Step 8. Recontaminate hands due to others who didn't wash their hands.

your post is an excellent one that highlights one of the easiest ways to improve health. btw, i always open the door with a paper towel to keep my hands clean.

Jinn

I don't wash unless I have to, and no scare tactic about avian flu is going to change that. Tell it to my nearly impeccable immune system.

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serlindsipity

All fine and great, but not washing your hands just seems foolish. Did no one else's parents swat you if you didnt wash your hands? its basic and should be a necessity.

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Suave

Haha Jinn's going to have to defend himself at every turn, eh? Maybe we'll be able to harass him enough to change his mind eventually, after a few more threads of constant badgering.

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highthief

Just curious - what constitutes "having to"?

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Paq

3 words:
massive...rage...dump

if he doesn't wash after that, something is wrong

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guthmund

What I find most amusing is the fact that there is a visual aid to help people figure out how to wash their hands. A regular sign that says, "Hey, wash your hands!" just isn't enough. Like there's a whole mess of people just not washing their hands properly; I would imagine that human beings, what with our big fancy brains could figure out that cunningly confusing soap/hand/towel triangle.

I wash my hands everytime at work. Even if I feel I don't 'need' to because even though I didn't piss on my hands, I still touched my dick. Consider the Golden Rule. I imagine that the people I interact with throughout the course of my day don't want my dick germs, imaginary or not, rubbed off of them or their things, so, I wash my hands. I do unto them as I would have them do unto me.

At home, different story because it's not like my germs aren't over everything in my house already.

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dlish

im one of those people that have to wash at least 20-30 times a day. after i touch door knobs and similar things in public. i dont touch handlrails unless i have to, i dont touch anything in public toilets, i use toilet paper or handtowels to open doors etc.

i dont think im compulsive..im just..normal?? is anyone else out there like me? or am i just paranoid?

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highthief

That's compulsive, friend.

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Nimetic

Yes but... Just to play the devils advocate here...

Bird flu - it's an air-borne thing right? Droplet transmission. Not anal/fecal transmission or whatever the technical term for that one is.

Seems to me that this procedure as described will theoretically prevent me from passing Hepatitis A from myself to others (although I don't have it). It'll do little to protect me from bird flu.

Having said that.. yeah. Please wash your hands after sneezing you dirty people. I'm disease free. Don't know about you.

sadistikdreams

AH MEN!

I know I have OCD, and even though it's under control, I still wash my hands regularly. And I fucking cringe when people dont. It's just horrible, they're purposefully not doing something that can help out their health.

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jorgelito

Actually - I think handwashing was a general health precaution and not necessarily directed to bird flu.

My main problem with this is it depends on EVERYONE to wash their hands to be truly effective and as we can see, not everyone does.

I also hate it when people are sick but come to school or work anyways. Then they cough and sneeze and touch EVERYTHING.

If you don't want to wash your heands for your own health, how about washing your hands for the rest of us?

Anxst

I know I've gotten weird looks a few times for seeming to take forever to wash my hands. What can I say, I used to work as a nurse. I always cringe when I see people leave the restroom without washing their hands. But then, I also wash my hands before and after I eat in any pblic setting. I'm not compulsive, I can touch door handles and light switches and not even think about it. It just seems like common sense to me.

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snowy

I don't usually wash my hands after using the potty for no. 1 but I always wash them after no. 2, the reason being is that I wash my hands a lot at other times. I always wash them after coming into contact with anything that squicks me (there are a variety of things that squick me) or when I've touched a lot of different people/plan on coming into contact with lots of people. I always wash them when entering a kitchen, and wash them multiple times during cooking anything.

And dlishsguy, I sanitize my doorknobs and anywhere my hands touch repeatedly in my own home during the winter. I also regularly Lysol my bathroom between cleanings.

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skier

Step 6- keep a hold of the paper towel
Step 7- Use it to open door
Step 8- Toss it in nearest garbage can or leave it for the janitor.

I hate the thought of getting my hands clean (even though they weren't that dirty anyway) and then having to touch the dirtiest surface of the whole bathroom.

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Coppertop

I mostly just wash my hands when I shit on them, which isn't too often.

splck

I wash my hands when out in public or at work, but when I'm at home, I piss all over my backyard, and there is no sink out there.

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nice line eh?

dlish

when i open the door to leave a public bathroom i always use a papertowel to open the door and then drop it behind the door for the janitor.

other tricks i use is to wait for someone else to open the door and then leave right after them, that way i dont touch anything in there. i really do hate it when i watch people not wash their hands after going to the toilet..ok maybe women i understand..but men..i cannot!

in all honesty, i cannot fathom people not doing it, and sometimes i think im the only 'normal' person out there.. i guess 'normal' is a relative term.

i also wash my hand before i eat every meal, and after i use the computer (for all those porn freaks :P ) and after i shake peoples hands cos most likely they havent washed their hands after theyve touched their dicks..or someone elses lol

anyways..thats me..any shrinks in tfp-land?

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little_tippler

Bird flu is not airborne. Bird flu is transmitted through contact with infected birds and any other contaminated surfaces. So far, it is thought to not be transmitted from human to human. The bird flu virus is also killed if for example, you have a contaminated piece of chicken and you cook it at a high temperature for a certain amount of time. If you touch it raw, you could become contaminated. Most of the bird flu cases up till now are people wh have direct contact with infected birds.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

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Hektore

I'm gonna hafta agree with Jinn on this one, I rarely make it a point to wash my hands anywhere but the shower, unless i'm doing something where they get visibly dirty. It's not that I don't know there are germs, it's that I don't think it really is that beneficial to my health. The concept makes sense, clean hands = less germs = better health, but I have a hunch less germs = weaker immune system as well. I'm not trying to say you should go get dirty on purpose but, I come into what contact what germs I will and that's that. I trust my immune system to take care of me. The last time I had the flu/cold/sore throat/anything was 3 winters ago, and the time before that was more than 10 years ago.

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Nimetic

Yeah - I know that it's not spread human-human yet...

But when/if it becomes spread between humans.. my assumption was that it will be primarily spread in the same way as other forms of influenza.

I've just found an old text here....

Emergency Medical Treatment (Nancy Caroline) quite definitely says "droplet spread". Key protective measures for medical staff is "wear mask".

and

Wikipedia says that influenza is "... is transmitted from person to person by saliva droplets expelled by coughing"

...


Overall I accept that it's a good idea to wash your hands after certain activities. But in terms of protection from BF, well I'm not convinced that this will save many people.

Sheesh. I just accept that my hands or dirty most of the time... and avoid too much eye/nose/face contact.

TheProf

The issue is that droplet transmission starts out airborne, in the sense that the person expells the saliva with the pathogen into the air, but then those droplets settle on surfaces. Droplets are too heavy to remain airborne and thus once they settle you pick them up by touching the surface they landed on, then rubbing your eye, nose, or other mucous membrane. This is why droplet transmission is still considered a form of person-to-person transmission; it is essentially spitting on someone, but with a surface (or fomite) between the two people.

This is why masks are not the only way to prevent droplet transmission - I can be wearing a mask, but then enter a room that someone sneezed in 4 hours earlier, touch the keyboard they sneezed on, rub my eye, and then get infected.

(Used to teach a course on infection control -- made several students compulsive hand-washers! )

dlish

theprof... i must have been one of your students then!

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Nimetic

Yep, I get that.

I've done the handwashing thing in work and volunteer situations.

I'm just saying, don't use BF as a justification for compulsive hand washing. For the average person, the following would seem more helpful (if they are so inclined)

a) using a mask
b) not touching their face

You can wash your hands sure. But it seems pretty pointless if you then go and touch anything. For myself, I'm using my hands to type, write, drive, etc all day. I simply accept the fact that they are dirty.

How many times do you want me to wash....

It's not like I'm going between medical wards or from patient to patient. I'm in office environments. I'm not touching open wounds or my eye/nose generally.

(For the record also, I try to avoid rubbing my eyes except after washing my hands)

Xazy

That is why I always save my hand towel to open the door, or will open it and keep my foot in the door if possible, and lean over to the sink.

Cynthetiq

ummm???? you shit on your hands?????



I wash my hands all the time... when I worked in a factory getting them dirty I'd wash them every 2 hours or so... boss thought I was nuts since they would get dirty again and 2 hours later I'd wash them again.

I don't like to have dirty hands but I'm not so anal about it. I just am careful of what I touch and how I touch it. I have changed oil in my car with just getting my 2 fingertips dirty.

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5757

hahaha . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . uh, I'm glad you wash.

I have a feeling that the number of people washing their hands everytime it is necessary were greatly nagged/influenced to do so growing up. I have actually been to peoples homes where NO SOAP was present in the bathroom. I wish that more ding dongs could be scared into washing their hands more. I just think it's ding dongish not to do it everytime you use the toilet.

CYNTHETIQ- Thats strangely a turn on that you wash your hands often. Hmm.

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little_tippler

I don't think people realise the importance of hand washing. It could make a huge difference, if not to you, to someone else. I'm not saying you should be obssessive about it, but you should wash your hands if you go to the toilet or do anything that is clearly making your hands dirty (not saying that if you touch anything you should wash your hands, that would be silly).

But look at surgeons. In our faraway past (I'm talking centuries), dirty hands while performing surgery probably caused the deaths of many people, among other things. And it's such a simple thing to do.

On a personal note, I have family members who have passed away in hospital from catching pneumonia within the hospital, after being checked in with another, different problem. In the UK, in hospitals, facilities are provided for visitors to wash their hands before visiting their relatives and loved ones and this actively prevents many of these types of cases from occurring. In Portugal, where I live, this is not usually provided except for in the intensive care ward. So the rate of people checking into hospital with a serious ailment and then dying of pneumonia is pretty high - no kidding.

Maybe this will make you think twice about the importance of hand washing.

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918