TodayWhen Sneezy, Coughy are clueless
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Having finished chemotherapy, one of the first things I learned is that if I want to return to work, there's a health risk since my immune system is down.
Beware of germs! Doing that isn't so easy when the people around me may spread a cold, flu, diarrhea and other infections in my direction because they don't wash their hands enough n if at all.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says poor hand-washing also contributes to almost half of all food-borne disease outbreaks.
So, the paramount rule is to wash my hands frequently with soap. I'm told that special anti-bacterial cleansers aren't needed, but alcohol-based hand gels make for substitutes when soap isn't around.
Wash hands with warm water, rub with soap for 20 seconds under the faucet, and use paper towels to open the bathroom door so that you don't pick up the germs left on the knob by the person before you.
If Sneezy and Coughy are around and don't cover their mouths or move away, it's get-away time. Either the germ culprit gets out or I do because you can become infected by the air you breathe, the food you eat and people you live or work with.
While I was hearing all of this last week, a story about scientists learning women wash their hands more than men was released by Associated Press. It was based on several polls that showed scientists spying in public restrooms across the country found men are dirtier than women.
Twenty-five percent of the men left the restrooms without washing their hands. Some of those who did wash up failed to use soap.
On the other hand, 90 percent of the females did. But one third of those women remained in the restrooms to put on makeup and comb their hair n a problem that calls for additional hand-washing to get rid of germs on faucets. So you may have to clean up more than once on that bathroom break.
This can get to be even a more germ-riddled mess because you're bound to run into other door knobs and handles as you go elsewhere. When you do, finding a sink, soap and paper towel may not be possible on the spot.
So, how do people stay away from being sick? Only women apparently know.
And the solution may be to stay away from men. Many men appear to have found ways to live without soap for days on end, the surveys tell us.
It starts out when they are little boys and wallow around in the mud catching frogs without any compunction to be clean.
And since "boys will be boys" and boys and their toys don't change, they're not likely to start a love affair with clean hands as they grow up. But everybody needs to at this point.
Having gone through a health risk, I'd say man, woman and child need to do whatever they can to wash regularly.
Here are some CDC pointers that you should be aware of:
• Fewer than 50 percent of us wash after handling pets or cleaning up after them.
• One in four adults does not wash after changing a baby's diaper.
• One in three people wash after sneezing and coughing.
• Money is a major carrier of disease germs, but not one in five wash after handling it.
• One in three E.coli outbreaks is caused by poor hand-washing by food handlers.
• Children who wash their hands four times a day missed 51 percent fewer school days because of upset stomach and 24 percent fewer days because of respiratory illness, according to one study.
In looking at this, I suddenly realize that having money and handling it can be troublesome. What I need is a portable sink, soap and towel to carry around full-time … because it may be the dirtiest stuff around.
How come my doctor didn't tell me that?
