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It's a Dirty Commute in the U.K.
October 16, 2008 11:32 AM
BY PHILIP VICTOR, ABC News London
Mom always did tell us to wash our hands before we ate dinner when we were young, but apparently she should have been scolding us well into our adult years to rinse up after using the john.
A new study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that 28 percent of U.K. commuters carried fecal matter on their hands, most likely resulting from a lack of proper hand washing. More than 400 people were tested in the study that spanned the U.K. cities of London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.
Dr. Valerie Curtis, director of the Hygiene Center, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told ABC News that she was “flabbergasted” by the high percentage of contaminations and that she was expecting the results to perhaps be closer to 5 percent.
The study, which coincided with Global Handwashing Day, was carried out by trained master’s students at the London School who approached people at major bus stops in the aforementioned cities. Willing participants had their fingers swabbed, and were asked profile questions including their age, sex and occupation. Students also inquired as to what mode of transportation they had used that morning and whether participants had washed their hands before their commute.
Results from the study show of 100 people tested in London, 13 had contaminated hands. But the results were much more shocking in the city of Newcastle where 43 of the 98 people tested were found to have fecal matter present on their hands, including 53 percent of men and 30 percent of women. The study also found that people who had used the bus as their mode of transport had higher rates of contamination that those who used the train.
Why so many people with fecal bugs on their hands? “People aren’t washing [their hands] regularly enough,” Curtis said.
While most individuals would not admit to not washing their hands, the study shows that it happens more often tha n we would like to think. Why don’t people just take a few minutes to rinse up and get squeaky clean?
People offer up numerous excuses for not cleani ing their hands. Curtis told ABC News that among the excuses given include “I was in a hurry” and “There was nowhere to put my bag” as well as “The water was too hot or there was no soap.”
The practice of washing your hands after using the toilet would seem to be conventional wisdom or common courtesy, and most importantly a matter of hygiene; unfortunately it’s apparently not so conventional to some commuters. Curtis offers the idea that people are “honoring it [hand washing] in principle more than in practice.”
The study’s most interesting finding, according to its authors, is that the contamination rates became higher for men the further north the cities were. Curtis says that she was “really puzzled” by this. The results showed that female hygiene violators were equally dispersed across the United Kingdom.
One thing is for sure though; the results of this finding will surely make you think twice about greeting your good commuting friend with that customary handshake. Remember to keep your hand sanitizer with you at all times.
Read more blogs from Philip Victor
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October 16, 2008 in Philip Victor | Permalink | User Comments (11)
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Naturally, the Muslims wiping their but** with their hands.
Posted by: Abdul | Oct 16, 2008 2:00:10 PM
that's why the are askew when you eat with the left hand. they use that to wipe. this is too bad as with cost of gas,we need to expand public transportation
Posted by: billybob2 | Oct 16, 2008 2:43:57 PM
...or abdul's mom wiping the floor with her @#&!*
Posted by: Jazz | Oct 16, 2008 2:44:03 PM
First of all, England is a dirty, filthy place. You will find first class restaurants with no soap in the restrooms. Long term travellers often get thrush. People toss their trash all over. I don't care to go back to England again, mainly for sanitary and social reasons, after a month-long stay last year. I'm not suprised by this article, England is a dirty dirty place.
Posted by: Joe | Oct 16, 2008 5:14:43 PM
Tony the tiger would say: That is grrrrross!
Posted by: jeff m | Oct 17, 2008 12:11:32 AM
That is real gross! I would bet our subway trains and buses have many people with poopoo hands too.
George
Posted by: George | Oct 17, 2008 12:25:22 AM
This "study" is a complete load of rubbish. They went into the study intending to produce results which would "shock" people and - surprise, surprise - the results they get are "shocking".
I don't know whether England's a dirty place or not but having looked up a little more about this "research", it's blatently clear it is worthless. Given these high results were what they were after, I would personally be "surprised" if more than a fraction of the people classified as having "fecal matter on hands" actually had the said matter on their hands.
Posted by: Jerry | Oct 17, 2008 5:06:01 AM
This "study" is a complete load of rubbish. They went into the study intending to produce results which would "shock" people and - surprise, surprise - the results they get are "shocking".
I don't know whether England's a dirty place or not but having looked up a little more about this "research", it's blatently clear it is worthless. Given these high results were what they were after, I would personally be "surprised" if more than a fraction of the people classified as having "fecal matter on hands" actually had the said matter on their hands.
Posted by: Jerry | Oct 17, 2008 5:06:03 AM
How Rude!!! 1st of all England is not a 'dirty place' it depends on the town or city, and indeed the local government, the London tube system is the oldest in the world thus it is also the hardest to clean, many tube lines were built when steam trains were being used! it is also the second largest in the world after NYC, and many parts of it are the deepest in the world and since the bombings in 2005 that killed 52 on the tube, security has been massively tightened therefore all the storage cupboards and store rooms on platforms have a security seal & cannot be opened unless supervised so they are cleaned by teams of 'roving' cleaners that have to use see-through bags & are restricted, also the tube carraiges are a lot smaller than the NYC and we only have toilets in very view stations [agian for security reasons] so the there is no where to wash your hands, so the transfer of germs is easily done.
Posted by: Alan Rudman - London | Oct 17, 2008 9:31:43 AM
I don't know where you were in England, Joe, but I visited a few times while in the Navy, and I can say that London, for how large the city is, was pretty clean...no, not Bel Air California clean, but relatively clean for a large urban area...anyway, call my city dirty, too...I don't care...New York City is a great town, trash and graffiti included...
Posted by: Jazz | Oct 17, 2008 12:34:11 PM
Cleanliness aside, it is probably time to do away with the standard 'hand shake' greeting in favor of something a little less ... transmissive ...
If a first world country can have such a problem with dirty hands i can only imagine a less developed part of the world.
Posted by: Mike B | Oct 25, 2008 12:03:25 PM
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