health

Poor hand hygiene may be biggest transmitter of superbug E.coli

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Regular handwashing and other hygiene and sanitation measures are the number one defense against contracting diseases.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I don't know about the rest of Japan, but in Tohoku many toilet facilities, especially JR ones, lack soap. A major sanitation fail.

Add "setsuden" to the mix, hand dryers blasting cold air, washets squirting freezing water up people's behinds - and you can see that hygene is not really taken seriously in Japan.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

It's a serious issue even in Japan.

Just this morning, I went to use a public restroom. Some guy flushes in a toilet stall, comes out and walks right out of the restroom. Must be nice to have sh!t so clean you can wash your hands with it! /sarcasm

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Poor hand hygiene....

Tell me about it. I have seen a guy in fancy suite come out from a stall without even washing his hands. That's why I try to avoid hand shake if at all possible.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Saw something this week that in USA aprox 2/3 men and 1/3 of women do not wash hands on existing the restrooms. Disgusting to say the least.

Still think it is unusual that in so many restrooms (JR/parks etc) there is no soap at all and many are just cold water. No towels as we all know.

For a country that invented washlets, heated seats and all kinds of great shower/tub facilities, it is amazing that they are so far behind the times in hand washing.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Handwashing and the hygiene etiquette consciousness is seriously lacking in Japan. It mystifies me because so much attention is given to washlets or face masks or removing shoes but almost none to coughing and sneezing into the air or into one's hands and touching all sorts of surfaces touched by others with impunity.

I've witnessed those who do "wash" their hands dampen and flink their fingers before drying them in a towel carried in a purse or pocket. Brilliant. Doing so gives the offending bacteria a breeding ground. And the "good news" is that there are more of those under the fingernails than on toilet seats.

Though soap and water are the better anti-bacterial measure, I carry individually wrapped, sanitizing hand wipes and scrub hard with them when other options do not exist. The key is scrubbing as that's what dislodges and kills the bacteria.

It only takes one person to infect hundreds when handling mass-produced food or spread contagion. Or when helping themselves from the cases of deli-foods at the supermarket, or the cutlery, chopsticks or toothpicks commonly found in restaurants. That, for me, is a much greater "ew" factor than removing my shoes.

Zichi is correct. We also need to properly clean our phones and computer keyboards.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Not washing your hands is bad enough, but even worse are those who dangle their fingerstips under a dribble of cold water and THINK they have washed their hands.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Nippori Nick,

Believe it or not, Japan did not invent the Washlet - they did buy the patent off the US inventor though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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