Table of contents:
- Washing hands after going to the toilet prevents the spread of disease
- Bacteria can live for a long time on the surface of surrounding objects
- Apart from going to the toilet, when is the best time to wash your hands?
- Here's the correct and clean way to wash your hands from the toilet
Reporting from Kompas, nearly 60 percent of the people did not wash their hands after leaving the bathroom. Meanwhile, of the 40 percent who wash their hands, only 10-15 percent wash their hands with soap. Even though washing hands after using the toilet, be it a private toilet or a public toilet, is very important for health. Washing your hands is one of the most effective ways for you to avoid various infectious diseases.
Washing hands after going to the toilet prevents the spread of disease
One of the easiest ways of disease transmission is through touch. The reason is, the hand is one of the most comfortable houses for bacteria, germs, and it does not rule out viruses that cause infectious diseases. About 5 thousand bacteria inhabit your hands at all times. Therefore, the touch of the hand, either directly with another person's skin or holding an object, can be a means of spreading bacteria.
Not washing your hands after going to the bathroom is one way of spreading infectious diseases that are often not realized. For example: You have diarrhea, and then you defecate and don't wash your hands afterward. Next, you shake hands with other people. After that the person rubs his eyes or eats with his hands without washing his hands. This person can have the same infection or possibly an infection elsewhere as a result of the transfer of bacteria from you through touch.
Human or animal feces are fields of harmful germs such as Salmonella, E. coli, and noroviruses that cause diarrhea. Human faeces can also spread some respiratory infections such as adenovirus and hand-foot-mouth disease. There are many other pathogens that can be transmitted through unwashed hands after using the toilet, for example, flu, hepatitis A, bronchiolitis, to meningitis. One gram of human waste can contain a trillion germs. They can creep into your hands after you clean after defecating or change a baby's diaper. Imagine if the bacteria that you carry from your feces combine with bacteria that have been living on your hands for a long time? Hiiiyyy….
Habitual transmission of disease refuse washing hands after going to the bathroom can also occur in an indirect way. For example, when you touch the lid of the toilet, the hose, the handle flush, sink faucets, to bathroom door handles or toilet cubicles. The reason is, these objects have already been touched by other people who may be sick and carry viruses or bacteria on their hands.
Bacteria can live for a long time on the surface of surrounding objects
Some viruses and bacteria can live for up to two hours on the surface of objects they touch. So that even if your hands are clean, if the person who used the restroom before you is sick, they can leave traces of the disease and then get caught by you. Plus, viruses, parasites, and bacteria are microscopic organisms that are invisible to the eye, so you never know who is sick around you.
So, it is possible that the disease can spread in a closed area if the occupants of the room do not wash their hands after using the toilet and / or after coughing and sneezing. In addition, various germs and viruses that cause infectious diseases can reproduce more rapidly in humid environments with minimal air circulation, such as in bathrooms. So, your risk of being infected with viruses or bacteria is even higher if you don't wash your hands after going to the toilet.
Apart from going to the toilet, when is the best time to wash your hands?
- Before eating. If you cook your own meals, make it a habit to clean your hands before, during and after the food cooking process.
- When you will enter the house, after doing activities outside the home.
- After handling animals or pets. Because there could be a lot of bacteria attached to your pet's hair.
- Before and after visiting the sick.
- After you cough or sneeze, so as not to pass germs to others.
Here's the correct and clean way to wash your hands from the toilet
- Wet your hands with running water.
- Apply soap to your hands.
- Clean all surfaces of both sides of the hands, including the back of the hands, between the fingers, under the nails to the wrists.
- Scrub your hands with soap for about 20 seconds.
- Rinse with clean running water.
- Dry your hands with a clean towel or tissue.
