Happy UN hand-washing day
Always looking for an excuse for a party, it's Global Handwashing Day. Good luck dodging the flu this season, and worse. Once again, soap is the yardstick of civilization. Congrats to Euston, home of University College London, for coming in lowest in the study of fecal-bacteria-contaminated hands, but I find it a bit sad that I should have to move to the neighborhood of one of the world's elite universities to have any reasonable expectation of not picking up somebody's shit off of a doorknob.
Excuse me, but I have to go pick my nose now.
Edit: I forgot to get on my soapbox regarding the myth of antibacterial soap. Please, just say "no": it's worse than just a bullshit marketing ploy to charge too much, it's actively breeding disinfectant-resistant bacteria in sink drains and sewage treatment centers. It doesn't do anything more than plain soap. See for example SP Luby et al Lancet(2005)v366p255 "Effect of handwashing on child health: a randomized controlled trial": (emphasis mine)
"Findings: Children younger than 5 years in households that received plain soap and handwashing promotion had a 50% lower incidence of pneumonia than controls (95% CI -65% to -34%). Also compared with controls, children younger than 15 years in households with plain soap had a 53% lower incidence of diarrhoea (-65% to -41%) and a 34% lower incidence of impetigo (-52% to -16%). Incidence of disease did not differ significantly between households given plain soap compared with those given antibacterial soap."
Excuse me, but I have to go pick my nose now.
Edit: I forgot to get on my soapbox regarding the myth of antibacterial soap. Please, just say "no": it's worse than just a bullshit marketing ploy to charge too much, it's actively breeding disinfectant-resistant bacteria in sink drains and sewage treatment centers. It doesn't do anything more than plain soap. See for example SP Luby et al Lancet(2005)v366p255 "Effect of handwashing on child health: a randomized controlled trial": (emphasis mine)
"Findings: Children younger than 5 years in households that received plain soap and handwashing promotion had a 50% lower incidence of pneumonia than controls (95% CI -65% to -34%). Also compared with controls, children younger than 15 years in households with plain soap had a 53% lower incidence of diarrhoea (-65% to -41%) and a 34% lower incidence of impetigo (-52% to -16%). Incidence of disease did not differ significantly between households given plain soap compared with those given antibacterial soap."