The question is, how to get the public’s attention. It’s not easy. Consider the number of people who still smoke. Or gorge on fast food. This happens in spite of constant warnings of the dangers. But now and then an unexpected event suddenly arouses the public psyche. When fear is involved, people react en masse. One such event has even had an affect on the hygiene of Torontonians and other travellers.
A study by the American Society of Microbiology (AMS) showed how SARS had affected the way Torontonians washed their hands. During August observers were stationed in washrooms at Toronto’s and five other North American international airports. The 7,500 people being watched were not on candid camera. But they had no idea they were part of an investigation.
Investigators found that 71 to 81 per cent of travellers using toilets in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and Miami washed their hands, the same percentage found in an earlier survey conducted in 2000. The fact that 20 to 30 per cent walked out dirty-handed is a sad commentary on hygiene. It also means the bathroom door handle is chock-full with bacteria.
But what about Pearson Airport in Toronto? Those of us with grey hair remember that Toronto used to be so boring it was called “Toronto The Good.” Now, not so boring and not so good, at least for the moment it can claim to be “Toronto The Clean.” A whopping 96 per cent of washroom users wash their hands.
This survey was conducted at the airport so no one knows how many of the hand washers were from Toronto or elsewhere. But it does show how the fear factor affected travellers wherever they lived who passed through this city.
But suppose the Toronto survey had been done before the SARS outbreak. Would this city have been so squeaky clean? Dr. Donald Low, the microbiologist at U of T who became internationally known during the SARS outbreak, believes Toronto would have fared the same as other cities.
The study also showed regional differences in the U.S. For instance, in New York travellers washed their hands only 71 per cent of the time. In Chicago, San Francisco and Miami 74 per cent and in Dallas 81 per cent.
What about differences between the sexes? In most cases more women washed their hands than men. But in Toronto there was just a two per cent difference between the sexes. For unknown reasons in San Francisco 80 per cent of men washed their hands and only 59 per cent of women.
Another survey showed that many people tend to skirt around the truth. The research group called 1,000 Americans to ask about hand washing. 95 per cent claimed they washed their hands after using a public toilet! What we do and what we say are often quite different.
Unfortunately, doctors are not paragons of virtue in hand washing. During a meeting of infectious disease specialists in New Orleans, medical student spies were placed in washrooms. 500 doctors used the facilities and a mere 69 per cent washed their hands.
Dr. Judy Daly, secretary of the AMS and head of microbiology at Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, Salt Lake City, says, “What we are endorsing in our everyday lives is washing our hands with soap and water for 15 seconds and drying with a towel. This is an efficient method for preventing a variety of infections.”
Before SARS struck, how good was the hygiene in Toronto schools? Dr. Low reports that his daughter, an elementary school teacher, informed him that washrooms rarely had soap or towels because they left too big a mess to clean up! Fear has apparently changed that situation.
To help fight the next infectious epidemic let’s remember that the fingers are the 10 most dangerous ways to transmit infection. A million bacteria can fit on the point of a needle. That’s why it’s ironic when people who have a cold often say, “I won’t give you a kiss,” and then they shake your hand.
