"Germs"

[Skeptic Ginger]

Is it preferable to also wash your hands before entering a public space where you are likely to come in contact with surfaces someone else will soon touch?

The rationale for doing this would be that it reduces the amount of potentially pathogenic organisms deposited on surfaces that others will come in contact with; if this is recognized as common courtesy and most people were to reciprocate, the amount of non-airborne germs deposited could reasonably be expected to decrease.

If harmless bacteria that normally inhabit your skin provide some protective effect against harmful bacteria this might not be a benefit at all.

Is the extra hassle not worth anything as long as you avoid contact with eyes, mouth, nose, genitals... before properly washing your hands?

/hijack

You cannot control the other guy is my philosophy.

I wash after using public restrooms if it looks like I'll leave more germs behind than I will get from the sink.

The best times to wash are upon entering your house coming from public places (so your house surfaces stay pathogen free), before you fix or eat food, and after your hands are contaminated by offending surfaces or body fluids. Think volume. If lots of people touch a surface, it is likely to have a few pathogens. That includes public drinking fountains. I have to be darn thirsty and out of options before I'll use a public drinking fountain.

But it is all a trade off. If I'm thirsty and out of options, no sense obsessing about the drinking fountain. And even though I know restaurants are germ spreaders, I don't like to cook. But I will avoid the salad bar. You just want the best information to base these decisions on.

 

[Lensman]

Oh, I know what sparkies are - I spend half my life recruiting the buggers.

That does explain everything, however - a Welsh sparky:

As we've been discussing, alcohol is pretty good at killing germs, especially given long exposure to it. What self-respecting germ is going to be able to live in a sparky's blood?

A bloody tough one.

(Actually, I'm an atypical sparky - I don't drink. Not from any moral conviction, I just never developed a tolerance for the stuff - 1 pint & I'm anybody's, 2 pints & I'm everybody's. Hasten Jason, fetch a basin - whoop, flop - fetch a mop. )