Hand hygiene - sorted! Do you want individual screens to touch? Perhaps individual door handles, stair rails, or any other communal touch surface to be individualised one per person? Wash your hands, and get on with life. And don't put your fingers in any sensitive places, at least not before you wash them!

Just a thought... Presumably, having used the toilet, you adjust your clothing before moving to the washbasin to wash your hands. So unwashed hands have been in contact with nice, absorbent material which will then be placed next to the skin in a warm, humid environment, heaven for any bacteria! (Humid because your skin is losing moisture the whole time separetely from sweating.) How many cases of infection as a result of this have been reported? I have searched several times and found nothing. Remember that your skin, if in good condition, will contain >10,000 bacteria per cm". These are your own natural bacteria, one purpose of which is to help the skin maintain a bacteriostatic surface condition that helps prevent transient bacteria from colonising the skin. Let's not go the US route of 'bugophobia'! Chris

teh_boy, that's the standard approach that should be adopted by anybody engaged in "dirty" work. The way I heard it was that you could always tell an enginneer in the Gents because he... etc"

The only madness round here is those worrying about cross contamination from touch screens.

Sorry Ian, couldn't resist!

On a highly topical note, the website article at http://www.telegraph.co....traordinary-success.html asserts that "For two months now Wiggins, normally the most approachable of individuals, has spurned any kind of bodily contact with colleagues, camp followers and itinerant press in an effort to minimise the possibility of infection. Apparently disease ridden hands are the biggest culprits." Also, wasn't advice about minimising hand contact with others given to UK Olympic competitors by one or medical advisers earlier this year and mentioned on this forum? p.s. On a purely jocular note, perhaps the scope of the covert sheep dip-type bath facility I suggested in the recent thread about smelly truck drivers could be extended for disinfecting anyone else who might be considered to be unhygienic!!!! :-)

There is an ample and well-established literature on the biology of transient skin flora acquired from touch surfaces for those that wish to study the subject. These organisms, hitching a ride on finger tips, are picked up from common touch surfaces but are rarely established as part of the permanent flora. They might be measured in 10s or 100s, or in somewhat greater numbers on heavily soiled hands. Under normal conditions of hygiene and common day-to-day activities, numbers are rarely higher than 1,000/sq cm. They come and go; they may persist for seconds or minutes, or longer if hand hygiene is delayed. However, in contrast to the permanent skin flora they do not usually persist - fortuitously, being transient they are easily displaced by soap and water, though likewise can be deposited with similar ease onto the next surface touched. The permanent skin flora is much more difficult to displace as the ecological niches that it will exploit - skin folds and troughs, sebaceous glands and hair follicles - make removal difficult if not impossible. It is these transient organisms that are responsible for the many infections associated with poor hygiene standards, and this has been the driver for intensive study in recent years. Interestingly, this provides a simple paradigm for exposure to and spread of various occupational allergens and toxins around the workplace, on skin or glove surfaces and generally via incidental inanimate surfaces - it is far easier to demonstrate transfer and contamination with studies of micro-organisms than, for example, by microanalysis of nickel of cadmium.

Her Majesty the Queen almost invariably wears gloves while out on public engagements. Though I used to think that this was simply due to personal dress preference, this thread now prompts me to wonder if she wears gloves more as a protective measure, especially if she is likely to have to shake hands with various people. In this regard I can envisage some forum readers who see this thread nodding and thinking ‘hmm PPE’ next time they see her with gloves on telly! p.s. I’ve just had a quick look at the epic video of the Queen travelling with James Bond to the Olympic Games opening ceremony. She wasn’t wearing any gloves while walking through Buckingham Palace and getting into the helicopter. However, she had put on black ones by the time she parachuted into the Olympic stadium, perhaps for thermal protection during her descent, and still had them on as walked into the Royal Box! :-)

Graham Haven't looked again, but my recollection is that Her Majesty's gloves were cotton. Not much protection against bacteria there. Chris

Possibly cotton and silver for anti-bac?

Of course there is no doubt that germs etc are passed through hand to hand contact and cross contamination of surfaces. However, unless you are in a profession (such as the medical profession)I see no need to go overboard. Unless you have an underlying medical condition, are on some medications that supress the immunity or if (like an athlete in training for a big event) you are trying deseprately not to pick up bugs. We all have a natural immunity and I am convinced the increase in allergies etc is directly related to an over obsession with sanitising everything. That doesn't mean I don't believe in good hygiene, of course I do, but there are limits. We have a natural barrier, it's called the skin, so long as you wash your hands before eating etc then there shouldn't be an issue.