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Germ
City
is a traveling exhibit created to promote hand washing.
Germ
City
has been taken to festivals, fairs, community events, and
classrooms. About 5,000 individuals went through the exhibit at
the Western Idaho Fair in 2004. Several Treasure Valley
elementary schools have also requested
Germ
City
with over1800 youth participating.
Do you wash?
People like to think that they wash their hands frequently and
effectively. However, studies show otherwise. The American
Society for Microbiology conducted a nationwide phone survey with
a 1,000 people in 2000 and asked, “Do you always wash your hands
after using a public restroom?” 95% responded that they did.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? As a follow-up study, however, 8,000
adults were observed in public restrooms in five cities across
America. Only 67% washed their hands. Observers counted as a
hand wash anyone who got their hands wet and then dried them with
a paper towel or hot air dryer. To keep things in perspective,
even when using soap, effective hand washing requires time – about
20 seconds of scrubbing to remove disease-causing microbes like
bacteria and viruses.
Why is hand washing so important to health?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of the
people of the
United States (an
agency of the Department of Health and Human Services) studies
outbreaks of foodborne illness across the United States. In more
than 1/3rd of the outbreaks, hand washing was a
significant contributing factor. The skin on our hands with its’
natural secretions of oil form an ideal environment for microbes
to hitch a ride. Hands can easily carry bacteria or viruses from
our gastrointestinal tracts after we cough, sneeze, rub our mouths
or noses, or use the restroom. You don’t have to be sick to carry
disease-causing bacteria in your GI tract, either. Scientists
have shown that 40-50% of us carries Staphylococcus, a
bacteria that can grow in food to produce a toxin. Therefore,
while uncooked food with bacteria can contribute to outbreaks of
foodborne illness, frequently people contaminate food during
preparation because they fail to wash their hands.
Contact: Joey Peutz
Canyon County Extension
208-459-6003
joeyp@uidaho.edu
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GERM
CITY