Wash your hands

[Teamedup]

http://actualite.aol.fr/121617/p-article_id/article.html

 

Anyone read this, 420000 reported cases, in fact an epidemic of gastro enteritis and what is the advice to evite this??????????? It must be rocket science or some such thing coz they say, wash your hands after going to the toilet, or before preparing or eating food, and after changing the baby.........

 

I know loads of folks who have had this recently and not seen the toubib, so just how bad has it really been over the fêtes.

[Pierre ZFP]

The OH has just fallen victim to this.  Very nasty, mind you, it did stop her cough! (she daren't)

We are always particular with hygine/washing etc as I'm sure most people are but she was the only one to get it in a family of 4 so maybe there's just an element of pure dumb luck

[Teamedup]

Isn't that the thing that unless everyone is cleaner in their habits, then we are all prey to this. IE I washed my hands in a public loo, three left the stalls and didn't and then touched the door handle on the way out........... so what good was it me washing my hands as I had to open that door too to get out.

And hand washing is such a simple gesture.

[cooperlola]

I am allergic to soap (yes, really) which causes a huge problem if I forget to take my special stuff with me!

[Pierre ZFP]

My Mum always said I was allergic to soap when I was a kid!  Maybe something to do with the state of my neck.

Saw some stuff in Boots which was a tube of waterless 'Sanitiser' for hands etc.  I meant to get some for those public-loos-no-soap occasions.

For reasons mentioned above, I always try to open public loo doors with the pinky off my left hand (don't know if it does any good) , thought I was the only one to do this untill I mentioned it at work an dgreated with a chorus of 'Oh yeah, I do that'

[Frederick]

Not a pleasant thought..... but .....an examination of bowls on a bar from which  people helped themselves to peanuts.... gave the same result as a similar test on  the loo door handle !

[Teamedup]

Yes I use my pinky to open doors, if I can. I don't like having a gastro, I don't like my family having them either, so am rather fussy about this sort of thing.

[Catalpa]

This discussion is so funny...[:D]... I open public loo doors after I've washed my hands (or, in France, tried to wash my hands) by dropping my sleeve over my hand. Alternatively, I use a piece of loo roll. Clean loo roll. I'm not particularly neurotic about washing hands after every activity but attention to hygiene after lavatorial activities is a total no-brainer.

[Missy]

[quote user="Teamedup"] ... 420000 reported cases, in fact an epidemic of gastro enteritis and what is the advice to evite this??????????? It must be rocket science or some such thing coz they say, wash your hands after going to the toilet, or before preparing or eating food, and after changing the baby......... [/quote]

My father would never allow us to approach the table for our meals UNLESS he'd seen us wash and scrub our hands or confirmation from Mother that we had done so! ...  Even at school I remember the dining room monitor inspecting our hands if they had a scant whiff of carbolic on them. Horrible soap it was, the smell of it still makes me [+o(] just to think of it!

Done the same with my kids.... Their friends used to laugh at them at school but they had the last laugh as the only food they were ill with periodically was the school cantine food! They soon learned to trust their daily lunch box of home cooked food and the problem was soon solved and their friends ill in the sanatorium...

[Ford Anglia]

My youngest brought home the "winter vomiting virus" last year, from 6th form. Only the wife DIDN'T get it[:@] Talk about projectile vomiting![:$]

No-one take that last sentence as a request, please.

 

[Cat]

That's exactly what I do Catalpa!  If I've got long sleeves its the sleeve-over-the-hand technique, and if not then it's the pinkie or elbow.  I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Despite this, Mr Cat and I have both suffered from a nasty gastro in the last two weeks [+o(]

 

[TWINKLE]

My 7 year old is just getting over it - she gets it at least twice a year and the hubby does too.  I don't.  Daughter was fine the first week of the hols when it was really cold then when the temperature went up so did hers and the vomiting started.

[YCCMB]

Given the state of most public loos (and the ones on the autoroutes are the worst....) I invariably carry some of the waterless hand cleaner with me and wash my hands after I've left the loos altogether. Most of the time, washing in the handbasins - usually with either no soap available, or with really suspect liquid soap from crusty dispensers - and then drying on a piece of loo roll or under a hand dryer that gives out less heat then a 40 watt light bulb, is a really stomach-churning experience and I'd far rather clean my hands when I'm completely away from that environment. If it's a big enough public toilet I always try to follow someone else out so that they open the door [:$] However, although I wholeheartedly agree with the need for hygiene, I also strongly feel that part of the reason lots of people are more susceptible to stomach bugs, etc., is that the obsession with being totally germ free at all times is preventing people from building up a resistance to a lot of the common bacteria.

[Unknown]

I agree with you Betty.  Whilst I always wash my hands after visiting the loo and before preparing food, I have installed this into my kids as well, I do think we need to eat at least a couple of spoonfuls of dirt in our lives.

Its a bit like the mother that ceremoniously sterilizes the babies bowl and spoon, but then allows them to put a toy in its mouth from the floor.  What's all that about????

[Loiseau]

Yes, my mother always said that you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die...

That said, I have been in the loos of two French restaurants where kitchen and waiting staff have come in to use them, and then gone back to work without washing their hands.   Urrrrrrrghhhhhhhh.  Haven't been back to either!

Angela

[YCCMB]

Yep, and as I think I've said here or somewhere before, I've only had food poisoning a couple of times in my life, and both of them have been in France!! Considering I've spent an extensive time in some of the least developed corners of the world and never once come down with anything, I think this must say something..........

[Miki]

I think I had crabs in France once, does that count ?

[RumziGal]

Dear Tozzer,

You remind me of someone I haven't met.   But you do make me laff.

And that cute little kittie with the bad eye, it rings a bell too.

[The Truth Fairy]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

Saw some stuff in Boots which was a tube of waterless 'Sanitiser' for hands etc.  I meant to get some for those public-loos-no-soap occasions.

[/quote]

I got mine at the local Pharmacie, Pierre : no need to import it.

Ditto what everyone  else has said about not touching the door knobs in public toilets (sleeve, paper towel, following closely on the heels of someone else... all good techniques).

All my in-laws have had the virus this past week (shame.....) - and my youngest spent Tuesday in bed being sick on an empty stomach, poor love..... And none of them called the doctor, so it must be an epidemic when you take into account all those who just wait for it to pass through their system. Not to mention the fact that as doctors make fewer and fewer house calls, by going to the surgery you're actually exposing yourself to everyone else's germs and likely spreading  yours generously about in exchange!

So far I have escaped......

As the main food preparer in the home I am obsessive about washing my hands. unlike o/h ..... What he does to himself is his problem but what really irritates is when I remind the kids to wash their hands before eating and he says "don't bother"!

Stay healthy,

TF

[The Truth Fairy]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Yep, and as I think I've said here or somewhere before, I've only had food poisoning a couple of times in my life, and both of them have been in France!! Considering I've spent an extensive time in some of the least developed corners of the world and never once come down with anything, I think this must say something..........[/quote]

I've only ever had food poisoning once - after eating mushrooms at my mother-in-law's. I think this must say something too!

TF

[Miki]

[quote user="RumziGal"]

Dear Tozzer,

You remind me of someone I haven't met.   But you do make me laff.

And that cute little kittie with the bad eye, it rings a bell too.

[/quote]

Dearest Rumzi,

You reminds me of someone who do's make me larf too but, it might pay too be wary of the kittie, as I am sure as eggs is oeufs that it had a beard once, couldn't swear it though.

I will be sporting an Osborne 103 label on my person when and if, we meet, what will you wear RumziGal ?

[Wendy]

Yes, well, I have yet to see French women in restrooms wash their hands after using the loo.  And, we have had many cars pull up outside our building and the occupants, male and mostly female, use our carpark as a toilet. Number one's and twos'. Even when on either side of us there are several hundred acres of uninhabited vineyards. I have long held the idea that the French are filthy when it comes to toilet habits. The Spanish follow close behind. Never shake a frenchmans hand I always say...

[Sprogster]

My single biggest complaint when in France are Boulangeries, where the the same employees that handle unwrapped foodstuff with their bare hands then take your money.

In most western countries health and safety regulations forbid employees who handle money to touch unwrapped foodstuff with their bare hands that will be eaten uncooked.

Why?  Because money is one of the best ways to transmit infections and if you examined notes and coins under a microscope you would faint at what you found, including  faeces content!! (Also funnily enough cocaine residue from time to time!)

Fortunately, the French authorities have cracked down and now metal prongs should be used where pastries and sticky type buns are being served, as these can act as bacterial cultures!

My advice is be streetwise about demanding acceptable hygiene standards from food handlers, especially where food will be eaten uncooked. As infections such as E.Coli and Salmonella are becoming more prevalent and increasingly resistant to treatment.

[Missy]

[quote user="Dotty "].........Its a bit like the mother that ceremoniously sterilizes the babies bowl and spoon, but then allows them to put a toy in its mouth from the floor. .... [/quote]

[+o(] it's when they pick up the dummies off the floor! [+o(] that gets me!....

[Unknown]

What and then lick it, Yuck!