Hygiene Fast Facts

Information on Water-related Hygiene

Handwashing

• It is estimated that washing hands with soap and water could reduce diarrheal disease-associated deaths by up to 50% ¹.
• Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented ².
• A large percentage of foodborne disease outbreaks are spread by contaminated hands. Appropriate hand washing practices can reduce the risk of foodborne illness and other infections ³.
• Handwashing can reduce the risk of respiratory infections by 16% ⁴.
• The use of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer in the classroom provided an overall reduction in absenteeism due to infection by 19.8% among 16 elementary schools and 6,000 students ⁵.

Face and Body Hygiene

• More than 50% of healthy persons have Staphylococcus aureus living in or on their nasal passages, throats, hair, or skin ⁶.
• Within the first 15 minutes of bathing, the average person sheds 6 x 106 colony forming units (CFU) of Staphylococcus aureus ⁷.
• The average individual swimmer contributes at least 0.14 grams of fecal material to the water, usually within the first 15 minutes of entering ⁸. Showering with soap before swimming helps stop the spread of germs by removing fecal material from the body.
• Trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide, is related to the lack of facial hygiene ⁹.
• Inadequate contact lens hygiene, such as failure to properly disinfect lenses, is associated with an increased risk of acquiring the eye infection Acanthamoeba keratitis ¹⁰.
• The spread of pinworms can be reduced by proper hygiene, including clipping nails and showering children immediately after they wake in the morning ¹¹.
• Hundreds of thousands of persons in the U.K. (between 1.2% and 1.3% of the total population) acquire outer ear infections each year, due to contaminated water remaining in the ear after swimming or bathing ¹².

1. World Health Organization. Water for health: taking charge. 2001. [PDF - 6 pages].
2. Curtis V, Camicross S. Effect of washing hands with soap on diarrhoea risk in the community: A systematic review. Lancet Infect Dis. 2003;3(5):275-81.
3. World Health Organization. Hand washing and food safety fact sheet 2.
4. Rabie T, Curtis V. Handwashing and risk of respiratory infections: a quantitative systematic review. Trop Med Int Health. 2006;11(3):258-67.
5. Hammond B, Ali Y, Fendler E, Dolan M, Donovan S. Effect of hand sanitizer use on elementary school absenteeism. Am J Infect Control. 2000;28(5):340-6.
6. Food and Drug Administration. Bad Bug Book – Staphylococcus aureus.
7. Elmir SM, Wright ME, Abdelzaher A, Solo-Gabriele HM, Fleming LE, Miller G, Rybolowik M, Shih P, Pillai SP, Cooper JA, Quayed EA. Quantitative evaluation of bacteria released by bathers in a marine water. Water Research. 2007;41:3-10.
8. Gerba CP. Assessment of enteric pathogen shedding by bathers during recreational activity and its impact on water quality. Quant Microbiol. 2001;(2):55-68.
9. Emerson PM, Burton M, Solomon AW, Mabey D. The SAFE strategy for trachoma control: using operational research for policy, planning and implementation. Bull World Health Organ. 2006;84:613-19.
10. Seal, DV, Kirkness CM, Bennett HG, Peterson M. Acanthamoeba keratitis in Scotland: risk factors for contact lens wearers. Cont Lens Anterior Eye. 1999:22(2):58-68.
11. CDC. Pinworm Infection (Enterobiasis).
12. Rowlands S, Devalia H, Smith C, Hubbard R, Dean A. Otitis externa in UK general practice: a survey using the UK General Practice Research Database. Br J Gen Pract. 2001;51(468):533-38.