Next time you get your debit card out, you might want to use it to buy some hand wash.
A study has found that nearly one in 10 bank cards contains fecal matter. Cash is little better with one in seven bank notes containing high levels of bacteria similar to that found in a dirty toilet bowl.
The research, carried out at Queen Mary, University of London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, showed our hands are therefore dirtier than we might think.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
More than a quarter (26 percent) of hands sampled showed traces of fecal contamination including bacteria such as E. coli, the study found.
And we may be making ourselves ill as a result. A further survey of the 272 participants revealed only 39 percent washed their hands before eating.
The vast majority (91 percent) of respondents also stated that they washed their hands after using the toilet, although the levels of fecal organisms contaminating the cards and currency suggested otherwise, researchers said.
Washing hands with soap can reduce diarrheal infections by up to 42 percent but only 69 percent of people reported doing this whenever possible.
(Liberty Times)
下次你把簽帳卡拿出來時,也許你會想用它去買些洗手液。
一項研究發現,近十分之一的銀行卡帶有糞便物質。現金稍微好一點,七分之一鈔票上所含的大量細菌,近似於骯髒抽水馬桶的細菌含量。
倫敦大學瑪麗皇后學院與倫敦衛生及熱帶醫學學院進行的這一項研究顯示,我們的手比我們想的還要髒。
該研究發現,在取樣的手當中,超過四分之一(百分之二十六)的手發現了糞便污染物的痕跡,其中包括大腸桿菌這樣的細菌。
我們還可能因此而染病。對兩百七十二名參與者的進一步調查揭露,只有百分之三十九的人在吃飯前洗手。
絕大多數(百分之九十一)的受訪者稱自己在上完廁所後會洗手,然而研究人員稱,銀行卡和鈔票上攜帶的糞便有機污染物含量反映出的卻不是這麼一回事。
用肥皂洗手可以將腹瀉感染機率降低達百分之四十二,但只有百分之六十九的人報告說,自己盡可能會用肥皂洗手。
(自由時報/翻譯:陳成良)
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