Most Malaysians unaware that washing hands prevents infection

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are generally clean but they are not washing their hands enough.
In a Global Hygiene Survey, a third of the respondents admitted to taking short cuts by not washing their hands after going to the toilet.
Another 34% did not wash their hands before meals.
The survey was funded by Reckitt Benckiser Malaysia and Singapore, manufacturers of Dettol, and carried out by the Hygiene Council.
It includes nine global experts in the fields of microbiology, virology, infectious disease, immunology and public health.
Other countries included in the survey aimed at providing a better picture of current hygiene practices were the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and India.
Some of the questions asked were on the effective way to prevent the spread of germs at home and measures to protect against influenza.
Council member Dr Christopher Lee, a senior consultant physician for infectious diseases at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, said hands were the human body’s main contact points for microbes but many Malaysians seemed to be unaware of this.
He said all it took for an infection to take place was a hand carrying microbes to touch the inner nose, mouth or the eye to enable them to get into the body.
“The survey revealed that only a third of Malaysians think that washing hands is an effective prevention method for infections and this is worrying (given the) understanding of how disease-carrying microbes can spread,” he told a press conference to announce the results of the survey yesterday.
Lee said many people, when faced with outbreaks including the avian influenza and SARS, thought that wearing a mask would prevent infection, when touch was a far easier way to pick up a virus.
He said another misconception was that infections would be caught from outside the house, whereas poor cleaning habits at home could allow microbes to breed and infect family members through touch.
Council chairman Prof John Oxford said Malaysians did not fare too badly as they were placed in the middle of the scale compared with other countries in the survey.
“The main thing here is that we have identified the weaknesses and now we have to begin work to increase the awareness among the people on how best to avoid infections,” he said.
He said as the world faced more dangerous outbreaks such as the avian influenza and SARS, proper hygiene methods would help to reduce risks tremendously.