LONDON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- In a study of fecal bacteria on hands in Britain, the men of London scored the best -- only 6 percent had contaminated hands, researchers said.
The Dirty Hands Study, conducted to provide a snapshot of Britain's hand hygiene, is part of Global Handwashing Day. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine swabbed commuters' hands at bus stops outside five train stations around the Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Euston in London -- all in England -- and Cardiff, Wales.
The results indicated that commuters in Newcastle were up to three times more likely than those in London to have fecal bacteria on their hands -- 44 percent compared to 13 percent -- while those in Birmingham and Cardiff were roughly equal in hand hygiene.
Twenty-nine percent of the women in Cardiff had contaminated hands, compared to 15 percent in men, while 21 percent of women in London had dirty hands compared to 6 percent of the men.
In Newcastle and Liverpool, men were more likely than women to show contamination -- 53 percent of men compared to 30 percent of women in Newcastle, and 36 percent of men compared to 31 percent of women in Liverpool.
The bacteria that were found are all from the intestine and indicate that hands have not been washed properly, researchers said.
