Did you forget to wash your hands?

Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero’s crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, “I have found it! Eureka!” - Plutarch (A.D. 46?–A.D. c. 120)

Today it is common knowledge that you should wash your hands before eating and after using the bathroom. It is even required by law for employees who handle food. However this was not always the case.
In the 1840's at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria one in ten mothers died after giving birth from childbed fever. This was a higher rate of death than other hospitals and higher than mothers who gave birth at home with the help of a midwife. Dr Ignac Semmelweis was determined to find a cure. What he discovered in 1847 was the importance of hand washing. Doctors laughed at this idea but interns who followed it found that the occurrence of childbed fever dropped to 1-2%, a five fold improvement! But still the other doctors scoffed at the idea and it took 50 years and the discovery of germ theory before hand washing became common practice in hospitals.
Returning to modern times it is not uncommon to find people who won't bother to wash their hands or wash incorrectly. (Did you know you could be doing it wrong?)

1. Wet hands with warm water
2. Lather hands with vigorous scrubbing to create friction (both friction and soap are necessary)
3. Scrub while counting to at least 15! Some sites recommend singing the "Happy Birthday" song to yourself twice.
4. Rinse hands and dry with a paper towel
5. Use the paper towel to turn off the faucet. Other wise your clean hands could be contaminated by a dirty faucet.
6. I've also noticed many people using the paper towel to open the bathroom door. The door handle is touched by a lot of dirty hands.

Bottom Line
Hand washing is greatly under-rated. So many colds and illness could be prevented by more people washing their hands more often. One of the key recommendations in an article on protecting yourself from bird flu was "Stay Healthy" by "washing your hands regularly".