In a recent article from the Utah Extension Service, they advised that because hands are covered with millions of germs or microbes, washing is a crucial, yet often overlooked behavior that is essential for food safety, disease prevention and personal health.

The majority of Americans underestimate the potential seriousness of food-borne illness and the importance of hand washing to prevent it.

Wirthlin Worldwide, an international research firm, conducted a hand-washing observational and telephone survey for the Bayer Corporation Pharmaceutical Division, in association with the American Society for Microbiology. They found that people do not wash their hands as often as they think they do. The telephone survey found that 94 percent of respondents claimed they always wash up after using the restroom. The observational survey conducted in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans and San Francisco found that only 68 percent, in fact, did so.

The Soap and Detergent Association’s 2002 National Cleaning Survey also revealed that 40 percent of American workers did not wash their hands often enough or long enough. In addition, the survey found 58 percent of employers didn’t encourage hand washing in the workplace.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand washing is the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection. The center estimates there are 78 million cases of food-borne illness with 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year. They link poor hand hygiene to 34 percent of the documented cases of food-borne illness.

The 24-hour flu, or norovirus, is one illness that spreads quickly from person to person when hands are not washed after using the restroom. Any surface the ill individual touches, such as doorknobs, phones, faucet handles or computer keyboards, may be contaminated. When a healthy person comes in contact with this surface, they can carry the virus to the food and water they consume. Hands spread germs so easily because their warm, moist environment is a harbor for germs. And since hands are always in contact with various objects, from noses to doorknobs, they pick up germs as well as spread them.

To help remove harmful germs that can easily be spread, consider these tips.

• Wash hands before you eat or prepare food, take care of someone who is ill, bandage a cut or sore or put contact lenses in and out. Wash them after you go to the bathroom, blow your nose, cough or sneeze, touch an open sore or cut, handle dirt when gardening, change a litter box, change a diaper, pet an animal, handle raw meat, fish, poultry or eggs or use items after another person has touched them, such as grocery carts, toys, etc.

• When washing, wet hands with warm, running water. Add soap and rub your hands together to make a soapy lather. Do this away from the running water so you don’t remove the soap. Be sure to wash the front and back of your hands, between fingers, under nails and on your wrists. Scrub for 15 to 20 seconds, the equivalent of singing the ABC song twice.

• Rinse your hands under warm running water. Turn off the faucet with a clean paper towel. (Remember you turned the faucet on with dirty hands.)

• Dry your hands thoroughly with a clean paper towel. Use the paper towel to open the exit door of the bathroom, then throw the paper towel away.