We tend to assume that overcrowding will be the worst aspect of our daily commute, but it would seem not - apparently one in four commuters has bacteria from faeces on their hands.
Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have swabbed 409 people at bus and train stations in five major English and Welsh cities. (Does this mean that the Scots and Irish were deemed above suspicion? As one of the latter, I'd like to think so).
Says Dr Val Curtis, director of hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 'We were flabbergasted that so many people had faecal bugs on their hands. The figures were much higher than anticipated, and suggest that there is a real problem with people washing their hands in the UK'. So much for all those tired old jokes about the French and their antipathy to soap.
The study also found that manual workers had cleaner hands than other professionals, students, retired people or the unemployed. And buses are cleaner than trains. So think very carefully before you leave the house in the morning ...
