When You Should Wash

Before you

Prepare or eat food
Treat a cut or wound
Tend to someone who's sick
Put in or take out contact lenses
Do any kind of activity that involves putting your fingers in or near your mouth, eyes, etc.

Microbes found on a cutting board.
(© Dennis Kunkel)

After you

Go to the bathroom
Handle uncooked foods, especially raw meat
Eat
Blow your nose, cough or sneeze
Handle garbage
Tend to someone who's sick
Change a diaper
Play with or touch a pet, especially reptiles and exotic animals

Handwashing is mostly a matter of common sense. And what happens when you skimp on that common sense? That's the subject of a video created by some students at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey, Fla. (You can choose the 2.2M high bandwidth version or, if you're using a modem, the 513K low bandwidth version might be a lot faster for you. You'll need the Quicktime player to view these video files. You can download it for free here.)

Think handwashing is simple? Think you know how to do it? All right, click here to find out how right you are.