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Hand washing denialists

Washing hands prevent disease transmission, reducing risks of intestinal infections and saving lives. Clean hands mean healthier lives!

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In my post the other day about how simply washing your hands can prevent a lot of disease transmission, a scary number of people felt the need to leave comments proudly proclaiming how they don't wash their hands after using the bathroom, and how they don't get sick. To those disgusting people, I say: blecccchhhh and ewwwww.

But seriously, that's really bad logic. First, this isn't about you, it's about the people who use the bathroom or other utensils after you do; they are the ones getting your germs on and in their bodies. Second, your stories are anecdotal, and not based on real data. Third, it's a fallacy: just because you haven't gotten sick doesn't mean you can't. You need that real data. So here it is: a meta-analysis of studies of people who washed their hands with soap versus those who didn't shows that washing with soap can ...

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