On your hands hide many substances that are not very visible, such as sperm or hair…
- Researchers have discovered various substances in samples taken from the hands of participants.
- Among these were dirt, hair, saliva and semen!
- To avoid getting sick, it is important to wash your hands several times a day.
2% of participants had semen on their hands, according to a new study published in the journal Science & Justice. But this is not the only substance detected by scientists. They also found hair, various dirt and saliva on the hands of the participants.
Substances on the hands
To reach this conclusion, the researchers took tissue samples from the hands of 66 people. More specifically, they were 45 women and 21 men. So they found all these substances.
For semen, which only affected a minority of participants, scientists were unable to determine whether the presence of this substance was due to sexual activity or whether people had touched surfaces that had semen on them.
Anyway, this study reminds us of the need to wash our hands frequently. It is with them that we touch the most surfaces and they can therefore be very dirty, without it being visible.
Good hand washing is essential
According to Unicefthere are five steps to washing your hands properly: Wet your hands (the water temperature does not matter as long as there is soap), apply enough soap, scrub entire surface (back, between fingers, under fingernails for at least 20 seconds), rinse and dry hands. This last step is important because microbes and bacteria proliferate more from wet skin than from dry skin.
In all, the ideal duration of a complete hand wash – with water or hydroalcoholic gel – is 20 to 30 seconds minimum. For the gel, the solution must contain at least 60% alcohol.
Finally, for both adults and children, it is important to wash your hands throughout the day. But, after certain times, it is essential: before and after meals, after using the bathroom, when touching heavily used surfaces such as elevator buttons, cash machines, etc.
