We assessed whether supplying soap to primary schools on a regular basis increased pupil hand washing and decreased Escherichia coli hand contamination. Multiple rounds of structured observations of hand washing events after latrine use were conducted in 60 Kenyan schools, and hand rinse samples were collected one time in a subset of schools. The proportion of pupils observed practicing hand wa...

This study investigates if contamination perception of personal second-hand products by the previous owner can be used as a clue consumers to evaluate its perceived quality. Data were collected through an electronic survey with 332 Brazilian consumers. Descriptive, correlational, one-way ANOVA and General Linear Model tests performed analyze data. The findings confirm that alter quality and, th...

Safe water storage and hand hygiene have been shown to reduce fecal contamination and improve health in experimental settings; however, triggering and sustaining such behaviors is challenging. This study investigates the extent to which personalized information about Escherichia coli contamination of stored water and hands influenced knowledge, reported behaviors, and subsequent contamination l...

BACKGROUND A previous study found that the prevalence of contamination with bacteria of faecal-origin on the hands of men differed across UK cities, with a general trend of increased contamination in northern cities. The aim of this study was to (1) confirm the north-south trend (2) identify causes for the trend. METHODS Hand swabs from commuters (n = 308) at train stations in 4 cities were t...

Drinking water for human health and well-being is crucial. Accidental and intentional water contamination can pose great danger to consumers. Optimal design of a system that can quickly detect the presence of contamination in a water distribution network is very challenging for technical and operational reasons. However, on the one hand improvement in chemical and biological sensor technology h...

Sir, the recent article by Steinhauer et al. [1] is very interesting. Steinhauer et al. reported that “primary packaging material and use were not found to pose a significant contamination risk as far as bacterial spores are concerned” [1]. In fact, the contamination of hand disinfectants and skin antiseptics can be expected. In tropical world where the climate is proper for the growth of patho...