Updated: 12-06-2025
Why Should You Wash Your Hands After Going To The Toilet?
More often, Indian families follow the rule to wash their hands after going to the toilet.
But many people question its importance.
They want to know whether not washing hands after going to poop can cause any health problems.
The answer is yes.
According to a Journal of Environmental Health observation in 2013, out of 3,749 people, only 33 percent followed the regular routine of washing hands after coming from the toilet.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that it is wrong to avoid washing hands after coming from the bathroom.
Rather, the CDC suggests that you must scrub your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before drying them.
In case there is no soap, you can use hand sanitiser with an alcohol base.
The sanitiser must contain at least 60 per cent alcohol so that it can quickly kill the lingering germs on your hand.
Why Wash Hands After Pooping?
According to health experts, your skin, mucus, body fluids, and blood are home to innumerable bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites.
These can cause a disastrous effect on your health.
Some types of germs are transferred when you inhale, and a few others transfer through touch.
The diseases are transferred from faeces to oral when the infected person fails to wash their hands after using the toilet.
If you eat anything after coming from the toilet without washing your hands, you are more at risk of suffering from an infection.
Studies reveal that washing hands after pooping reduces the disease transmission process and illness significantly.
Diseases Caused If You Do Not Wash Your Hands
1. Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease
These types of diseases are caused by enteroviruses and the coxsackie virus.
Symptoms include blisters or bumps in the mouth, on the bottom of the feet, and on the palms.
The virus spreads when you ingest a drink or eat contaminated faecal matter.
You can prevent these diseases if you wash your hands after going to the toilet.
Antibiotics are not as effective in preventing viral infections, and you might have to suffer the fever and blisters for some time.
2. Hepatitis A
It is also a contagious viral liver infection that most of the time does not show any symptoms.
Some of the symptoms of hepatitis A include yellowing of the skin, fatigue, nausea, dark urine, and vomiting.
The symptoms can last from two to six months and take time to go completely.
Prevention is possible by washing hands after using the toilet.
Reports indicate that the transmission of Hepatitis A occurs when you do not wash your hands.
3. Shigellosis
This disease passes on to others easily by ingesting contaminated food from infected people.
Using proper hand wash for washing after going to the toilet helps in reducing the risk of this disease.
4. Giardiasis
Giardiasis is an intestinal disease caused by parasites.
The symptoms of this disease include diarrhoea, cramping, and gas.
It spreads when you drink infected water from sources that are not treated.
Similarly, one of its other causes is hand-to-faecal contact.
Doctors advise thorough washing of hands after going to the loo or pooping and after changing the nappies to prevent transmission of this infection.
How To Wash Your Hands? What are the points to follow to wash hands after going to the toilet
To wash your hands after going to the toilet, you must:
- Wet hands with clean water.
- Use soap and water to form lather and scrub your hands for 20 seconds
- Rub hands together rapidly, covering all of your hands and wrists, including the back of the hands, in between the fingers, under the fingernails, with soap lather
- Remove any rings or watches so that you can clean your hands completely.
- Rinse the hands under tap water and remove all the traces of soap
- Use a clean towel to dry your hands.
- Prefer using paper towels or single-use towelettes.
- You can use an air dryer for drying
- Each family member should use their own towel.
So it is indeed important to wash your hands after going to the toilet.
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