
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994                   TAG: 9410110024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA. NOTE: BELOW                                 LENGTH: Short

DO DOCTORS NEED 'TOILET TRAINING?'

Do infectious-disease experts know enough to wash their hands after using the bathroom? Don't count on it.

Hand washing is one of the most important ways of stopping the spread of germs in hospitals. To see if doctors practice what they preach, a team of researchers decided to watch their toilet etiquette.

At last year's meeting in New Orleans of the Infectious Diseases Society of America,

56 percent of the men and 87 percent of the women washed up.

Study leader Dr. Brobson Lutz said, ``If infectious-disease specialists attending professional meetings do not routinely wash their hands after using public restrooms, can we assume that physicians and other health care workers routinely wash their hands in the clinical care arena?''

by CNB