Research Article
John Wisdom Maji, Musa Daniel
Abstract
The importance of regular hand washing cannot be overemphasized, as this study reviewed the need to constantly wash our hands as well as the benefits derived from the practice and also pointed out the consequences of not regularly observing this healthy practice. The following species were isolated from swabs from different primary school pupils from private and government owned primary schools, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus spp., E. coli and Bacillus spp. Swabs from pupils showed the following result of cfu mean total viable count; 1.61 × 104, 1.52 × 102, 1.61 × 101 and 1.8 × 102. This result was obtained from pupils from the four schools; Sada primary school, Dammy preparatory School, Apollo nursery and primary school, Gummi primary school(Government school) respectively. Microbial population was more in the Government School than in the private schools. The isolated organisms were quite resistant to most of the antibiotics used, however, Staphyloccus sp. Was most sensitive to streptomycin, while Bacillus sp. was most sensitive to perfloxacin, E. coli and Salmonella sp. were very sensitive to ciprofloxacin. I therefore conclude that since the hand is a major reservoir of enteric diseases , there is need to create public awareness and build a global network on hand washing bearing the health implications of dirty and contaminated hands; therefore Proper hygiene and public enlightenment of the hands in disease dissemination should be advocated. Promotion of good hygiene by school teachers is very important, hence, key hygiene habits such as good hand washing practice that are likely to be taken further into adulthood can be adopted by encouraging millions of school children to engage in these good repetitive behaviors.