An article in the New Zealand Herald reports on the results of a Kleenex-commissioned survey of the hygiene of Kiwis, featuring virus experts Dr Sue Huang from ESR and Dr Lance Jennings from Christchurch Hospital (who is an official supporter of the Kleenex Sneeze Safe campaign).
An excerpt (read in full here):
NZ sniffle hygiene is slipping – survey
Be wary of the next person you shake hands with – nearly 40 per cent of adults New Zealanders have admitted to using their fingers to wipe their nose.
A Colmar Brunton survey of 1018 adult Kiwis found that two thirds admitted to not protecting their sneezes and nearly 40 per cent to using their clothing, fingers or wrist to clear their mucus.
To make matters worse, 11 per cent said they don’t wash their hands after sneezing into them and men aged 18 to 39 were the worst offenders – trumping national averages by up to 27 per cent.
Females aged over 50 were the most hygienic demographic, while professionals and government officials were the worst performing occupation with nearly half admitting to finger, wrist and clothing wiping.
The survey, commissioned by Kleenex, showed hygiene habits have worsened in the last five years. In 2008, the same survey revealed just half of adults didn’t cover their sneezes and only 34 per cent admitted to wiping their nose with clothing, fingers or wrists.
The results were so bad, in-school education programme Kleenex Sneezesafe changed the focus from education children to teaching children how to educate adults.