A Dirty Secret.

• Position: Hand washing after bathroom use - survey - Brief Article

Americans have a dirty little secret: They don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom nearly as often as they claim.

Although 95 percent insist they always scrub up after using a public restroom, only 67 percent actually do so, according to a five-city survey conducted for the American Society for Microbiology. New Yorkers were the dirtiest, while Chicagoans were the cleanest (see chart). In every city, women were cleaner than men. Overall, 75 percent of the women washed up, compared with 58 percent for men. But some people, like Eli Siemon, 26, a New York...