Dishing the Dirt on Hand-Washing Guidelines 洗手到底要洗多久？
Americans aren't washing their hands nearly as often and as thoroughly as they should, according to a recent study. But the recommendations they are defying aren't squeaky clean.
最近的一项研究显示，美国人在洗手时几乎并不如他们应该洗的那样频繁和彻底，而被他们嗤之以鼻的那些洗手建议也并非都是毫无瑕疵、无可指摘的。 For the study, 12 researchers fanned out across public bathrooms in East Lansing, Mich. Trying to keep as inconspicuous as is possible while loitering in restrooms for instance, pretending to groom themselves at the sinks they recorded the behavior of more than 3, 700 bathroom users.
为了进行这项研究，12名研究人员分散前往至密歇根州东兰辛市(East Lansing)的各个公共卫生间。这些人员在公共洗手间研究逗留时尽量保持着不被他人察觉的姿态──比如，假装在盥洗台边梳洗──他们用这样的方式记录了3,700多名使用过卫生间的民众的行为。
The results were discouraging: One in 10 didn't wash their hands at all; just two in three used soap; and just one in 20 washed their hands for at least 15 seconds, which is five seconds shy of recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
研究结果令人沮丧：10个人中就会有一个根本不洗手的；三个人中只有两个人会使用肥皂；而在20个人中，仅仅只有一个人在洗手时会至少洗上15秒，这比美国疾病控制和预防中心(US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
提倡的洗手时间还差了五秒。
The researchers, in the study and in the resulting press coverage, said the implications for public health were dire. No wonder roughly 50 million Americans contract food-borne illnesses each year, this argument goes, when so many people aren't washing their hands. 'The public needs to be continually encouraged to engage in proper hand-washing practices, ' the authors, from Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business, concluded.
科研人员在该研究和随后的新闻报道中称，这对公共健康的影响是极其严重的。他们还称，当有这么多的人都不洗手时，每年有5,000万左右的美国人染上由食物传染的疾病也就不足为怪了。来自密歇根州立大学酒店商务学院(Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business)的作者们就总结道：“需要继续鼓励公众参与到正确的洗手实践过程中。”
Other scientists in the surprisingly rich field of hand-washing research, though, said the study's findings weren't necessarily a call to public-health action. For one thing, the study took place in restrooms in a college town, which may not be representative of all public toilets in the U.S. Various factors such as the state of the bathrooms could skew the results with such a limited sample. 'It's clumped data and should be treated as such, ' said Valerie Curtis, director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
然而，在成果惊人丰富、建树颇丰的洗手研究领域，其他一些科学家却称，上述研究的结论不一定要解读为得展开公共卫生行动。一是因为，这项研究是在一座大学城的公共卫生间内进行的，可能无法代表美国所有的公厕。由于所取样本如此有限，各种各样的因素──比如卫生间的条件状况──可能都会影响到研究结果。伦敦卫生与热带医药学院(London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine)的负责人瓦莱丽•柯蒂斯(Valerie Curtis)说：“这是集群分布数据，就该这样处理。”
Lead author Carl P. Borchgrevink, associate professor at Michigan State's hospitality school, responded that while there is room for further research, he sees no reason the findings wouldn't apply to settings similar to those observed.
上述研究的首席作者、来自密歇根州立大学酒店学院的副教授卡尔•P•博克格雷温克(Carl P. Borchgrevink)回应说，虽然还有进一步研究的空间，但他不认为有什麽理由不该把这些结论应用到其他观察到的与之相似情况中去。
Washing hands also isn't as vital after urinating as after defecating, some researchers say. 'This is because pathogens are found in feces, ' said Gaby Judah, a graduate student at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
有些研究人员称，小便后洗手也不如大便后洗手那么重要。伦敦卫生与热带医药学院的一名研究生戈比•犹大(Gaby Judah)说：“这是因为粪便中常被发现有病原体存在。”
Asked about the importance of washing for 20 seconds, and whether there are diminishing returns after a certain period, Prof. Borchgrevink said those were 'great questions, however, I am a hospitality-business professor, and am not able to answer with authority.' He referred inquiries to the CDC.
在被问到洗手要洗20秒钟的重要性以及是否会在超过某一特定时长后出现收益递减时，博克格雷温克说这些都是“特别棒的问题，尽管如此，但我作为一名酒店-商务专业的教授，无法给出权威的答案。”他说这些问题应该问美国疾病控制和预防中心。
CDC guidelines for hand-washing time aren't based on a lot of hard data. The agency used to advise humming 'Happy Birthday' once while washing, but within the past decade changed that to twice which takes Prof. Borchgrevink, and this columnist, closer to 30 seconds than 20.
有关洗手时间的长短，美国疾病控制和预防中心给出的指导方针也不是基于大量
确凿的数据而制定出来的。该机构曾建议公众在洗手的时候要哼完一遍“生日快乐”歌，但在过去的10年里又将其改成要哼唱两遍──这就让博克格雷温克和本文作者花了近30秒钟，而非20秒。
A CDC spokeswoman said no one was available to comment on the CDC recommendations during the holiday week.
美国疾病控制和预防中心的一名女发言人说，在放假的这一周里，没有人能就该机构的提议置评。
No researchers say washing is harmful, or that washing for longer is worse than washing for less time. But many researchers say time is just one of many factors in effective hand-washing. Also critical is the amount of friction applied.
没有研究人员称洗手是有害的，或者说洗手时间长比洗得短更糟糕。但很多研究员称，时间长短只是有效洗手众多因素中的一个。另一个至关重要的因素是洗手过程中的摩擦总量。
There's also a risk in setting too big of a target for washing time. 'If we set a goal that may appear optimal based on hospital surgical scrubbing, we risk making recommendations that are so unrealistic people will ignore them, ' said Stephen Luby, a public-health researcher at Stanford University.
若为洗手时间设定的目标值过高的话，也会存在风险。斯坦福大学(Stanford University)的一名公共健康研究员斯蒂芬•鲁比(Stephen Luby)说：“如果我们基于医院外科擦洗的标准来设定一个看似最优的目标值，我们就会顶着这样一种风险：使所提倡的洗手时间变得不切实际，人们就将对此视而不见。 ”
That leaves much room for debate on how much soap matters, for example. 'While it is good to wash hands for the recommended time, using soap in the first place is the most important part, ' said Ms. Judah. But Prof. Luby said work that he and his colleagues conducted in rural Bangladesh in 2007
showed that 'even rinsing with water alone provides important health benefits.'
这就留出了许多争论的空间──比如说，打多少肥皂管用。鲁比说：“按照美国疾病控制和预防中心提议的时间长短去洗手固然是不错，但在一开始就打上肥皂是最重要的一环。”但鲁比还称，2007年，他和同事一起在孟加拉国农村地区进行的研究工作表明“就算只用清水冲洗干净也会对人的健康颇有裨益。” Then again, the picture could be even worse than the Michigan State study suggests. Some people who noticed they were being observed may have washed their hands only to avoid being seen leaving a bathroom without doing so.
而且，现实场景可能会比密歇根州立大学研究中提到的更糟。有些人可能是在注意到自己正被他人观察时才去清洗双手的，他们这么做只是为了避免被人发现自己不洗手就走出卫生间。
'There is social pressure around this idea that we should clean our hands, ' Prof. Luby said. 'It's part of being a civilized person.'
鲁比说：“社会上的观念认为我们应该洗手，在这方面存在着某种压力；作为文明人，都应该洗手。”
implication [,impli'keiʃən]video
n. 含义；暗示；牵连，卷入
restroom ['restru:m]video
n. 厕所；洗手间；休息室；更衣室
scrub [skrʌb]video
n. 矮树；洗擦；擦洗者；矮小的人（或物）vt. 用力擦洗；使净化vi. 擦洗；进行手臂消毒adj. 矮小的；临时凑合的；次等的
columnist ['kɔləmnist]video
n. 专栏作家
engage [in'ɡeidʒ]video
vt. 吸引，占用；使参加；雇佣；使订婚；预定vi. 从事；答应，保证；交战；啮合
coverage ['kʌvəridʒ]video
n. 覆盖，覆盖范围
groom [ɡru:m]video
vt. 整饰；推荐；喂马n. 新郎；马夫；男仆vi. 打扮 hospitality [,hɔspi'tæləti]video
n. 好客；殷勤
decade ['dekeid]video
n. 十年，十年期；十
friction ['frikʃən]video
n. 摩擦，[力] 摩擦力
Dishing the Dirt on Hand-Washing Guidelines 洗手到底要洗多久？
Americans aren't washing their hands nearly as often and as thoroughly as they should, according to a recent study. But the recommendations they are defying aren't squeaky clean.
最近的一项研究显示，美国人在洗手时几乎并不如他们应该洗的那样频繁和彻底，而被他们嗤之以鼻的那些洗手建议也并非都是毫无瑕疵、无可指摘的。 For the study, 12 researchers fanned out across public bathrooms in East Lansing, Mich. Trying to keep as inconspicuous as is possible while loitering in restrooms for instance, pretending to groom themselves at the sinks they recorded the behavior of more than 3, 700 bathroom users.
为了进行这项研究，12名研究人员分散前往至密歇根州东兰辛市(East Lansing)的各个公共卫生间。这些人员在公共洗手间研究逗留时尽量保持着不被他人察觉的姿态──比如，假装在盥洗台边梳洗──他们用这样的方式记录了3,700多名使用过卫生间的民众的行为。
The results were discouraging: One in 10 didn't wash their hands at all; just two in three used soap; and just one in 20 washed their hands for at least 15 seconds, which is five seconds shy of recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
研究结果令人沮丧：10个人中就会有一个根本不洗手的；三个人中只有两个人会使用肥皂；而在20个人中，仅仅只有一个人在洗手时会至少洗上15秒，这比美国疾病控制和预防中心(US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
提倡的洗手时间还差了五秒。
The researchers, in the study and in the resulting press coverage, said the implications for public health were dire. No wonder roughly 50 million Americans contract food-borne illnesses each year, this argument goes, when so many people aren't washing their hands. 'The public needs to be continually encouraged to engage in proper hand-washing practices, ' the authors, from Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business, concluded.
科研人员在该研究和随后的新闻报道中称，这对公共健康的影响是极其严重的。他们还称，当有这么多的人都不洗手时，每年有5,000万左右的美国人染上由食物传染的疾病也就不足为怪了。来自密歇根州立大学酒店商务学院(Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business)的作者们就总结道：“需要继续鼓励公众参与到正确的洗手实践过程中。”
Other scientists in the surprisingly rich field of hand-washing research, though, said the study's findings weren't necessarily a call to public-health action. For one thing, the study took place in restrooms in a college town, which may not be representative of all public toilets in the U.S. Various factors such as the state of the bathrooms could skew the results with such a limited sample. 'It's clumped data and should be treated as such, ' said Valerie Curtis, director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
然而，在成果惊人丰富、建树颇丰的洗手研究领域，其他一些科学家却称，上述研究的结论不一定要解读为得展开公共卫生行动。一是因为，这项研究是在一座大学城的公共卫生间内进行的，可能无法代表美国所有的公厕。由于所取样本如此有限，各种各样的因素──比如卫生间的条件状况──可能都会影响到研究结果。伦敦卫生与热带医药学院(London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine)的负责人瓦莱丽•柯蒂斯(Valerie Curtis)说：“这是集群分布数据，就该这样处理。”
Lead author Carl P. Borchgrevink, associate professor at Michigan State's hospitality school, responded that while there is room for further research, he sees no reason the findings wouldn't apply to settings similar to those observed.
上述研究的首席作者、来自密歇根州立大学酒店学院的副教授卡尔•P•博克格雷温克(Carl P. Borchgrevink)回应说，虽然还有进一步研究的空间，但他不认为有什麽理由不该把这些结论应用到其他观察到的与之相似情况中去。
Washing hands also isn't as vital after urinating as after defecating, some researchers say. 'This is because pathogens are found in feces, ' said Gaby Judah, a graduate student at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
有些研究人员称，小便后洗手也不如大便后洗手那么重要。伦敦卫生与热带医药学院的一名研究生戈比•犹大(Gaby Judah)说：“这是因为粪便中常被发现有病原体存在。”
Asked about the importance of washing for 20 seconds, and whether there are diminishing returns after a certain period, Prof. Borchgrevink said those were 'great questions, however, I am a hospitality-business professor, and am not able to answer with authority.' He referred inquiries to the CDC.
在被问到洗手要洗20秒钟的重要性以及是否会在超过某一特定时长后出现收益递减时，博克格雷温克说这些都是“特别棒的问题，尽管如此，但我作为一名酒店-商务专业的教授，无法给出权威的答案。”他说这些问题应该问美国疾病控制和预防中心。
CDC guidelines for hand-washing time aren't based on a lot of hard data. The agency used to advise humming 'Happy Birthday' once while washing, but within the past decade changed that to twice which takes Prof. Borchgrevink, and this columnist, closer to 30 seconds than 20.
有关洗手时间的长短，美国疾病控制和预防中心给出的指导方针也不是基于大量
确凿的数据而制定出来的。该机构曾建议公众在洗手的时候要哼完一遍“生日快乐”歌，但在过去的10年里又将其改成要哼唱两遍──这就让博克格雷温克和本文作者花了近30秒钟，而非20秒。
A CDC spokeswoman said no one was available to comment on the CDC recommendations during the holiday week.
美国疾病控制和预防中心的一名女发言人说，在放假的这一周里，没有人能就该机构的提议置评。
No researchers say washing is harmful, or that washing for longer is worse than washing for less time. But many researchers say time is just one of many factors in effective hand-washing. Also critical is the amount of friction applied.
没有研究人员称洗手是有害的，或者说洗手时间长比洗得短更糟糕。但很多研究员称，时间长短只是有效洗手众多因素中的一个。另一个至关重要的因素是洗手过程中的摩擦总量。
There's also a risk in setting too big of a target for washing time. 'If we set a goal that may appear optimal based on hospital surgical scrubbing, we risk making recommendations that are so unrealistic people will ignore them, ' said Stephen Luby, a public-health researcher at Stanford University.
若为洗手时间设定的目标值过高的话，也会存在风险。斯坦福大学(Stanford University)的一名公共健康研究员斯蒂芬•鲁比(Stephen Luby)说：“如果我们基于医院外科擦洗的标准来设定一个看似最优的目标值，我们就会顶着这样一种风险：使所提倡的洗手时间变得不切实际，人们就将对此视而不见。 ”
That leaves much room for debate on how much soap matters, for example. 'While it is good to wash hands for the recommended time, using soap in the first place is the most important part, ' said Ms. Judah. But Prof. Luby said work that he and his colleagues conducted in rural Bangladesh in 2007
showed that 'even rinsing with water alone provides important health benefits.'
这就留出了许多争论的空间──比如说，打多少肥皂管用。鲁比说：“按照美国疾病控制和预防中心提议的时间长短去洗手固然是不错，但在一开始就打上肥皂是最重要的一环。”但鲁比还称，2007年，他和同事一起在孟加拉国农村地区进行的研究工作表明“就算只用清水冲洗干净也会对人的健康颇有裨益。” Then again, the picture could be even worse than the Michigan State study suggests. Some people who noticed they were being observed may have washed their hands only to avoid being seen leaving a bathroom without doing so.
而且，现实场景可能会比密歇根州立大学研究中提到的更糟。有些人可能是在注意到自己正被他人观察时才去清洗双手的，他们这么做只是为了避免被人发现自己不洗手就走出卫生间。
'There is social pressure around this idea that we should clean our hands, ' Prof. Luby said. 'It's part of being a civilized person.'
鲁比说：“社会上的观念认为我们应该洗手，在这方面存在着某种压力；作为文明人，都应该洗手。”
implication [,impli'keiʃən]video
n. 含义；暗示；牵连，卷入
restroom ['restru:m]video
n. 厕所；洗手间；休息室；更衣室
scrub [skrʌb]video
n. 矮树；洗擦；擦洗者；矮小的人（或物）vt. 用力擦洗；使净化vi. 擦洗；进行手臂消毒adj. 矮小的；临时凑合的；次等的
columnist ['kɔləmnist]video
n. 专栏作家
engage [in'ɡeidʒ]video
vt. 吸引，占用；使参加；雇佣；使订婚；预定vi. 从事；答应，保证；交战；啮合
coverage ['kʌvəridʒ]video
n. 覆盖，覆盖范围
groom [ɡru:m]video
vt. 整饰；推荐；喂马n. 新郎；马夫；男仆vi. 打扮 hospitality [,hɔspi'tæləti]video
n. 好客；殷勤
decade ['dekeid]video
n. 十年，十年期；十
friction ['frikʃən]video
n. 摩擦，[力] 摩擦力