I poop, wipe, and proudly, as usual when it happens, note the snappy and sanitary efficiency when a solid clean (by feel) and toilet paper release into the bowl goes by with professional aplomb, and fingers are completely as dry and unpooped as before I sat down. (People who have a pet dog know the feeling when they neatly bag the doggie doo, sometimes without missing a step or pausing in their own conversation.)
So how much bacteria and other nasties have got onto my hand relative to that earlier hygienic-enough state? I thought about this OP while washing my hands with soap after that sterling effort, and wondered at the habit in this case.
That habit is well earned, and no matter what I don’t plan to start questioning orders, preferring not to have to do a post-game analysis each time.
But did the washing of my hand do anything? By “anything” how much was the factor is the airborne bacteria my (shielded) hand was in?
I haven’t seen comparisons of toilet seat–underwear or toilet seat–“other things”–which were suggested in two different posts upthread as arguments, generally speaking, for a net gain of bacteria over my OP general, pre-poop “hygienic-enough” state.
I bring this up because I have seen the widely passed-on information something to the effect of “your desk at the office is [dirtier/“more bacteria”==OP “hygienic enough”]” than the toilet lid.
How does that bit of misunderstood information go with the drift of the thread? Seems to me if true, than it’s a wash (heh), certainly at “the office.”
If the poop doesn’t get on your hand, I don’t think there are any bacteria that are fast enough (if even capable) of penetrating through the paper and getting on your hands for any reasonable time spent holding the paper post-wipe. A quick Google says the average bacteria moves at 50 µm/s - I have no idea how that relates to thickness of paper, but I’m certain some here will figure it out.
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” – George Orwell, Animal Farm
As others have said, even if you don’t get fecal matter on your hands, there are bacteria which will migrate through the entire nether region and onto clothing, et cetera. However, I think the consistently most dirt place in many bathrooms is the door handle on the way out, soiled by people who have not washed their hands and accumulating progressively more and varied bacteria.