There is good reason why I refrain, as much as diplomatically possible, from shaking hands with fellow members of the human race. Upon entering a stall in the HSS building, I experienced shock and awe at the sight of used and unused seat covers on the floor, urine stains on the toilet seat, toilet paper on the floor, sanitary items sticking out of the disposal box and other restroom faux pas.

My immediate response was to run to the next stall, where unfortunately, it was not any cleaner. I do not understand how women can be so filthy. Is it really that hard to clean up after yourself?

Ladies, if you sprinkle a few drops while you’re squatting, simply pull some toilet paper from the roll and wipe it up so that the next person does not have to feel like they are stepping into a pigsty. This is not rocket science.

This incident inspired me to do a survey of 10 women’s bathrooms on campus. I wondered if the women at SF State carried their bad stall habits out of the bathroom door.

I was horrified by what I found.

Ladies and gentleman, you should know that only 32 out of 96 women whom I shared a bathroom with washed their hands after leaving a stall. Keep in mind the six women who simply brushed their fingers under running water for a mere half second were counted as having not washed their hands.

That means that approximately one-third of those surveyed carried their own germs, as well as those of the women who visited that stall before them, outside onto campus where they shook hands with people and ate with their hands.

According to the CDC’s Web site, unless you thoroughly wash your hands, you are susceptible to influenza, the common cold, e-coli, hepatitis-c and certain strains of herpes.

An E. coli infected person can leave bacteria from their diarrhea stools on the stall door after wiping herself, leaving the next person vulnerable to transmission. Although the majority of the CDC’s reported 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths from E. coli occurred from eating undercooked meat, this is a real threat to consider when deciding whether or not to take an extra 60 seconds to wash your hands before you eat.

Another consequence of bad hygiene is hepatitis A, which can be passed via fecal-oral transmission; putting something in your mouth that has come in contact with someone with hepatitis A who has not washed their hands after wiping themselves in a bathroom stall.

An SF State Student Health Services nurse could not tell me precisely how long the herpes virus can live on a surface such as a stall doorknob or facet handles. She did say that certain strains of the virus could survive several minutes outside of the body.

It does not take much to avoid ailments ranging from simple discomfort to life threatening. Good hygiene starts with adequate hand washing. I recommend that everyone take the time to dispense some soap, work up a good lather, and really cleanse your hands before leaving a bathroom-- especially a public one.

Call me a germaphobe, hypochondriac or drama queen if you wish, but after witnessing the sickening, literally and figuratively, habits of some women on campus, I feel vindicated.