Face touching: A frequent habit that has implications for hand hygiene
Open accessAbstract
Background There is limited literature on the frequency of face-touching behavior as a potential vector for the self-inoculation and transmission of Staphylococcus aureus and other common respiratory infections. Methods A behavioral observation study was undertaken involving medical students at the University of New South Wales. Their face-touching behavior was observed via videotape recording. Using standardized scoring sheets, the frequency of hand-to-face contacts with mucosal or nonmucosal areas was tallied and analyzed. Results On average, each of the 26 observed students touched their face 23 times per hour. Of all face touches, 44% (1,024/2,346) involved contact with a mucous membrane, whereas 56% (1,322/2,346) of contacts involved nonmucosal areas. Of mucous membrane touches observed, 36% (372) involved the mouth, 31% (318) involved the nose, 27% (273) involved the eyes, and 6% (61) were a combination of these regions. Conclusion Increasing medical students' awareness of their habituated face-touching behavior and improving their understanding of self-inoculation as a route of transmission may help to improve hand hygiene compliance. Hand hygiene programs aiming to improve compliance with before and after patient contact should include a message that mouth and nose touching is a common practice. Hand hygiene is therefore an essential and inexpensive preventive method to break the colonization and transmission cycle associated with self-inoculation.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A human normally touches their face on an average 23 times an hour.
“A human normally touches their face on an average 23 times an hour (Kwok et al., 2015).”
From Understanding coronaphobia (2020) · cites this paper as Kwok et al., 2015
The Abstract Results and Results report an average of 23 face touches per hour, but this was observed in 26 medical students. The claim presents that study-specific average as what a human normally does, which the paper does not establish for people generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The role of nasal carriage in Staphylococcus aureus infections
Wertheim, H. F., Melles, D. C., Vos, M. C., van Leeuwen, W., van Belkum, A., Verbrugh, H. A., & Nouwen, J. L. (2005) · The Lancet Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(05)70295-4 · Cited by 2,685 · see citing works
Sax, H., Allegranzi, B., Uçkay, İ., Larson, E., Boyce, J. M., & Pittet, D. (2007) · Journal of Hospital Infection · doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2007.06.004 · Cited by 810 · see citing works
Evidence-based model for hand transmission during patient care and the role of improved practices
Pittet, D., Allegranzi, B., Sax, H., Dharan, S., Pessoa-Silva, C. L., Donaldson, L., & Boyce, J. M. (2006) · The Lancet Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(06)70600-4 · Cited by 790 · see citing works
Dancer, S. J. (2007) · The Lancet Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(07)70241-4 · Cited by 490 · see citing works
French, G. L., Otter, J. A., Shannon, K. P., Adams, N. M. T., Watling, D., & PARKS, M. J. (2004) · Journal of Hospital Infection · doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2004.03.006 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
Nicas, M., & Best, D. (2008) · Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene · doi:10.1080/15459620802003896 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
Peltola, V. T., Waris, M. E., Österback, R., Susi, P., Ruuskanen, O., & Hyypiä, T. (2008) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1086/525542 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Studies of the community and family: acute respiratory illness and infection
Monto, A. S. (1994) · Epidemiologic Reviews · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036158 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
TRANSMISSION OF EXPERIMENTAL RHINOVIRUS INFECTION BY CONTAMINATED SURFACES
Gwaltney, J. M., & Hendley, J. O. (1982) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113473 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Giuseppe, G. D., Abbate, R., Albano, L., Marinelli, P., & Angelillo, I. F. (2008) · BMC Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1186/1471-2334-8-36 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Contamination of Stethoscopes and Physicians' Hands After a Physical Examination
Longtin, Y., Schneider, A., Tschopp, C., Renzi, G., Gayet‐Ageron, A., Schrenzel, J., & Pittet, D. (2014) · Mayo Clinic Proceedings · doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.11.016 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Munckhof, W., Nimmo, G. R., Schooneveldt, J. M., Schlebusch, S., Stephens, A. J., Williams, G. M., Huygens, F., & Giffard, P. M. (2009) · Clinical Microbiology and Infection · doi:10.1111/j.1469-0691.2008.02652.x · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Clinical effects of rhinovirus infections
Peltola, V. T., Waris, M. E., Österback, R., Susi, P., Hyypiä, T., & Ruuskanen, O. (2008) · Journal of Clinical Virology · doi:10.1016/j.jcv.2008.08.014 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Winther, B., McCue, K. A., Ashe, K., Rubino, J. R., & Hendley, J. O. (2007) · Journal of Medical Virology · doi:10.1002/jmv.20956 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Rongpharpi, S. R. (2013) · JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH · doi:10.7860/jcdr/2013/4320.2741 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Gu, J., Zhong, Y., Hao, Y., Zhou, D., Tsui, H., Hao, C., Gao, Q., Ling, W., & Lau, J. T. F. (2015) · Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1177/1010539512443699 · Cited by 63 · cited 1× · see citing works
“1, 2 Although the literature on the mechanisms of self-inoculation of common respiratory infections (eg, influenza, coronavirus) is limited, [3] [4] [5] contaminated hands have been reported as having potential to disseminate respiratory infections.”
BackgroundSurvival of influenza virus on human fingers
Thomas, Y., Boquete-Suter, P., Koch, D. A., Pittet, D., & Kaiser, L. (2013) · Clinical Microbiology and Infection · doi:10.1111/1469-0691.12324 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Controlling the novel A (H1N1) influenza virus: don't touch your face!
Macías, A. E., de la Torre, A., Moreno‐Espinosa, S., Leal, P. E., Bourlon, M. T., & Ruiz-Palacios, G. M. (2009) · Journal of Hospital Infection · doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2009.06.017 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Elder, N. C., Sawyer, W. P., Pallerla, H., Khaja, S., & Blacker, M. (2014) · The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine · doi:10.3122/jabfm.2014.03.130242 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Gebreyesus, A., Gebre-Selassie, S., & Mihert, A. (2013) · PubMed · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Rohde, R. E., Denham, R., & Brannon, A. (2009) · PubMed · Cited by 40 · see citing works
The public hand hygiene practices of New Zealanders: a national survey.
Garbutt, C., Simmons, G., Patrick, D., & Miller, T. E. (2007) · PubMed · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [6]American Society for Microbiology. American Society for Microbiology Survey reveals that as many as 30 percent of travelers don't wash hands after using public restrooms at airports (September 2003). Available from: http://www.asm.org/index.php/asm-press-releases/press-releases-archive/92-newsroom/press-releases/1807-american-society-for-microbiology-survey-reveals-that-as-many-as-30-percentof-travelers-don-t-wash-hands-after-using-public-restrooms-at-airports. Accessed March 1, 2014.
- [13]Last J. A dictionary of epidemiology 2nd ed. 2008 Oxford University Press New York (NY) Accessed February 2, 2014 http://www.ebooks.com/537605/dictionary-of-epidemiology/porta-miquel/
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents.
Kampf, G., Todt, D., Pfaender, S., & Steinmann, E. (2020) · Journal of Hospital Infection · doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2020.01.022 · Cited by 3,796 · see citing works
Transmissibility and transmission of respiratory viruses
Leung, N. H. L. (2021) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/s41579-021-00535-6 · Cited by 890 · see citing works
Bundgaard, H., Bundgaard, J. S., Raaschou-Pedersen, D. E. T., von Buchwald, C., Todsen, T., Norsk, J. B., Pries-Heje, M. M., Vissing, C. R., Nielsen, P. B., Winsløw, U. C., et al. (2021) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/m20-6817 · Cited by 388 · see citing works
Arora, A., Jha, A. K., Alat, P., & Das, S. S. (2020) · Asian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102384 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Gu, J., Zhong, Y., Hao, Y., Zhou, D., Tsui, H., Hao, C., Gao, Q., Ling, W., & Lau, J. T. F. (2015) · Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1177/1010539512443699 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kwok, Y. L. A., Gralton, J., & McLaws, M.-L.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- ORCID
- McLaws, Mary-Louise
- Venue
- American Journal of Infection Control
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-02
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 112-114
- ISSN
- 0196-6553 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7115329
- OpenAlex
- W2047381373
- Cited by
- 402
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 119 · 2020: 129 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 3.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Journal of Infection Control (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of New South Wales
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Infection Control in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Infection Control and Ventilation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food Safety and Hygiene
- Keywords
- face touching, hand hygiene compliance, autoinoculation, medical students, infection control, respiratory infections
- MeSH terms
- Face, Habits, Humans, Students, Medical, Occupational Health, Hand Hygiene
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
