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Sept. 22, 2006 -- American adults need to polish their clean-hands habits, a new survey shows.
U.S. adults get a C- for their hand-cleaning habits, down from a C in 2004, says the Soap and Detergent Association, which commissioned the survey.
The survey included 1,008 U.S. adults -- 508 men and 500 women -- who were polled in August and September 2006.
Take a look at some of the questions and their answers.
Approximately how many times do you wash your hands on an average day?
The percentage of people who say they wash their hands more than 10 times daily rose from 36% in 2004.
But overall, almost a third of 2006 participants say they wash their hands less than seven times daily, says the Soap and Detergent Association.
When you wash your hands, how long do you typically lather them or rub them with soap?
In short, 69% of participants didn't claim to wash their hands for more than 20 seconds. Twenty seconds is the amount of time recommended by the CDC for a hand-washing session.
It's not clear from the survey whether people who fell into the 15-second to 20-second range hit the 20-second threshold.
Participants also answered three questions about when they washed their hands. Here are their answers.
How often do you wash your hands after you cough or sneeze?
The percentage of people who said they "seldom" or "never" wash their hands after coughing and sneezing was 36% in 2006, compared with 43% in 2004, says the Soap and Detergent Association.
How often do you wash your hands before eating lunch?
Those percentages were similar in 2004.
How often do you wash your hands after going to the bathroom?
The percentage of people who say they "always" wash their hands after going to the bathroom was a bit lower -- 90% -- in 2004.
But the Soap and Detergent Association reports that a 2005 study it commissioned shows that only 83% of people washed their hands after using a public restroom.
In other words, people's behavior may not always match their hygiene claims.