As a consultant I often get asked by my patients why hand washing is so important after using the bathroom. The problem is with using the toilet is that there are many more dangerous bacterias that exist within our feces (poo) than we might realise.
The other problem is that other people using the public toilet might not be as clean or take care of their personal hygiene as much as we do.
Germs found in public toilets are incredibly high. For example E.coli is regularly found in bathrooms which can make you very ill. These germs are tiny and completely invisible to the human eye, and they could be hiding anywhere, the toilet seat, the doorknob, any bathroom surface that you come into contact with.
Once you come into contact with these invisible germs and then say eat your lunch with those unwashed hands you could make yourself very ill, or indeed contaminate your friend, partner or child. By not washing your hands you leave yourself open to all sorts of nasty germs.
So simply put, make sure you wash your hands correctly to rinse away those nasty toilet germs. The fewer surfaces you touch the better. I always recommend patients to leave the bathroom using a paper towel on the handle to ensure that the good work of washing their hands is not undone by others who choose not to wash. In fact, one patient (who was particularly limber) told me how he used his foot to open the door on exit!
If you are concerned about this issue (and you should be) in your place of work, or public toilet that you frequent regularly – ask your manager or boss to install a StepNpull and greatly reduce the chances of contamination when you leave the toilet.