Personal Hygiene...

Most people instinctively know that their level of personal hygiene affects how regular they fall ill. Despite this knowledge, some people are still nonchalant about their personal hygiene, some other equates the use of preventive medication, perfumes, apparent good cloth, e.t.c for personal hygiene.

You do not need to have much money to maintain good personal hygiene. Personal hygiene is usually cultivated as individuals grow into adulthood but it is never too late to cultivate it. There are couple of popular cliches to buttress this point, this includes "cleanliness is next to godliness", "health is wealth" e.t.c. Taking a look at longer nails as Africans, our culture dictates that many of us eat with our hands whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong in eating with your hands, taking preemptive measures in keeping the hands clean would protect health.

There are also the finger snacks that people enjoy everyday. This means our finger's are the gateway into our body through our mouth, we also do many other things with our hands everyday. Literally every-other activity involves our hands; be it wearing our cloth, cooking meals, using the convenience, e.t.c and in the process of doing all these things, our finger nails harbor many things ranging from tiny particles of various substances to invisible ones like germs. There are some professions that are particularly high risk which includes health workers like doctors and nurses, people who handle animals like veterinarians, animal butchers and those who handle garbage....e.t.c

Now. the irony of the situation is that these professionals are usually more aware of the importance of maintaining good hands and finger nails hygiene, as a result, they are less susceptible to fingernail borne disease's, than the members of the general public who just do not bother. Bad germs makes people sick and some times, they just do not know where they picked up the germs from.

If you are serious about good personal hygiene, it is important that your finger nails should be trimmed short and kept clean always. Men generally seem to have much better personal hygiene in this aspect, washing your hand well is one of the most important good health habits. Please note, it is particularly important for you to wash your hands:

• After you visit any toilet
• After you handle trash or take out garbage
• After you handle raw meat, fish, or poultry
• After you touch wounds, cuts, boils e.t.c
• Before and after eating
• After wiping the nose, handling dirty items like cleaning rags or mechanical works.

Hand wash with water & soup. Use an antibacterial hand gel if you can. Example's of germs harbored by the finger nails include hemorrhagic fever(Ebola), campylobacter and staphylococcus.

Remember, a little personal hygiene goes a long Way!