You can get a serious respiratory illness
Your mother didn’t lie to you when you were a child: If you don’t wash your hands, you’re going to get sick, and you shouldn’t underestimate that. You can get a common cold, however, the risks are much more severe than that. According to the CDC, these are some of the respiratory illnesses you can develop from not washing your hands: COVID-19, the flu, pneumonia, adenovirus, and even hand, foot, and mouth disease.
Interestingly, proper handwashing practices can cut the number of colds and respiratory illnesses you contract by 21 percent, that’s why you shouldn’t forget about it.
You can get diarrhea
Diarrhea-related illnesses can appear quickly in people who don’t wash their hands frequently. Tanya McIntosh, an infection-control practitioner and registered nurse at the University of Kansas Medical Center, says, “Handwashing after you go to the bathroom is another key time to perform hand hygiene. Bacteria and viruses from feces (poop) can cause various diarrhea-related illnesses, including salmonella, norovirus, and E. coli 0157.”
The CDC explains that proper handwashing reduces the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 31 percent.
You can get (and give) food poisoning
This is definitely another time when proper handwashing plays an important role in staying away from illnesses – when you’re cooking.
McIntosh argues frequent washing as being crucial in preventing cross-contamination. “Foods such as raw meat, vegetables with dirt on them, or eggs can harbor potentially harmful bacteria that can make you sick if not handled correctly,” she says.
