50 Fun Facts About Hygiene

The word 'hygiene' derives from which Greek goddess, the personification of health?

She was a daughter of Asclepius, the god of medicine; the word entered English in 1676 via French.

The World Health Organization recommends scrubbing your hands with soap for at least how long?

The CDC says the same, and adds that water temperature makes no difference; the friction is what removes germs.

Which Hungarian 'saviour of mothers' introduced hand disinfection in Vienna's obstetric clinics in 1847?

He could not explain why it cut deaths from childbed fever, and colleagues mocked him for suggesting doctors' hands were unclean.

Evidence of soap-like materials being made dates back to around 2800 BC in which ancient civilisation?

Modern soap is made by saponification: fats or oils reacting with an alkali such as lye, which frees glycerin as a by-product.

The first modern-style toothbrush, from Tang-dynasty China, used which animal's bristles?

Bristles came from hogs in Siberia and northern China because cold weather made them firmer; handles were bamboo or bone.

Where did William Addis come up with the idea for the first mass-produced toothbrush in 1780?

Jailed for causing a riot in 1770, he drilled holes in a saved meal bone and threaded in bristles from a guard; his company survived until 1996.

Which company introduced nylon toothbrush bristles, replacing animal hair, in 1938?

The first nylon brush went on sale on February 24, 1938; the first electric toothbrush, the Broxodent, followed from Switzerland in 1954.

Dr. Washington Sheffield put toothpaste in a collapsible tube in 1880 after his son saw what in Paris?

Colgate copied the idea in 1896; the original tubes were made of lead.

What did dental floss inventor Levi Spear Parmly recommend running between teeth in 1819?

He considered it the most important part of oral care; floss did not become common until much later.

The first modern commercial deodorant, patented in Philadelphia in 1888, was sold under what name?

Edna Murphey invented it; the same company later launched Ban Roll-On in 1952 using an applicator inspired by the ballpoint pen.

The first commercial antiperspirant, launched in 1903, was called what?

Jules Montenier's 1941 patent solved the skin-irritation problem of aluminum chloride and went into Stopette spray.

The English word 'shampoo', dating to 1762, comes from a Hindi word meaning what?

It originally referred to a traditional Indian head massage with hair oil, not a soap.

The earliest recorded use of paper for toilet hygiene, in the 6th century AD, comes from which country?

Scholar-official Yan Zhitui mentioned it around 589; purpose-made toilet paper was mass-produced there by the 14th century.

Joseph Gayetty's 'Medicated Paper', the first commercial toilet paper in the US, launched in which year?

It came as flat sheets watermarked with his name; rolls took off after a Pennsylvania firm began marketing them in 1890.

Which company popularised toilet paper on rolls when it began marketing them in 1890?

Seth Wheeler of Albany had patented the perforated roll and dispenser in 1883.

Listerine, developed in St. Louis in 1879, is named after which pioneer of antiseptic surgery?

Joseph Lawrence's formula was first a surgical antiseptic and even a floor cleaner; it became the first over-the-counter mouthwash in 1914.

Listerine sales exploded in the 1920s when it was sold as the cure for which then-obscure term?

Contrary to legend the brand did not coin the word, which comes from the Latin halitus, 'breath'; the ads featured lonely singles nobody would marry.

Global Handwashing Day is marked every year on which date?

It was first celebrated in 2008 to promote washing with soap at critical moments such as before eating and after using the toilet.

The CDC recommends alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least what percentage of alcohol?

Formulas of 60 to 95 percent are most effective; they kill most microbes but not spores, and they are flammable.

Which chemical did Joseph Lister introduce at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1865 to sterilise wounds and tools?

Inspired by Pasteur's work on microbes, he showed in 1865 that carbolic dressings sharply cut post-surgical infection.

In 1854 John Snow traced a London cholera outbreak to a public water pump on which Soho thoroughfare?

The council removed the pump handle; officials put it back once the epidemic passed and rejected his theory.

Joseph Bazalgette built London's main sewer system in response to which event of 1858?

The system helped end the city's cholera epidemics and began cleaning the Thames.

King Camp Gillette's safety razor became dominant after which body began issuing them to soldiers?

Unlike earlier safety razors, his used a disposable double-edged blade that never needed stropping or honing.

Leo Gerstenzang invented the mass-produced Q-tip in 1923 after watching his wife do what?

He first called them Baby Gays, then Q-tips Baby Gays; the Q stood for quality.

The word 'bidet' is French for what?

You straddle it like a horse; the fixture seems to have been invented by French furniture makers in the late 17th century.

Sir John Harington described a forerunner of the flush toilet in 1596 and installed one for which monarch?

She was his godmother; his book about it was punningly titled The Metamorphosis of Ajax ('a jakes' being a privy).

Alexander Cumming's 1775 patent for what device laid the foundation of the modern flush toilet?

Thomas Crapper later held nine patents including the floating ballcock, but none for the flush toilet itself.

Thomas Crapper held nine patents. How many were for the flush toilet itself?

Three covered water-closet improvements such as the ballcock, and he improved the S-bend into the U-bend in 1880.

Under what brand was Earle Haas's tube-within-a-tube applicator tampon sold from 1933?

Gertrude Tenderich bought the patent and hired nurses to give public lectures on the product.

Ivory soap's famous first slogan, introduced in 1891, was what?

The purity slogan came a few years later, based on an independent lab analysis commissioned by Harley Procter.

Alfred Fones trained the world's first dental hygienist in 1906. Who was she?

He opened the first school for dental hygienists in Connecticut in 1913.

Community water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay began in which year?

It followed decades of research into the 'Colorado brown stain', a mottling of enamel in areas with naturally high fluoride.

The first electric toothbrush to reach the market, the Broxodent, was invented in 1954 in which country?

Dr. Philippe-Guy Woog designed it; an American patent for a 'Motodent' had been filed back in 1937.

Which emperor built the enormous Roman baths, with library rooms, completed in 216 AD?

Roman baths doubled as branch libraries for citizens who could not use the grand collections; the Baths of Diocletian later inspired Penn Station.

What was the title of Peter Hauri's 1977 book that popularised the term "sleep hygiene"?

The phrase 'hygiene of sleep' actually dates to Willard Moyer's 1903 book The Witchery of Sleep.

Florence Nightingale is credited with inventing which kind of statistical chart?

Her 'coxcomb' charts showed that far more Crimean War soldiers died of disease than of wounds.

Which French and German pair of scientists are most associated with proving the germ theory of disease?

Their rivalry was fierce; Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiments disproved spontaneous generation.

Which Greek physician recommended a mouth rinse of salt, alum and vinegar around 400 BC?

An even older Chinese text, the Huangdi Neijing, suggested a child's urine as a mouthwash for gum disease.

Which underarm deodorant led the 1950s market with an applicator inspired by the ballpoint pen?

Helen Barnett Diserens developed the roller in the late 1940s; by 1957 half of American men were using deodorant.

In 1873, which company began mass-producing aromatic toothpaste in jars, before tubes existed?

Kolynos, the first toothpaste with disinfectants, took its name from Greek words meaning 'beautifier' and 'disease preventer'.

The earliest written reference to a bidet, from 1710, comes from which country?

Italy followed in 1726, and Queen Maria Carolina of Naples ordered one for the Royal Palace of Caserta.

Which obstetrician recognised the importance of handwashing for new mothers as early as 1777?

Gordon (1795), Simpson (1840) and Holmes (1843) followed; hospitals only made it compulsory long after Semmelweis.

How often should a healthy adult replace their toothbrush, according to standard advice?

Brush twice a day, softly, and floss once a day using a fresh piece of floss for each gap.

Why do the ear canals need less attention than other parts of the body?

Skin lining the canal slowly migrates outward, carrying old wax to the opening where it dries and flakes away.

England's NHS advises against doing what immediately after brushing your teeth?

Just spit out the excess toothpaste so the fluoride can keep bonding to the teeth; also avoid brushing right after acidic drinks.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are considered ineffective in which situation?

Physical removal with soap and running water is needed when hands are dirty; sanitizer only kills what it can reach.

Sleep hygiene recommendations were first developed in the late 1970s to help people with what?

As of 2014 the evidence for individual recommendations was still described as limited and inconclusive.

What broad term covers antiseptics, disinfectants and pesticides alike?

A sanitizer is a product that both cleans and disinfects, though the word is now mostly used for alcohol hand gels.

A disinfectant that destroys bacterial spores is described by which term?

All disinfectants are bactericidal, but only some also kill fungi, spores or viruses, so labels matter.

'Targeted hygiene' in the home borrows its risk-based approach from which food-safety system?

The idea is to break the chain of infection at critical points, since infectious doses can be as low as 10 to 100 viable units.