Public schools often fail to keep student restrooms clean, operational and stocked with basic supplies, making hand washing more of a hardship than a help in the fight against germs.
As concerns mount over the spread of dangerous bacteria, colds and other viruses, even state laws requiring usable school bathrooms haven't fixed the problems.
A review of inspection reports collected by county offices of education, complaints to the state filed by students and parents, spot visits by The Bee and conversations with students and parents found that barriers to proper hand washing in school restrooms persist.
Eighty percent of all infectious diseases are transmitted by human contact, and much of it begins with hands, said Anne E. Maczulak, a microbiologist and author of "The Five-Second Rule and Other Myths About Germs."
"We touch our hand to our face, our mouth, eyes and nose, which contain mucous membranes – open ports where colds, flu and worse viruses and bacteria come in, and we do it continually through the day," she said.
At schools, hand washing is more important than other disinfection efforts to reduce disease transmission, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UC Davis Medical Center.
"You get a bigger bang for the buck by making sure hygienic opportunities are available such as hand washing," he said. "You need to make sure children have access to sinks, soap and water, and they need to dry their hands afterwards."
Students at several area schools say they often run out of soap and paper towels, or don't have working dispensers. They call school bathrooms "gross," "disgusting" and "nasty" and say it's not unusual to find bathroom sinks missing faucet handles, or clogged with towels.
And it is a rare student restroom that has anything but cold water streaming from the faucet. Experts say cold water is better than no water at all, but it isn't as effective as warm water in killing germs and can discourage hand washing altogether.
"I don't think that if I were a child when it was cold out I would be inclined to wash my hands in cold water," said Dr. Glennah Trochet, Sacramento County Health Officer, adding that her own children avoided using their school bathrooms.
Sanitation and restroom maintenance have become even more critical in the struggle to control the spread of illnesses such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Dubbed the superbug, the staph infection does not respond to common antibiotics in the penicillin family. It turned up this fall at Natomas Middle School and Rocklin High School, prompting mass disinfections of classrooms, school bathrooms and even school buses.
Infectious-disease doctors and other public health experts note that children are notorious germ spreaders, and schools are cauldrons of offensive organisms.
Marisa Melendez, a Sacramento woman whose 7-year-old son has missed 12 days of school this year because of illness, sus- pects less-than-sanitary school bathrooms may play a role.
"My biggest concern is that they are encouraging these kids to wash their hands to keep from spreading germs, but they don't provide the tools for them," she said. Her son has complained about a lack of soap and paper towels at Hollywood Park Elementary.
An unannounced visit to the school turned up clean and well-stocked restrooms except for one. In the girls' room used by grades 1-3, one toilet was not flushed, another was surrounded by soiled toilet paper and one of two soap dispensers was empty.
During a visit to Alyce Norman Elementary School in West Sacramento last week, The Bee found a toilet seat covered with water, two faucets missing handles and an empty soap dispenser.
School Principal Laura Twining noted the health concerns, but said each classroom is stocked with liquid germ-killing hand sanitizer to supplement hand washing.
At Sacramento's McClatchy High School, senior Emilio Garcia emerged from one restroom last week shaking his hands in the air, then wiping them on his pants, he said, because he had no choice.
Call The Bee's Dorsey Griffith, (916) 321-1089.
