Home hygien as understood by French women

Objective – Home hygiene is very important in order to prevent transmission of community-acquired infections. We had for aim to determine the habits and knowledge of French women on this issue.Methods – A phone-call survey (CSA-TMO group) was performed, from November 22 to 28, 2000, among 500 women, 18 years of age or more. The women were selected according to usual poll techniques (quotas according to age, social condition, housing, region), and their answers overweighed for mothers with infants.Results – Spontaneously, the word “hygiene” called to mind cleanness (46%), house keeping (20%), but food hygiene or body hygiene was mentioned by only 3% of women. The three most spontaneously mentioned places at home, as requiring strict hygiene, were the kitchen (83%), bathroom (78%), and restroom (67%). The refrigerator was spontaneously mentioned by only 4% of surveyed women, but was rated as 9–10, on the risk scale, by 82% of the same women. The three factors perceived by over 30% of women as facilitating bacterial growth were humidity, lack of hygiene, and dust. The bad conservation of food was mentioned by only 8% of women, at the same rank as the presence of pets. The words Listeria (or listeriosis), Salmonella (or salmonellosis), Staphylococcus were in the mind of only 22%, 18%, and 13% of women.Comments – Home hygiene is more and more frequently mentioned in medias, during epidemics. But the general population''s knowledge is still low and requires information and education. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]