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Men have long been maligned for their lack of hygiene but now they have no excuse for not washing their hands after a visit to the bathroom.

A Latvian designer has come up with a novel toilet design to improve men's hand washing habits by by including a built-in tap.

Kaspars Jursons' design is called STAND and was created to encourage men to wash their hands after using the facilities.

But opinion is divided about whether it is hygienic to wash your hands in a urinal.

The tap is hands-free and activated by sensors, arguably making it more hygienic than a traditional tap and even easier to use.

Mr Jursons said: 'If you did not have the habit of washing your hands after you go to the bathroom before, you will definitely be reminded now, when you are faced with a tap right at the urinal.'

A recent study by environmental health experts at Michigan State University, found that just one in 20 people wash their hands for long enough to kill harmful germs after visiting the toilet.

Furthermore, a third do not use soap and 10 per cent do not wash their hands at all.

The research named and shamed men as particularly bad at washing their hands correctly.

Hand washing is the single most effective thing to do to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Failing to sufficiently wash hands contributes to nearly 50 per cent of all food borne illness outbreaks, it said.

Experts say it takes 15 to 20 seconds of vigorous hand washing with soap and water to effectively kill the germs which cause infections.

Yet the study found that people washed their hands for, on average, only about six seconds.

A third of people do not use soap when washing their hands and 10 per cent do not wash their hands at all

Professor Carl Borchgrevink, associate professor of hospitality business and his team observed hand washing in toilets in bars, restaurants and other public establishments.

The study claims to be one of the first to take into account factors such as duration of the hand washing and whether people used soap.

Among the findings were that 15 per cent of men did not wash their hands at all, compared with seven per cent of women and when they did wash their hands, only 50 per cent of men used soap, compared with 78 per cent of women.

In another study, researchers from a group of US universities recently revealed that men are more likely to wash their hands after going to the toilet if they see messages reminding them to do so.

The scientists posted signs in college restrooms that read 'four out of five students wash their hands EVERY time they use the bathroom'.

Before the posters went up male participants self-reported washing their hands 75per cent of the time but after the reminders were pasted above sinks this figure jumped to 86 per cent.