(HealthDay News) -- Keeping your hands clean reduces your risk of contracting or spreading illness.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these guidelines on when to wash your hands:

• Before you put your hands into or near your mouth, including before you smoke, brush your teeth, or have something to eat or drink.
• Before and after being around a person who is ill.
• After you go to the bathroom or change a baby's diaper.
• After you touch areas that get a lot of contact, including door knobs and handrails on stairs.
• After you blow your nose.