A US TV host has admitted on air - without any prompting - that he has not washed his hands in 10 years.

Because, he said, what he can’t see he doesn’t believe in.

Fox News host Peter Hesgeth sent social media into a spin after saying he hasn’t washed his hands in a decade.

“I inoculate myself,” he continued, to the laughter of his co-hosts. “Germs are not a real thing. I can't see them; therefore, they're not real.”

The host claimed he was joking and it was a call-out to those obsessed about germs to lighten up.

“We live in a society where people walk around with bottles of (hand sanitiser) in their pockets and they sanitize 19,000 times a day as if that’s going to save their life,” he told USA Today.

There has been commentary in recent years about the rise of allergies and the reason why, with some concluding that too much disinfecting is bad for health.

But before you consider starting a war on hygiene and seal the bathroom taps off, consider the illnesses that can potentially be spread by not washing hands.

Colds and flu are only the start - unwashed hands can also lead to gastroenteritis, E. coli, golden staph and hepatitis A.

These infections can be even more serious for the children or the elderly, or hose with a weakened immune system.