What are the odds of coming into contact with ecoli if you use a public restroom that has no soap? i had a movement like that & my ocd flared up

E coli: One may come into contact with e coli even in a restroom that does have soap. You even have e coli inside you. However, if it were the toxic kind you would be sick. Also, the balance of bacteria inside you and your own immune system helps to protect you from overwhelming infection by other bacteria. You have more chance of a problem through eating poorly cooked meats, etc.

Common trigger: Ocd is commonly trigger when something makes you think about increased risk , such as not be able to wash your hands the way you want to. This is classic ocd and what really is going on is that you have increased anxiety. Remember that and use life events as oppurtunitties to do behavior therapy. If your symptoms are really strong consider therapy to help work on this.

Worry begets worry: Ocd can tell you that you have to worry about certain things. Important to know that the chances of getting e coli from the scenario you describe is very low. Also, hand to hand friction under warm water can be more germ killing than soap. 2 mental errors of worry are 1) how likely the fear is to come true and 2) how bad it will be if it does. Hope you are in therapy, esp exposure (erp) therapy.