Posted on 10/24/2007 5:15:25 PM PDT by yorkie
Sure, there are outbreaks of microbes and viruses across the country, but some of these germs are lurking where you least expect them. “Health” magazine senior editor Frances Largeman-Roth pinpoints the 12 germiest places you’re likely to encounter during an average day and devises ways for you to keep clean. After all, the fight is in your hands. Literally. Eighty percent of infections are spread through hand contact. So wash up, people, and get ready to wage a bit of germ warfare of your own:
1. Your kitchen sink Kitchen sinks are dirtier than most bathrooms. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in the drain alone. Plus your sponge, basin and faucet handles are crawling with bacteria as well.
Reduce the risk: Clean your kitchen counters and sink with an antibacterial product after preparing or cleansing food, especially raw fruits and vegetables, which carry lots of potential pathogens like salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli. Wash your hands as well with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds (long enough to sing “Happy Birthday”). Sanitize sponges by running them through the dishwasher’s drying cycle, which will kill 99.9 percent of bacteria on them. As for the sink, clean it twice a week with a solution of one tablespoon of chlorine bleach and one quart of water. Scrub the basin, the pour solution down the drain.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
“Sanitize sponges by running them through the dishwasher’s drying cycle, which will kill 99.9 percent of bacteria on them”
Did this step pass the carbon credit test?
I wonder what number the post office door handle would be on that list.
“The hotel-room remote control”
I don’t touch anything in a hotel room if I can help it. I assume most of the items in there have been somewhere that the sun doesn’t shine at some point.
Funny, I didn’t see “bath houses” as one of the 12?
The door handle of a public bathroom.
But how do I disinfect after visiting DU?
"Germs" aren't necessarily harmful. Not all bacteria are pathogens. A little common sense goes a long way.
I don't see it mentioned but one of the nastiest places is the handles to the doors on public restrooms. Not everybody washes his or her hands afterward, dontcha know...
(there’s about a gram of feces in every pair of dirty underwear)
Plus they didn’t mention payphones, railings in malls etc., and money.
I don’t understand why I’m not dead yet.
wow
what if you don’t have a dishwasher?
There is a d-bag at work (we are in a professional office building) who puts his hands flat on the wall while using the urinal.
Afterwards, he proceeds right past the sink and out of the bathroom. Several of us have seen him go directly to the staff kitchen where he touches the refrigerator, the water cooler, even the cookie jar near my office. I’m talking direct contact with the cookies.
Some people are just disgusting.
BTW, what's a "pay phone"? ;-)
Okay, great. I am now. Completely. Paranoid.
This is a propaganda piece for Maytag. LOL
Those little Cottonelle wipes are helpful. We keep a container of them in both bathrooms on top of the toilet tank.
I’ve been paranoid about germs for a long time.
13. Keith Olbermann's trench coat.
Putting sponges in the microwave works too, but I don’t know the proper amount of time.
Think about it--if you kill all the grass, what grows in its place? Using antibacterials is similar - it kills everything, friend or foe, leaving lots of room for the baddies to flourish.
As for me, I will not think twice about the handle on my grocery cart, the ATM buttons or my kitchen sink.
Ewwwww, sick - I was going to ping you, yorkie, but you’re the one who posted this! So gross.
My favorite (not):
“2. Airplane bathrooms
....And the volcanic flush of the commode tends to spew particles into the air, coating the floor and walls with whatever had been swirling around in it.”
You are...you just don’t know it yet.
What do you have to do to walk around with a gram of poop in your underwear?
I am Nomad ... I must sterilize ... sterilize ... sterilize
LOL! I’m going to remain calm.... I just hope no one comes to my house with one of those ultra-violet things that picks up contaminants. I’d better go get some of my borax and start scrubbing! Ewww, my keyboard...
You have something there, josh. The “germs” there are going to do much more harm to all of us than anything you can pick up off a door handle.
Speaking of keyboards, you gotcher guy who has a cold and is trying to be polite and not cough in yer face, so he coughs into his hand...and then uses yer keyboard and mouse. “Mucus! Getcher fresh mucus here!!”
How about Construction site porta-johns. Really great places here in AZ. Hey, you gotta go, you gotta go.
It’s not just the cart handles. How many people use the child seat in the cart to stack groceries like bread and chips that they don’t want to crush with heavier items? Don’t! Somebody in a wet/dirty diaper sat there.
How am I supposed to keep my immunities up if I go disinfecting everything around me. Heck, I’ve had salmanila so many times that the only way I can tell if I’ve gotten it again is the rest of the family gets sick. It just doesn’t make me very sick anymore.
Better yet, toss out the sponges regularly and open a new one.
A cookie monster in the truest sense.
He he. I thought about that, but they do still have them in the malls. And speaking of malls, ever notice that the bathrooms with lidless toilets are located right by the food court so that all of the germs can fly out to the food?
And then there are bowling balls. (don't get me started.....)
What about Geraldo’s underwear?
Gross. Those are the worst. I wash my hands as soon as I can after touching those.
Thank goodness most of these ‘growies’ are invisible to the naked eye. Out of sight, out of mind.
LOL - probably NOT use the Cottonelle.
Lady, what were you doing in the Men’s Room?
The additional energy, assuming the dishwasher senses and optimizes interior chamber levels, is likely relatively small, even with a cold wet (soaked) sponge.
One place that worries me is the door handle and ballpoint pens in the drug store.
I mean, a lot of people in there are already sick.
Some stores now provide antiseptic wipes for the cart handles.
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