Who Invited the Germs
Have you opened a door in a public place today? Ridden an escalator? Worked out at the gym or bought a soda from a vending machine? If so, you may want to drop everything and wash your hands. Twice. Recent results from a major public health study show that the world is even filthier than we thought. The University of Arizona study, which examined more than 800 high-traffic public surfaces in three states, showed that frequently-touched public surfaces are often contaminated with bodily fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, mucus and sweat, all of which can carry illness-causing germs. Worse yet, say the microbiologist researchers, you will probably unknowingly bring many of these contaminants home on your hands and then proceed to contaminate surfaces throughout your home, beginning with the front door knob.
Germs make themselves at home:
Not surprisingly, the most contaminated environments were children's playgrounds and daycare centers. Following close behind were public buses, shopping carts, chair armrests, vending machine knobs, escalator handrails and public phones. Researchers actually followed people home from these locations and examined how easily contaminants can enter and spread on frequently-touched surfaces in the household. Scientists tracked every surface touched with a fluorescent dye tracer called Glo Germ™ which highlights the contaminants when exposed to black light. According to lead researcher Dr. Kelly Reynolds, "the houses lit up like Christmas trees."
This risk is that, once in the home, serious bacteria such as Staph, Salmonella and E. coli can potentially be transferred all over the house, as household members touch and re-touch surfaces again and again. And the risk increases given recent concerns about emerging infectious diseases and the increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria strains.
Get your telephone as clean as your toilet seat:
The study clearly reiterates how important it is to help fight the spread of illness-causing bacteria with increased hand washing and better disinfecting and sanitizing practices at home.
Sure, you disinfect in the bathroom and kitchen and, yes, that does fight bacteria. In fact, "the toilet seat is one of the cleanest places in the home because people are more likely to disinfect this area on a regular basis," said Dr. Reynolds. But it's the surfaces we touch all the time without thinking that become bacterial hot spots. Doorknobs, telephones, even the TV remote control need to be disinfected more often
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