Skip to main content

Fear the phone, not the doorknob, germ expert says�|�Reuters.com

Fear the phone, not the doorknob, germ expert says|Reuters.com

"Keyboards are a lunch counter for germs," Gerba said. "We turn them over in a lot of studies and we are amazed at what comes out of a keyboard."

In fact, the average desk harbors 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat, says Gerba, whose latest survey focuses on the germiest professions.

"Nobody cleans the desktop, usually, until they stick to it," he says.

Perhaps not surprisingly, teachers have the highest exposure to bacteria and viruses, Gerba has found. Accountants, bankers and doctors also tend to have microbe-laden offices, while lawyers came out surprisingly clean in the germ-count stakes.

[...]

And few people know just how dirty laundry is -- clean laundry.

"Most people don't realize that they actually should wash their hands after they make dinner and also after they do the laundry," Gerba said.

Americans have moved to short-cycle, cold-water washes to save energy and wear and tear on clothing, but this leaves viruses and bacteria largely intact.

"Water at 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) will sanitize laundry," Gerba said. But only 5 percent of Americans use hot water for laundry.

And viruses such as hepatitis A, rotavirus and bacteria such as Salmonella -- all of which cause stomach upsets and diarrhea -- can easily survive the average 28-minute drying cycle.

These are all carried fecally. "There is about a 10th of a gram of feces in the average pair of underwear," Gerba says. "You don't want to be doing your handkerchiefs with your underwear."

Gerba's studies are often funded by companies that make disinfectants, but Gerba says antimicrobial wipes and alcohol-based gel hand sanitizers do work.

"It has been shown that you can reduce a lot of absenteeism by using hand sanitizers," he says.

"We don't want to make people overly paranoid here," Gerba added. "You can reduce your risk of getting colds and flu by a few simple actions. You are always gambling with germs. You just want to keep the odds in your favor."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Insulin Resistance- cause of ADD, diabetes, narcolepsy, etc etc

Insulin Resistance Insulin Resistance Have you been diagnosed with clinical depression? Heart disease? Type II, or adult, diabetes? Narcolepsy? Are you, or do you think you might be, an alcoholic? Do you gain weight around your middle in spite of faithfully dieting? Are you unable to lose weight? Does your child have ADHD? If you have any one of these symptoms, I wrote this article for you. Believe it or not, the same thing can cause all of the above symptoms. I am not a medical professional. I am not a nutritionist. The conclusions I have drawn from my own experience and observations are not rocket science. A diagnosis of clinical depression is as ordinary as the common cold today. Prescriptions for Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, etc., are written every day. Genuine clinical depression is a very serious condition caused by serotonin levels in the brain. I am not certain, however, that every diagnosis of depression is the real thing. My guess is that about 10 percent of the people taking

Could Narcolepsy be caused by gluten? :: Kitchen Table Hypothesis

Kitchen Table Hypothesis from www.zombieinstitute.net - Heidi's new site It's commonly known that a severe allergy to peanuts can cause death within minutes. What if there were an allergy that were delayed for hours and caused people to fall asleep instead? That is what I believe is happening in people with Narcolepsy. Celiac disease is an allergy to gliadin, a specific gluten protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye. In celiac disease the IgA antigliadin antibody is produced after ingestion of gluten. It attacks the gluten, but also mistakenly binds to and creates an immune reaction in the cells of the small intestine causing severe damage. There is another form of gluten intolerance, Dermatitis Herpetiformis, in which the IgA antigliadin bind to proteins in the skin, causing blisters, itching and pain. This can occur without any signs of intestinal damage. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a similar autoimmune reaction to gliadin, however it usually involves the

Blue-blocking Glasses To Improve Sleep And ADHD Symptoms Developed

Blue-blocking Glasses To Improve Sleep And ADHD Symptoms Developed Scientists at John Carroll University, working in its Lighting Innovations Institute, have developed an affordable accessory that appears to reduce the symptoms of ADHD. Their discovery also has also been shown to improve sleep patterns among people who have difficulty falling asleep. The John Carroll researchers have created glasses designed to block blue light, therefore altering a person's circadian rhythm, which leads to improvement in ADHD symptoms and sleep disorders. […] How the Glasses Work The individual puts on the glasses a couple of hours ahead of bedtime, advancing the circadian rhythm. The special glasses block the blue rays that cause a delay in the start of the flow of melatonin, the sleep hormone. Normally, melatonin flow doesn't begin until after the individual goes into darkness. Studies indicate that promoting the earlier release of melatonin results in a marked decline of ADHD symptoms. Bett