10 Most Germiest Places

THE 10 GERMIEST PLACES

From Health.com

After hearing this, you may want to consider serving your meals in the bathroom and bathing in the trashcan.

10) Your bathtub. With about 100,000 bacteria per square inch, your tub is actually more germy than most trashcans. Once a week, scrub the tub down with disinfecting cleaner. Don’t forget to dry the tub, since germs are less likely to thrive on a dry surface. If someone in your house has a skin infection, wipe down the tub with a solution of two tablespoons bleach and one quart water.

9) Mats and machines at health clubs. At high schools, antibiotic-resistant-staph infections have been transmitted through wrestling mats. The same thing could happen at health clubs. Wipe down everything with disinfectant before and after using it, or use a towel as a buffer. Also, take a good hot, soapy shower after working out.

8) The playground. There’s just no way to put this delicately: Children tend to ooze bodily fluids (blood, mucus, saliva, urine) and then spread them around. Plus, kids tend to put their fingers in their mouths and noses more than the rest of us, so it’s easy to understand why Junior (and maybe his mom or dad) has the sniffles. Make hand sanitizer your new best friend. Also, pick warm, sunny days to be outside since the sun is actually a very good disinfectant.

7) Your handbag. Or makeup bag, guy’s wallet, personal digital assistant, etc. Whenever possible, hang your bag on a hook, not the floor. Leather and vinyl purses are best with fewer porous surfaces. Try to wipe it down with a disinfectant wipe every few days, and never set your purse on the counter.

6) ATM buttons. These tested worse than public restroom doorknobs. And the money that comes from the machines isn’t a whole lot better. Best advice: use hand sanitizer after using an ATM.

5) Shopping cart handles. Saliva. Bacteria. Fecal matter. Those are just a few of the choice substances found on shopping cart handles. Carts rank high because they’re handled by dozens of people every day and you’re putting your broccoli where some kid’s butt was. Bring along disinfecting wipes, and put things like raw meat into a separate bag.

4) Public drinking fountains. School fountains are the worst, as are cafeteria trays, sink handles, desktops and computer keyboards. Teach your kid to wash hands before and after lunch, after going to the restroom and after using the computer keyboards. Send along hand sanitizer and plenty of their own beverages from home. If schools were to use an antibacterial wipe on each desktop every night, they could cut absenteeism by half.

3) A load of wet laundry. Anytime you transfer underwear from the washer to the dryer, you’re going to get E. coli on your hands. Just one soiled undergarment can spread bacteria to the whole load and the machine. Run your washer and dryer at 150 degrees, wash white with bleach (the real stuff), and dry for at least 45 minutes. Wash your hands after handling laundry and run a cycle of bleach and water between every load to kill off lingering bugs.

2) Airplane Restrooms. No surprise here, but in addition to the many germs that lurk, the volcanic flush of the toilet spews all kinds of unmentionables into the air. Best advice: handle everything you touch with a paper towel and keep your back to the toilet when flushing.

1) Kitchen Sink. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in the drain. That sponge you use to clean the counter? Crawling with bacteria, as are the sink’s basin and faucet handles. What to do? Run your sponges through the dishwasher’s drying cycle and wipe down the sink basin, handles and drain twice a week with a solution of one tablespoon bleach and one quart water.