People are understandably squeamish about public restrooms.
But the same people are probably regularly interacting with surfaces that
have far more germs and overall icky-ness than your average public toilet
seat.
For example:
1. Hotel/Motel Bedspread
Unlike the sheets, hotels and motels do not change or launder the bedspreads
on a daily basis.
It's actually more of an annual thing.
And if you don't think there are various bodily fluids lingering in those
coverings, let us remind you that when the bedspread from an internationally
ranked five-star hotel was introduced as evidence in boxer Mike Tyson's rape
trial, investigators found it coated with the DNA of so many different men
that it took some significant time to finally isolate traces of Tyson's
contribution.
2. Purse Bottoms
Many women who fear the germs of public toilet seats don't think twice about
placing their purses down on the floor of the bathroom stall.
Not only that, they also set them on the floor while riding the bus, or
while dining at a restaurant, or while dancing at a nightclub, or on the
bedspread at a hotel (see above).
And then, when they get home, they set that same purse on the kitchen
counter or the dining room table while they rifle through the daily mail or
check their phone messages.
Nelson Laboratories of Salt Lake City tested a random selection of ladies'
purses: those belonging to moms, executive types, and swinging singles.
What did they find?
Pseudomonas, staphylococcus aurous, salmonella, and e-coli.
Many of the handbags had faecal contamination, and those belonging to the
women that frequented dance clubs also had traces of vomit. In layman's
terms, the pocketbooks were infested with harmful bacteria, the types that
can cause all sorts of infections.
3. ATM Keypad
Studies have shown that the various keys on your average ATM serve as a cozy
nesting place for Bacillus Cereus, a bacterium that can cause symptoms in
humans similar to those of food poisoning.
Yet folks casually punch those buttons and then go about their business
without a second thought, touching their eye area to assuage an itch or
holding the Egg McMuffin that they're munching during their morning commute.
4. Office Telephone
Have you ever used a corporate telephone other than the one on your desk?
Who knows what evils lurk on that communal device - other than the 25,127
germs found in a square inch on the average telephone receiver as discovered
in a 2004 University of Arizona study.
Think about it - the person who used that phone before you might not have
the same fastidious hand-washing habits as you, and he/she may have answered
a call immediately upon exiting the bathroom!
5. Restaurant Menu
Servers barely have enough time to take an order from table 11 and then rush
to tables 14 and 17 to deliver that extra side of Ranch dressing and a round
of beverages, respectively.
Do we really expect them to wipe down the restaurant's oft-handled menus
with anti-bacterial wipes in their "spare" time?
The Journal of Medical Virology has reported that flu viruses can survive on
a hard surface for as long as 18 hours.
Think of how many hands have touched that bill of fare before you browsed
over it and then immediately used your fingers to transport dinner rolls or
bread sticks directly to your mouth.
6. Condiment Containers
Speaking of restaurants and germs living on hard surfaces, how many of you
disinfect your hands in between handling the ketchup bottle or salt/pepper
shakers and your food?
7. Grocery / Airport Baggage Carts
So, you're afraid to set your naked hindquarters on a toilet seat that is
routinely cleaned with bleach-infused products, but you push a grocery cart
through your local supermarket bare-handed?
The handle of which has been touched by folks who've coughed or sneezed into
their hands and have also handled packages of raw meat?
And those of you who place items in the fold-out children's seat - does it
not occur to you that many a child's diapered bottom has previously occupied
that space?
A four-year study conducted by the University of Arizona at supermarkets in
Tucson, San Francisco, Chicago, and Tampa revealed that shopping buggies
were rife with such bacteria and viruses as E. Coli, salmonella, and
Staphylococcus.
8. Steering Wheel
As mentioned above, public toilet seats are washed on a regular basis, but
when is the last time you scrubbed down the steering wheel of your vehicle?
During a typical day you might touch things such as a gas pump dispenser,
cash from the bank drive-thru window, and your crying child's runny nose in
the back seat, and then use those same hands to grip the steering wheel
after every transaction without any disinfecting in between.
Oh, did I mention that some of us also eat food and apply eye makeup while
driving with those same hands that are gripping the germ-laden (mainly with
bacillus cereus and arthrobacter) steering wheel?
9. Kitchen Faucet Handle(s)
Dr. Charles Gerba, an environmental biologist at the University of Arizona,
once declared that if an alien from another planet landed in an average
Earth household, he would determine (after a careful bacterial count) that
he should wash his hands in the toilet and use the kitchen sink as a
commode.
Yep, our kitchen sponges and faucet handles are that contaminated with
nasties, mainly because we tend to touch these items many times in the midst
of handling raw meat, eggs, and poultry while preparing a meal.
10. Gym Equipment
How many of you who work out regularly at a gym grip the handrails on the
treadmill or the handlebars on the stationary bike without a second thought?
Or perhaps you grasp a series of different free weights during your
strength-building workout.
Odds are that at sometime during your workout you'll swipe a sweaty fist
across your eyes or scratch an itch some place on your person (an innocent,
unconscious activity that might break the skin and unintentionally place a
virtual welcome mat inviting infection).
You might be interested to know that the nasty
"superbug"methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (better known as
MRSA), which can survive on non-host surfaces for up to a month, has been
found on various gym machines in studies done across the U.S. That's in
addition to the sarcinia, candida specie, and staphylococcus epi that was
also harvested from the various standard gym apparatus.
And don't get us started on what was found on the floors of the showers!
11. Swings and Monkey Bars and Such
OK, this particular hotbed of germs might affect your offspring more than
you, but it's certainly worth a mention, especially if you allow your child
to munch on snacks while they romp.
If your child ever frolics on the monkey bars, jungle gym, swings, ball pit,
etc., of a communal play area, then his hands are a virtual Petri dish of
disgustingness after each and every play date.
Besides the traces of human fecal material found on such equipment in many
studies, there is also the fact that kids with runny noses tend to use their
hands as handkerchiefs while playing, and various birds in the area use
playground equipment as their personal comfort station.
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