How to catch a cold or the flu in a day’s worth of errands
You conscientiously wash your hands before eating or cooking… carefully keep raw meat and chicken from contaminating your kitchen… and always wipe down those shopping cart handles.
But as it turns out, the biggest risks for encountering sickening microbes can also be found in some very surprising places — ones you probably never think twice about.
So, if you want to stay out of the sick bay, knowing where those sneaky germs are lurking may be your best defense in staying healthy!
Where the germs are
Which of these do you think has the highest bacterial count?
- a toilet seat,
- your cellphone, or,
- the menu in a restaurant
The answer is — the restaurant menu. Studies have found menus to harbor over 100 times the germs found on a typical toilet seat. Actually, when compared to other bacterial-laden surfaces, toilet seats seem downright clean!
Plus that, chances are good that the menu is even dirtier than the cellphone you tote everywhere!
And menus aren’t the only surprising places where you can pick up a bug. Reusable shopping bags, for example, are prime locations.
How “dirty” or not that shopping tote can be will depend on what you put inside of it. If that’s raw meat or poultry, it can be teeming with some really nasty varieties of E.coli and other pathogens that come from meat or chicken drippings.
And veggies aren’t all that clean, either. Most supermarkets use a fine water mist to help keep produce fresh. That can jump-start the growth of microbes, especially on produce with porous skin such as melons. As one recent study discovered, fresh fruits and vegetables “can harbor large and diverse populations of bacteria.”
Another shopping hazard can come from not bagging fruits you don’t peel — such as apples, peaches and pears — and rolling them down the check-out conveyor belt unprotected. Think about it — everything that everyone before you has bought, from drippy meat to leaky milk cartons, has gone down the same path!
But even if you’re a cautious shopper, these germ-laden places might take you by surprise:
- Risky reading: Even though that issue of People is 5 years old, you might still pick it up and leaf through it while waiting at the doctor’s or dentist’s office. But that doctor’s visit could actually end up making you sick, as those cold bugs can survive up to a week on “hard surfaces,” with flu viruses still being viable for 24 hours. And some recent research out of Germany discovered other nasty bugs, such as E. coli and staph, were actually able to grow on paper — and thrive for three full days. Yikes!
- Precarious playthings: If you’re toting the kids or grandkids to daycare, a playdate, or even a checkup, it’s a good idea to bring along your own toys. Plush or stuffed playthings can be so laden with germs that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued guidelines saying that hospital waiting rooms and doctors’ offices should ditch them.
- Real computer viruses: Not only can your computer “catch” a virus, but your keyboard can give you one! And since so many of us snack while surfing the Internet, we’re leaving ourselves wide open to get sick.
The answer to many of these germy problems, is, of course, to wash your hands more often. And if you go out to eat, wash them after consulting the menu!
For reusable bags, you should wash and dry them on a regular schedule — and if you’re putting any raw meat or poultry inside, first put it in a disposable plastic bag (many butcher departments have them available, or you can get one from the veggie aisle).
And finally, wipe down that keyboard (and cellphone!) with a sanitizing cloth frequently. A good time to do that is after you shut down for the night.
Such simple precautions might not seem like much, but they could be all you need to dodge a nasty cold or flu virus this fall and winter. Especially since those cold and flu bugs can survive a lot longer than you might think!
“What’s in your shopping bag? Bacteria” Tami Dennis, Chicago Tribune, chicagotribune.com
