by Most everyday objects are at least a little dirty. If at all, they rarely contact soap or disinfectant – in contrast to their toilet seat, even if this is the one who is often used as a symbol of dirt in studies on the cleanliness of the household. Apart from pathogens that can cause diseases and diseases, “we are mostly concerned with our own bacteria,” says Jason Tetro, microbiologist and author of the seed code. This is usually not a problem, especially for young healthy people – but, Tetro, adds: “If you accumulate yourself, even if you are your own, this can lead to things like skin irritation, itchy scalp and cavities [in teeth from bacteria-heavy toothbrushes]something like that “.
Is it important that your reusable shopping bag may be wearing faecal frames? Or that your watch strap is full of life forms? Are the study-normally small and sometimes carried out by cleaning companies scaremoonneering or a serious matter in public health? Keim experts come clean.
Your taps
After you have gone to the toilet or every time your hands are dirty, touch the tap before washing it. “If you don’t have this [long lever] Ellbogen hooks like in hospitals, then you will really make your taps Gunky and lead to the potential for a cross contamination, ”says Tetro.
Clean the bathroom and kitchen regularly. If you wash your hands in the kitchen after handling raw meat, you should turn on the tap before starting. “I would suggest that you only keep a small stream running, and then you don’t have to touch the taps until you have washed your hands properly.” Admittedly, this is wasteful, so you can also make sure that you disinfect your kitchen taps afterwards.
Kitchen sponges
“I am surprised that new forms of life do not develop in kitchen sponges,” says Chuck Gerba, professor of virology at the University of Arizona. They are first -class habitats for microbes.
“They are always wet,” says Markus Egert, professor of microbiology at the Furtwangen University University in Germany. “They have a huge inner surface on which many microbes can grow, and they clean many different things with them, so that the microbes have a lot of nutrients. And they are rarely cleaned so that they are perfect. Therefore, there are so many microbes that in a very short time, in the millions of microbes, not the type of microbes – similar to a human sample. Salmonella or Campylobacter can contain severe food poisoning.
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If you use one, you can clean it in the microwave. If you wet it thoroughly, put it out a little, washed out of washing for a minute and then let it dry out well. “This reduces the number of germs very significantly,” says Egert. However, this could ultimately prove to be counterproductive. “The few microbes that survive can probably grow very quickly and thus recover the sponge. If you do this several times, our hypothesis is that you choose more pathogenic, more resistant microbes than before. So you shouldn’t do it too often.” Or prefer to use none at all – most sponges are made of plastic and are not biodegradable.
Cutting boards
One of the most neglected objects in the kitchen, says Gerba, is the cutting board. “People just rinse it,” he says, “or they will cut raw meat and then they make a salad on it, and they have all these cuts and columns from cutting that make it difficult to clean. The most important thing is to put it into a dishwasher, rinse it and scrub.”
Toothbrush
“A toothbrush will mainly be oral bacteria,” says Tetro. Some studies have shown that a toothbrush houses 10 m bacteria. “But the microbiome in your mouth will change over time. If you have a lot of sugar -containing, greasy foods, it can help to change your microbiome in not such great mistakes, and you will become even more populous, and then you only distribute it in your mouth.”
Give your toothbrush clean every day. “Lead very hot water over the brush for five seconds. Also pay attention to your toothbrush holder where Gunk accumulates. “All bacteria in the toothbrush grow at the end,” says Tetro.
hairbrush
Tetro is suspicious of everything that “brush” called “brush” that is never cleaned. “With a hairbrush it will be yeast and mushrooms. After you have washed your hair with you [dirty] The hair brush can transmit it into your hair. “This could lead to dandruff or Skalp infections.
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Water bottles
Sometimes dark, always moist, warm with hours of water. Add these oral bacteria, food particles and (if you are not a normal hand -sheller), add faecal bacteria, and your water bottle becomes a banquet for germs. If you fill your bottle with protein shakes or sugar-containing drinks, it is more of an all-you-you-can-eat for bacteria. A study showed that 20% of the tested water bottles contained coliform bacteria (of fecal origin). Another study showed that an average water bottle had 20.8 m colonie-forming units-more than 40,000 times the number on a toilet seat.
“If you drink water from a swimming pool, you should expect to drink feces – but if it is your own water bottle, probably not,” says Tetro.
It is best to pour away the old water, wash the bottle in hot water and washing liquid and give a good peeling with a (clean!) Bush at least once a week. Don’t forget the lids, straws and outputs.
Watch the straps
Their unusual smartwatch tells you everything you need to know about your resting heart rate and your sleep quality, but it houses a dirty secret – it is full of germs. A study of 2023 showed that staphylococci was expected (of course on the skin), but relatively high rates of pseudonomas bacteria (some variants can cause infections in humans) and 60% had enteric bacteria (found in the intestine), including E coli. Rubber and fabric straps were the worst, with gold and silver courts working well.
Earphone
They take care of them several times, put them on the floor, put them in your pocket, share with other people and then play them into their ears – a warm, dark, humid, house their usual bacterial flora and now the venue for a whole series of germs that can celebrate on their playlist. A study in which 50 earphones were replaced, identified mushrooms and bacteria, including E coli.
Glass
Here, too, everything that comes into contact with human skin is loaded with bacteria, and a study of the glasses found, which were not surprising that nasal pads and the parts that touched the ears had higher concentrations. While the proven bacteria for healthy people are not a problem, the study found that around 60% of bacteria could be risky for people with impaired immune system. It also identified bacteria associated with eye infections. It found that alcohol towels were best to reduce the bacterial load, but many opticians say they could damage the lentils and recommend warm soapy water and a soft cloth.
Spice jar
A study on the treatment of 2023 foods, which were replaced by people who produced truthahnburgers from raw meat and the kitchen surfaces were exchanged and found that spice glasses were most frequently contaminated and almost half of the affected objects were. Your salt and pepper shakers may also give you more than the ABC News of ABC News from 2010, which Schüttler were in restaurants, the second largest objects on the table (after the menus), and in a study by the University of Virginia from 2008, in which objects were tested, which were touched by cold peters, traces of the virus were shaken on all.
Reusable shopping bags
“Reusable bags usually become raw meat bacteria and produce,” says Gerba. “Bringing them into a car case is like an incubator for the bacteria to grow in most climate zones.” In one of his studies in which reusable shopping bags were collected and tested by buyers, more than half contained coliform bacteria that probably came from raw meat and other products, and e coli was detected in 8% of the bags. When the team deliberately contaminated bags with meat juices and kept a few hours in the trunk of a car, the bacteria increased by ten times.
“They should be washed regularly,” says Gerba. He prefers wattage.
Light switch
A team from the University of Houston tested light switches, including the sink and floors, in hotel rooms and found that they were significant half of fecal bacteria. In another test it was found that almost a quarter light switch was contaminated with the cold virus for an hour after someone touched her with snotty fingers.
Remote controls
Your TV remote control may be 15 -more disgusting than your toilet seat. A survey for Churchill, the insurance company, found a high degree of faecal bacteria on the dapling of the remote controls. Other surveys have found that between a quarter and third of people never cleans their remote control, a device that is touched by an average family of four four years.
Shower curtains
It is not as if they were getting out of the shower more dirty than they went, but the curtain may be the dirtiest place in the bathroom. In order to use our trustworthy toilet seat comparison tool, a study found that shower curtains had 60 times more bacterial life. It was a ridiculously small study of three curtains, but it is obvious that they are a danger zone – people have disgusting shower habits such as urination, and bacteria thrive in warm, moist places. So also shape.
“Shower curtains are disgusting,” says Tetro with a laugh. “This is again one of these things in which, when it is your shower, your curtain, who is interested, right? But many people will share the shower room. As a result, they will have much more of these human germs.” And not only from the hands and faces of the people, he points out. “It will come from your whole body, which is why we really disinfect these shower curtains every time we disinfect the tub or the shower cubicle.” You can also lead the shower curtain through the washing machine from time to time.
Vacuum cleaner
You should be aware of how clean your cleaning devices are, from moldy washing machines to stinking dishwasher. “You should be careful when you empty the vacuum cleaner,” says Gerba. In rehearsals of budget output in the budget exposure content: “We have found salmonella in about 10% of them. They take the bacteria and all the nice food for you to eat [in dust and debris]So it becomes a cafeteria for bacteria. “Shake it with a BAG Cleaner in your container in the kitchen – do it outside when you can).
