Facts About Germs
The bulk of germs are hiding where you least expect. The top germ carriers in public places are playground equipment, the phone receiver, ATMs, elevator buttons, escalator handrails, shopping cart handles, picnic tables, and Port-A-Potties.
The kitchen sink has the most germs, even more germs than the bathroom. In fact, the most contaminated sites are those that tend to remain moist, such as dishcloths, toilet bowls, garbage cans, refrigerators, and bathroom doorknobs.
Only 51% of Americans wash their hands after sneezing or coughing, and only 17% wash them after shaking hands. This is a real public health problem because 80% of infections are spread by hand.
An estimated 60 million days of school and 50 million days of work are lost annually because of the common cold.
A line of 1,000 germs can fit across the period at the end of this sentence.
The speed of a sneeze is over 100 miles per hour, and that sneeze can spread 5,000 droplets, containing 10,000 bacteria to a distance of 12 feet.
A computer keyboard can have 3,295 germs per square inch. That amount is 400 times more than the number of germs found on the top of a public toilet seat.