Why I'm a germaphobe!

[CoolBreeze]

We all know that there are germs all around you. It's usually not that big a deal unless your immune system is low. (think young & old) I've noticed that Kroger has offered disinfecting towelettes for the last year, and brother you'd better grab one because buggies are NASTY!

So where are most of the germs? I want to start with MY personal favorite:

The Restaurant Menu

The threat: Ever see anybody wash a menu? We didn't think so. A recent study in the Journal of Medical Virology reports that cold and flu viruses can survive for 18 hours on hard surfaces. If it's a popular joint, hundreds of people could be passing their germs on to you.

The Solution: Never let the menu touch your plate or silverware as you ponder the wine list, and wash your hands after you order. But how do you escape the bathroom without touching the door handle? Palm a spare paper towel after you wash up, and then use it to grab the handle. Execute this trick properly and nobody needs to know how much you fear germs.



Your Vacuum Cleaner

The threat: Researchers at the University of Arizona recently found that 50 percent of the vacuum brushes they tested contained fecal bacteria, including 13 percent with E. coli, and all were packing mold. Vacuuming can transfer the germs from contaminated surfaces to uncontaminated ones (think kitchen to living room).

The Solution:Spray the brush with a disinfectant after every use--traces of bacteria can survive as long as 5 days inside the vacuum after you empty the dirt. And disposable-bag vacuums promote more bacterial growth, according to the study, so buy the bagless variety.

Your Bed

The threat: More than 84 percent of beds in U.S. homes host dust mites. These microscopic critters live in your sheets and feed on your dead skin, and their fecal matter and corpses contribute to asthma and allergies.

The Solution: Don't make your bed. A study from London's Kingston University found that dust mites need humidity levels above 50 percent to survive. And while they can't live in the arid conditions of an unmade bed, a made bed traps the moisture they need to thrive. Mount an air attack, too. Try bundling a dehumidifier with an oscillating fan for a two-pronged moisture eliminator.

The Grocery Cart

The threat: The handles of almost two-thirds of shopping carts tested in a 2007 University of Arizona study were contaminated with fecal bacteria. The carts had even more of these bacteria than the average public bathroom has.

The Solution: Swab the handle with a disinfectant wipe before grabbing hold--stores are starting to provide them, so look around. And skip the free food samples, which are nothing but communal hand-to-germ-to-mouth zones. Finally, bag unpackaged items, like fruits and vegetables, before placing them in your fecal-matter carrier. Your cart, that is.


The threat: The handles of almost two-thirds of shopping carts tested in a 2007 University of Arizona study were contaminated with fecal bacteria. The carts had even more of these bacteria than the average public bathroom has.

The Solution: Swab the handle with a disinfectant wipe before grabbing hold--stores are starting to provide them, so look around. And skip the free food samples, which are nothing but communal hand-to-germ-to-mouth zones. Finally, bag unpackaged items, like fruits and vegetables, before placing them in your fecal-matter carrier. Your cart, that is.

Gym Equipment

The threat: A 2006 study in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine found rhinoviruses (instigators of the common cold) on 63 percent of the gym equipment at the fitness centers they tested. Researchers also discovered that weight equipment was contaminated significantly more often than aerobic equipment (73 percent versus 51 percent). Even worse, the study found that disinfecting the equipment twice a day didn't do anything to lower the virus count.

The Solution: Avoid touching your face between sets, since most colds are transmitted through hand-to-nose contact. And make sure to pack an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in your gym bag.

The Flight Attendant

The threat: Flight attendants are exposed to dozens of sniffling and coughing passengers and the surfaces they touch. When attendants need a pee break, they head into the same latrine you use. Now consider that when Charles Gerba, Ph.D., coauthor of The Germ Freak's Guide to Outwitting Colds and Flu, tested commercial-jet bathrooms, he found that surfaces from faucets to doorknobs were contaminated with E. coli. Given all that germ exposure, it's no surprise that the Journal of Environmental Health Research recently revealed that you're 100 times as likely to catch a cold while flying than on the ground.

The Solution: Pack a green-tea pill. In a 2007 University of Florida study, people who took a 450-milligram green-tea supplement twice a day for 3 months had a third fewer days of cold symptoms. Try Immune Guard ($30 for 60 pills, immune-guard.us), the brand used in the study.

The Lemon Wedge in Your Drink

The threat: In a 2007 study from the Journal of Environmental Health, nearly 70 percent of the lemon wedges smashed onto restaurant glasses contained disease-causing microbes. Researchers ordered drinks at 21 different restaurants, securing 76 lemons. Testing revealed 25 different microorganisms lingering on the lemons, including E. coli and other fecal bacteria.

The Solution: Tell the waiter you prefer your drink sans fruit. Why risk it?


Your Shower Curtain

The threat: The soap scum hanging out on your curtain is more than just unsightly. A study in Applied and Environmental Microbiology found that vinyl shower curtains are microbe meccas, breeding potential pathogens, such as infection-causing Sphingomonas and Methylobacterium. Plus, the force of the shower spray will make germs take flight, says the study author, Norman Pace, Ph.D., a professor of molecular biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The Solution: Hang a fabric shower curtain from the rod. It will still harbor bacteria, but it's much easier to clean than scrubbing down a vinyl curtain. Just toss it in the washer, and use the hottest water the fabric can handle. Pace washes his shower curtain once a month but advises anyone with a weakened immune system (that's you if you're highly stressed or battling a disease) to do so more frequently.

[Dave Allen]

Good Lord, people...get a life.

[herdgirl72]

I knew there was a reason why I don't make my bed!!!

[genlock]

If you were exposed to no "germs", then you would be in real trouble.
The first time someone sneezed in your presence, you would catch every disease in the book.
This whole thing smells of ALAR, exploding GM pickup trucks and global warming (cooling in 1977).
I grew up in Logan county, where the creeks were open sewers.
I am a stronger person for it.

[Bar Rat]

I knew there was a reason why I don't make my bed!!!

I was just about to say the same thing!

[Big Media]

Yep.. Similar to day care kids. They are exposed to every possible germ before they enter school. As a result, they have much better attendance records than those that are mommied to no end (you know, the kids who are seen being wiped down with disinfecting wipes after playing at the playground). After a long day of playing at the park, I load my kids up and we head to McDonald's or something. I figure they've already ingested enough sand, dirt, snot, animal & bug goo, used M&Ms, and other organic materials, why bother washing their hands now?

[AmpedNow]

The Solution: Never let the menu touch your plate or silverware as you ponder the wine list, and wash your hands after you order.

I've been to places where crud is on the menus from all of the passing around... Ech.

If there's a buffet, I just get that, to uh, avoid handling menus.

But how do you escape the bathroom without touching the door handle? Palm a spare paper towel after you wash up, and then use it to grab the handle. Execute this trick properly and nobody needs to know how much you fear germs.

Never was good at this. I play roulette with the door handle.

The Solution:Spray the brush with a disinfectant after every use--traces of bacteria can survive as long as 5 days inside the vacuum after you empty the dirt. And disposable-bag vacuums promote more bacterial growth, according to the study, so buy the bagless variety.

I have a bagless.

The Solution: Don't make your bed.

Hey, np...

The Solution: Swab the handle with a disinfectant wipe before grabbing hold--stores are starting to provide them, so look around.

I'm a trooper with these... I'm just mindful of where I put my hands until I can wash them.

The Solution: Avoid touching your face between sets, since most colds are transmitted through hand-to-nose contact. And make sure to pack an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in your gym bag.

Guess you have to go to a gym first...

The Solution: Pack a green-tea pill. In a 2007 University of Florida study, people who took a 450-milligram green-tea supplement twice a day for 3 months had a third fewer days of cold symptoms. Try Immune Guard ($30 for 60 pills, immune-guard.us), the brand used in the study.

Another trick on a flight is to drink a lot of water. The air on a plane is pressurized and reused, and has almost no humidity. This makes it easy to dehydrate, which makes you more susceptible to colds.

The Solution: Tell the waiter you prefer your drink sans fruit. Why risk it?

I would've thought the citric acid in the lemon would kill most germs...

The Solution: Hang a fabric shower curtain from the rod.

Never thought about that...


Some of this stuff seems a little paranoid. I think we need germs to be healthy, ironically.

[Dave Allen]

I just don't get the whole thing. I once worked with a guy who was the biggest germaphobe ever. As soon as he got to the station he would take everything off his desk and wipe it down with something. He brought his own newspaper in because he was afraid someone had taken the station's copy into the shitter earlier in the morning. He completely wiped down everything in the control room before he went on the air, too. The result? The fucker was always sick and missed a hell of a lot of work because of it. Personally, I think handwashing is overated.

[genlock]

If you are too dainty, you will be sick all the time.
Go ahead and pick your nose after scratching your ass.
It is healthier than, say, jumping off a high bridge.

[Hoosier Daddy]

If you are too dainty, you will be sick all the time.
Go ahead and pick your nose after scratching your ass.
It is healthier than, say, jumping off a high bridge.

[CoolBreeze]

Right now at my age, I'm much more likely to die from some damned "Supergerm" like those running around in hospitals and even some schools, than I am jumping off the bridge. Keep in mind: As mentioned earlier, we all needed to roll in filth and eat dirt as kids in order to build immunity. But the germs that's evolved and morphed these days are not your granddaddies germs. If I were in my 20/30s, maybe I wouldn't be so concerned. But I know this much, since I've not touched bathroom door handles-menus-door handles in general, and used sanitizer towels after checking through the self check outs, I've cut my cold & Flu by 95% over the last 10 years.

[genlock]

I haven't had the flu in 15 years.

Flu shot.

[Arp2]

I haven't had the flu in 15 years.

Flu shot.

I haven't had the flu in 20+ years.

Real man.

[Dave Allen]

I haven't had the flu in over 15 years..I don't wash my hands after using a public turlet and I don't obess over anything related to public health. The result? Other than my most recent health problems (all non-virus or germ related) I am NEVER sick.

[CoolBreeze]

Flu shots are a Commie plot... just like RAP music.

[AmpedNow]

I had the flu one time in my life, when I was 13. Laid me out of school for almost 3 weeks.

Haven't been that sick since.

Never had a flu shot.

Get a two day sore throat and sniffles about once a year, if that.

I'm a vitamin freak, so maybe that helps.

[Big Media]

I've never had the flu. Never.

I've never had a flu shot, either. Every year, my wife begs me to get a flu shot. Why?

I used to be a heavy smoker. I used to get bronchitis at least once per year. I have not been sick at all since I quit smoking last year (knock on wood).

[herdgirl72]

The last time I got the flu was when I got the flu shot. Won't do that again.
The only thing I get germaphoby about is the stomach flu. Anytime someone says they have the pukes I stear
clear.

Yick.

[Cameron]

Just ask me about all things medical.
I just got my M.D. from WVU.
It came free with a $40.00 fill-up at Sheetz.

[Big Media]

Sheetz.

Damn good hot dogs, too. Nothing like a gas station hot dog complete with chili from the chili pump.