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Showing posts with the label germs

Don't Touch That Grocery Cart Handle!

When I have a little time, I like to scroll through the top news stories at CNN.com.  Now I wish I hadn't. AARP did a study of the eight things you should never touch, and lemon wedges were right up there at the top of the list.   The article says you should never use lemons in a restaurant.  Request your drink naked, it said.  But I live on iced tea and drinking that without a lemon would be like, well, french fries without ketchup.  Pizza without cheese.  Romeo without Juliet.  You get my drift. The article said that the reason lemon wedges are so dicey is because of all the people who don't wash their hands and then touch the food.  (Scary fact: only 15% of people wash their hands correctly after using the rest room.) On average, an adult can touch as many as 30 objects within a minute, including germ-harboring, high-traffic surfaces such as light switches, doorknobs, phone receivers and remote controls, according to AARP. And you don't have to be a germ-o-phob

New Thing to Fear on Planes: MRSA On Your Seatback

You might have some trouble getting on a plane after you read this.  But did you know that microbes on a plane can survive a whole week? According to smartplanet.com, "Researchers have found that disease-causing bacteria can linger for several days within an aircraft cabin" That means you're on-board with the flu and the measles and for an unlucky few, even MERS. But there is some good news. "For us to catch bacteria from another traveler through things that we touch, the pathogens must survive environmental conditions in a plane," smartplanet.com reports. Scientists suspended some E.coli and MRSA, the contagious illness hospitals dread because of its easy transference from patient to patient, in a saline solution, then simulated sweat and saliva. Then, to see where these pathogens lived longest, the team placed the suspensions of the two pathogens onto a sample of commonly touched surfaces: rubber armrests, metal toilet handles, plastic tray table