Germiest Things We Touch

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When you imagine germ and germ exposure, your brain probably goes straight to something grody. A study shows that bacteria, such as common cold and flu viruses can live for 18 hours on hard surfaces.

Since the average adult can touch as many as 30-35 objects within a minute, it is essential to keep those germs at bay. Everyday objects like clothes, shoes and even a steering wheel are some of the germiest things we touch every day that harbor harmful germs.

Cleaning your home can help you to protect from germs. Even going to dinner or at the doctor’s office, there are many surfaces you are in contact with them.

However, having precautionary measures such as hand sanitizer or antibacterial wipes are ways that you can avoid or eliminate bacteria from the things around you and your own hands.

Table of Contents

Kitchen Sink and Kitchen Sponges

We know that kitchen surfaces contain many germs and bacteria that we come into contact with. According to research, the kitchen sink contains about 100,000 bacteria per square centimeter. Bacteria often grow in a moist environment. So, your kitchen sink is the best place for the production of bacteria.

Bar of Soap

Soap isn’t a sterilizing or sanitizing product, it’s a cleaning product. Since cleaners aren’t intended to kill germs, they can end up collecting them. So, it is advisable not to use the soap bar. Instead of it, liquid soap prevents the spreading of germs.

Keyboard

In offices, keyboards are often passed from employee to employee during working hours. In offices and houses, People cough or sneeze, they touch their face; the possibilities for the transmission of germs seem almost boundless. The spaces or separation between the keys hold germs, crumbs, etc., which makes it one of the germiest things we touch every day.

Steering Wheel

When we talk about cars, we probably don’t think about it being one of the germiest, but some areas in the vehicle are also called “high touch areas.” When you sneeze, the germs are in a contained area and lurk afterward. Getting the occasional car wash can help to clean those areas.

Cell Phones

In the age of technology, people hardly ever go anywhere without their phones, even the bathroom. According to the research studies of the UK, 1 in 6 cell phones were contaminated with fecal matter. Wipes are available to make your cell phones germ free.

Purse and Hand Bags

The handle of our purse contains a lot of germs. The bottom of the shoes comes into contact with anywhere, and everywhere you plop your pocketbook down. It goes into the bathroom with you. After that, you get into the house, in the kitchen, they go with you. In this way, the spread of germs is endless.

Shoes

Our shoes contain a lot of germs because they are with us where we go such as in the bathroom, kitchen, the subway, etc. The bottom side of our shoes contains dirt, germs, chewing gum, and other contaminants which make them one of the germiest objects we touch daily.

Then you bring all these germs home and infect yourself and your households to their bacteria. Mainly, if you have small babies in the crawling stage, they are affected first to the bacteria and germs that are tramped through the home. You’ve most likely been to houses where the rule to take your shoes off at the door, and there seems to be a good ground for it. Placing a shoe rack and shelf near the door that you and your family members use the most often will help to enforce that same behavior in your home.

Restaurant menu

At restaurants and cafeterias, we often come in contact with many things. Some of them may be dirty such as dirty forks and stained glass. But restaurants all try to make them better and hygienic for other people. Many people coming to the restaurant touch menu, so the transfer of germs take place through this.

Money

There are more than 3000-3500 types of bacterias present on the money. According to recent studies, there are more germs on a penny than a toilet seat, and about 50 percent of people don’t wash their hands after handling money.

Cutting Boards

According to the research of the University of Arizona, Many types of bacteria that are found on a cutting board and kitchen shelves include Salmonella, Listeria and Escherichia coli. The more channels the cutting board gets on its exterior, the more it is likely to retain condensation which enlarges the bacterial growth on the boards’ surface. Wooden boards are found more efficient as compared to the plastic ones to prevent bacterial growth.

Hand Shake and High Fives

When we shake hands with someone, there is very little chance that we don’t get any germ from the other person. According to the study, only 10 percent of germs are transferred by fist bumps, and 50 percent by high fives, as compared to handshakes because of the smaller surface area of hands that come in contact during these interactions.

Remote Control

Television remote control is used by everyone in the house, even though they are used numerous times in a day, they are not observed as a hotspot as one of the germiest things we touch every day. They are usually found on the floors, on the couch, used by different people coming back home from outside, bathroom, kitchen, by someone whose homesick for the day and are also used while watching television and eating simultaneously.

Tooth Brush

A toothbrush is a primary source of spreading germs. Once we are done, we rinse it and pull out of the moist toothbrush with a friendly wet habitat which is ideal for bacterial and fungal growth. The bacterial colony that multiplies on every fiber of your toothbrush not only comes from your mouth but from the toilet, too.

Towels

Towels contain a lot of germs because they retain moisture for an extended period of time which provides a suitable environment for the production and growth of germs.