Top 10 germ-infested spots
Some nasty germs like to hide in plain sight. Discover the top 10 germ-hiding spots in your house and elsewhere.
Men's Health magazine lists the top 10 spots germs may be hiding in your house and elsewhere.
Men's Health magazine lists the top 10 spots germs may be hiding in your house and elsewhere.
Shower Curtain
Vinyl shower curtains are microbe meccas. Plus, the force of the shower spray will only make those germs take flight.
Contact-Lens Case
In a 2007 Chinese study, 34 percent of contact-lens cases tested were found to be crawling with germs that cause keratitis, an inflammatory eye disease that can damage the cornea and lead to blindness.
Lemon Wedges
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.
Your Bed
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.
Flight Attendants
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.
Restaurant Menu
A recent study reports that cold and flu viruses can survive for 18 hours on hard surfaces like menus. If it's a popular restaurant, hundreds of people could be passing their germs on to you.
Gym Equipment
A 2006 study in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine found germs that cause the common cold on 63 percent of the gym equipment at the fitness centers they tested.
Shopping Cart
The handles of almost two-thirds of shopping carts tested in a 2007 study were contaminated with fecal bacteria. The carts had even more of these bacteria than the average public bathroom.
Weight-Lifting Gloves
A 2004 Japanese study found that staph bacteria bind strongly to polyester, which is used in many weight-lifting gloves.
Vacuum Cleaner
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.
