Does the thought of sleeping amidst dead skin cells, bodily fluids, hair, pet dander, dust, dust mite feces, insect body parts, food and a collection of mites, fungi and bacteria thriving off your own perspiration and shed skin gross you out?
Then don’t think about it, because that’s what’s living in your mattress.
“It’s like a little ecosystem,” said Dr. Philip Tierno, associate professor of microbiology and pathology at the New York University School of Medicine.
Disgusted? Wait till you get out of bed. People interact with a host of microscopic organisms every day. Most of them are harmless or even helpful. Still, we come in contact with a few hazardous breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses, and with cold and flu season still lingering, it helps to know where bacteria lurk.Your kitchen counter is often significantly dirtier than your toilet seat, making it the “worst place in the house bar none,” Tierno said. The counter is often washed less frequently and is contaminated by scrubbing with dirty sponges that can be breeding grounds for dangerous forms of bacteria that thrive off bits of food and raw meat.
That’s just what lurks inside your home.When you step outside, you expose yourself to a variety of risks by directly interacting with people or touching things they’ve touched. Rather than wearing rubber gloves, Dr. Steven Rothschild, director of the Department of Preventative Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, recommends that you be aware of where you put your hands and clean them frequently.
“You don’t want to stop shaking hands” a la Donald Trump, “but you do want to keep your hands below shoulder level,” Rothschild said. “The moment you touch your eyes or face you’ve [contaminated] yourself. If there’s one product people should have, it’s hand sanitizer, especially in an office environment.”
In fact, the office is a real threat to your health. The conference room, for example, can turn one sick employee into an office-wide epidemic.
“You’ve got a closed-in room, probably not much air circulating, like an airplane,” Rothschild said. “Someone’s going to sit at the head of the table and pass papers down.
It’s got to be cough, oh, here’s that memo, bam!”
While most viruses can survive on a hard surface only for a few seconds, they can easily pass from person to person by contact with frequently used equipment like the fax machine.
“You’re going to come over, dial in your numbers, feed your papers through and someone is going to come right behind you,” Rothschild said. “This is the perfect opportunity to spread things back and forth or to pick things up.”
After a long day at work, you can escape the office, but not the germs.
If you think waiting a long time for the “L” is the worst part of your commute, think again. With so many people pressed close together, onboard the “L” or bus can be serious infection zones.
“I try really hard not to think about that,” said Rogers Park resident Leanne Paper, 30.
Lakeview resident Anne Kuzmanich, 23, was more concerned about riding with germs.
“Especially after I get off the CTA I always wash my hands,” Kuzmanich said. “I feel dirty after I get off the bus or train.”
Michael Koller, assistant professor of medicine at the Loyola University Health System in Maywood, said keeping your hands to yourself is the key to avoiding infection.
“Something they might want to consider doing is keeping their gloves on when they get inside the ‘L’,” Koller said. “If the person before them coughed on their hands before putting them on the railing, if they have their gloves on they’re not touching it. Even with their gloves on they don’t want to touch their eyes, nose, face or mouth. If somebody nearby them is coughing or sneezing, consider getting up and moving to another seat that’s at least 3 feet away.”
While hazardous germs may be everywhere, fighting them is surprisingly easy.
“I’m actually pro-germs,” said Logan Square resident Damian Riddell, 27. “I think these people have a phobia of germs and that’s why they get sick all the time. Everybody uses all these antibiotic things all the time and it reduces their immunity so when they get sick, they get real sick.”
Doctors agree that just keeping your hands clean will greatly reduce your risk of catching something or transmitting it to others.
“When you come right down to it, it’s all about things we should have learned about in kindergarten–washing your hands, covering your mouth,” Koller said. “It’s not rocket science. It’s just remembering to do it all day long.”
What about the makeup counter?
Germs can even take the fun out of buying makeup.
Department store cosmetic counters are risky contact points for women. While store employees do their best to keep cosmetics sanitary, Amy O’Connor, deputy editor at Prevention magazine, said your eyes and mouth are particularly vulnerable to picking up germs left behind by unhygienic customers.
If you have pink eye “and you touch a makeup applicator and people use it, they can get that pink eye,” O’Connor said. “It’s really an ick factor. Herpes is another factor. If someone puts lipstick to their lips and has a cold sore and puts it down and it isn’t put in alcohol, they could be transmitting the herpes virus.”
While some customers are unfazed by the makeup risk, others refuse to use testers.
“I definitely wouldn’t use the stuff at a makeup counter because it’s been used on everyone,” said Gold Coast resident Tiffany Bryant, 24.
Offenders that can make you sick
Germs may be everywhere, but a few places are outright nests for microbes that can really make you sick. Dr. Philip Tierno, associate professor of microbiology and pathology at the New York University School of Medicine and author of the “Secret Life or Germs,” told RedEye about the five worst offenders.
Kitchen sponge or dish rag: Sponges and dish rags house E. coli, salmonella and other germs that spread if you use the same sponge or rag to clean your kitchen table and appliances. Make sure to soak it in a one part bleach, nine parts water solution after every use (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
Kitchen trash can: Plastic garbage bags have a tendency to break, leaking whatever you’ve discarded into the bin, including blood from meat and bits of bacteria-friendly food material.
When you set the garbage bag down before taking it to the garbage can or Dumpster outdoors, the germs can spread to your floor or countertops.
To stay safe, clean visible messes with a bleach solution and spray the bin with Lysol regularly.
Drapes, carpet and mattress: Bacteria, dust mites and fungi that thrive off your dead skin cells, food crumbs and bodily fluids can infest your carpet, drapes and mattress. To keep your room from resembling a giant petri dish, skip the wall-to-wall carpet, use light curtains and buy an impermeable zip-off top for your mattress and wash it regularly.
Toilet: Flushing a toilet without shutting the lid can spray fecal matter that will settle on whatever you’ve left out in your bathroom, like towels, toothbrushes and combs. This foul mist can include the microorganisms that cause the stomach flu and hepatitis A.
“You definitely want to keep your toothbrush at least 3 feet away, otherwise you’re going to be brushing your teeth with what you thought you flushed down the toilet,” warned Chuck Gerba, adjunct professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona.
Make sure to clean under the toilet seat at least once a week.
Shower: The moist shower environment is a great place for soap scum to turn into mold growth, which can aggravate allergies.
To protect your curtain, use an inside liner and replace it several times a year. If your shower has glass panels, wash them with a squeegee and glass cleaner after each shower.
3 ways to stay healthy
If just the thought of germs makes you sick, you’re not alone. Germophobia has become contagious this cold and flu season, and the market has been flooded with products.
While spending $179 on an air purifier or $70 on an anti-microbial keyboard may seem necessary, doctors say most of these are expensive substitutes for common sense and general good hygiene. If you really want to stay healthy, there are three products that are worth the cash.
Hand sanitizer: The doctors RedEye spoke with encouraged people to carry around an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. If you’re exposed to germs by touching dirty surfaces or other people, a 15-second scrub will kill most pathogens before they have the opportunity to get into your eyes, nose or mouth and make you sick.
Tissues: Dr. Steven Rothschild, director of preventative medicine at the Rush University Medical Center, said tissues don’t have to be antibacterial. Covering your mouth with a tissue when you sneeze will keep germs off your hands and reduce the number of airborne microscopic organisms you spread.
Washable mattress top: Dr. Philip Tierno, associate professor of microbiology and pathology at the New York University School of Medicine, recommended the HealthSmart Bed Replacement Top (Simmons, $150 to $220). The cover contains three layers of fabric that keep bacteria, dust mites and other microorganisms from settling into your mattress. The tops can fit any mattress and should be washed regularly along with your sheets.
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Myths about germs
Although there are plenty of ways to get sick, there are even more myths and germaphobe habits that are a waste of money and energy. Dr. Steven Rothschild, director of the Department of Preventative Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, dispels some of the most common myths about staying disease-free.
Myth: Touching sweaty machines at the gym can make you sick.
Truth: If you wipe off equipment with a towel, “the risk of things from sweat is pretty much zero,” Rothschild said. While viruses can be excreted in sweat and tears, the risk of infection is minimal unless you’re drinking the stuff or touching it with an open cut.
Myth: You can get nasty infections by using public restrooms.
Truth: If your partner says, “I must have picked that up in the bathroom of the CTA,” don’t believe it. And women can stop hovering and sit down on that toilet seat, as long as they wash their hands afterward.
Myth: All moldy foods should be discarded immediately.
Truth: Bread should be thrown out at the first sight of fungus, but fruits and vegetables are usually salvageable.
Myth: All your soap should be antibacterial.
Truth: “The one place you want to have an anti-bacterial soap is in the kitchen, especially if you’re a meat-eater,” Rothschild said. But in the bathroom or shower there’s not really a big difference between anti-bacterial soap and regular body wash, except for maybe the smell and the price.
