WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE CAN KILL YOU

Want to avoid severe diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and abdominal cramps that can span several days? Thought so. These are all symptoms of food-borne illness that can be caused by kitchen germs.

As if the thought of those kitchen germs giving you food poisoning wasn’t scary enough, the CDC estimates that every year about 76 million people in the U.S. become ill from pathogens or disease-causing substances in food — 5,000 of whom end up dying from it.

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.

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 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.

Source: WebMD