When you step into the shower, you’re expecting to come out all clean and shiny. But as a study shows, your shower-head may be dumping risky bacteria all over you – bacteria that can even cause lung infections.
Young children are constantly wiping their noses and sticking their fingers in their mouths. Kids in daycare are forever bringing home germs and passing them along to the rest of the family. But a new study suggests that kids may develop fewer respiratory infections, miss less days of school, and reduce their chance of being prescribed an antibiotic if they use alcohol-based hand sanitizer instead of soap and water to clean their hands. [1]
If you try to avoid fattening foods at birthday parties, this story may have you swearing off cake forever. It might have crossed your mind that when someone leans over to blow out their birthday candles, they’re spewing spit and germs everywhere, and you’d be right about that. According to researchers, blowing out birthday candles increases the amount of bacteria on a cake by 1,400%. [1]
Who wants some ice cream?
People pee in swimming pools – that probably doesn’t come as a shock to you. You tuck it in the back of your mind when you go swimming; but you when you accidentally swallow a mouthful of pool water, you know you’re getting more than H2O and chlorine. Well, there’s another threat lurking in public swimming pools. It’s a diarrhea-inducing parasite called cryptosporidium, and federal officials said back in May that cases of the bug are on the rise.
Source: CDC
People take it for granted that doctors and nurses are washing their hands properly before examining them. After all, no one understands germs and sickness like these healthcare professionals do. But a recent study finds that unless doctors are being watched, they tend to neglect proper hygiene.
Cold weather will soon be here, kids are bringing home colds from school, and flu season is right around the corner – so parents are beginning to focus even more on antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers. But scientists in Korea have found that antibacterial soaps are a waste of money and don’t work any better than regular soaps. What’s more, the use of antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers is contributing to the development of bacterial superbugs.
Not only that, but many antibacterial soaps are bad for you, too.
A study published earlier this month suggests that a variety of illnesses may be fostered by the use of bleach, an old-time cleaner. How could that be? Bleach is used to kill bacteria, just as antibacterial soap and hand sanitizers are.
