What Has More Germs than a Toilet Seat and You Have it Near Your Mouth?

A toilet seat; it's the yardstick for how germy or nasty something may be.  While that may the yardstick, there are things more germy than a toilet seat. You may not want to know this, but one thing that is more germ infested than a toilet seat is something that just about everyone has. It can be shared by several people in a day and, sometimes, one's lips may even touch it. Curious?

Cellphones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. And there is a good reason. “When’s the last time you cleaned your cellphone?” asks Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. While toilets tend to get cleaned frequently, cellphones and other commonly handled objects are often left out of the cleaning routine. Cellphones pick up germs all the time, Gerba said. But the amount of germs on a phone isn’t a problem – it’s sharing the phones. Without sharing, each phone carries just one set of germs, and won’t get its owner sick, Gerba said. And, because it’s an electronic device, most people are hesitant about cleaning them. This is also this case with remote controls, which are also often used by people when they’re sick. Remotes are more frequently shared too, so they’re usually even worse than phones for spreading germs. Other common culprits that are hotspots of unseen disease include office phones, shopping carts and the first-floor buttons of elevators. To limit the spread of diseases from phones or other objects, try not to share them, or wipe them down with an antibacterial wipe if you do. While sprays might damage the equipment, a gentle wipe should do the trick, Gerba said.