Bacteria-laden computer keys and microscopic kitchen crawlies — some things in your home are even dirtier than a toilet!
Your keyboard
If you're like most people, the gaps between the keys on your keyboard is are probably littered with miniscule crumbs. Not to mention the grubby keys, which have more than likely been touched with greasy fingers from time to time.
A British consumer group randomly sampled 33 computer keyboards earlier this year. Out of those tested, four were considered to be a health hazard, while one harboured more bacteria than your average toilet. Is that enough to make you disinfect those keys and shake out those crumbs?
The kitchen
Chopping boards and dirty dish cloths are the biggest culprit in the kitchen when it comes to unwelcome germs. Not surprisingly, damp tea towels also top the list, as many people use them to dry things and then hang the damp cloth over the sink. The solution? Experts suggest disinfecting the sink and swapping dish cloths regularly and, if you're really keen, installing a sensor-activated tap so that dirty hands don't touch the tap handles.
Men's wallets
Think about it, everything in it is touched regularly and then once your hands have delivered the germs, the wallet gets folded up and tucked away in your back pocket. It's this last germ-inducing step that makes men's wallets decidedly more bacteria-prone than women's. Why? Because pockets are cosy, warm places for bugs to breed.
Women's desks
The ladies don’t get off scott-free. Women's desks are often home to 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat. According to researchers at the University of Arizona in the US, men's desks don't faire quite as badly, mainly because women are more likely to keep food in their desk drawers.
Make-up and moisturisers, which are often a mainstay alongside the crackers, also aid in the transfer of bacteria from surface to surface.And on top of this, women are more likely to have had contact with small children, who, let's face it, can be pretty germy.
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