Germy Places in Your Office You Should Clean Today

Yikes, germs are everywhere! Contact with germs is inevitable and the office is a festering pool of microbes and other bugs that thrive no matter how much you clean. “You cough into your hand, you touch a desk, you touch a door knob, you touch something and you then contaminate that something,” Doctor John D. Goldman at Pinnacle Health in Harrisburg, PA explained to ABC. What is a person to do? Do we wear hazmat suits and white masks to protect ourselves from people and the environment or do we dress in bubble wrap? Besides this not being part of the dress code, it's just a pipe-dream. This is where people feel they have little control. Yes, this is partially true. However, once we are more aware of where germs lurk and play--we can be more proactive. Here is a look at the germiest places in your office that should be cleaned.

The Toilet

Does hepatitis A, streptococcus, viruses, cold viruses, sexually transmitted organisms and E. coli sound gross? Welcome to the bathroom. You may think of the toilet seat as being the worse place for germs to thrive, but they are not. It would take a lot for you to catch something on a toilet seat because your skin acts as a barrier unless you have an open sore. It's the germs in feces that can be propelled into the air when the toilet is flushed, WebMD reported. "Leave the stall immediately after flushing to keep the microscopic, airborne mist from choosing you as a landing site." Wipe down the toilet seat with disposal bleach wipes and do the same with the faucets. This sounds extreme, but this will help cut down on the germs.

Vending Machines

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Vending machines are great to have around in a pinch, but they are rarely disinfected and are full of germs. One study found that 21 percent of vending machine buttons are infested with bacteria. Most people don't think of the vending machine as being a place where germs grow and so they don't wash their hands afterward. Another thing to watch for are soda cans which can have stenotrophomonas maltophilia, pseudmona, enterobacter cloacae and staphylococcus on the lid. These thrive in moist environments and can cause confusion, the chills, or produce flu-like symptoms. The best bet here is to rinse the soda cans off before drinking from it and use a paper towel when touching the buttons. Invest in disposable wipes where you can clean off the surface areas of the vending machine.

Your Desk

How many times have you touched your mouth, nose and then started typing? This is a common habit that spreads germs since bacteria can live on a hard surface up to 6 hours. We eat at our desks and that introduces problems because food particles drop between the keys and E. coli or Salmonella can grow. There are actually more germs at your desk than on a toilet seat, one researcher found. British microbiologist James Francis wanted to find out how dirty desks really were. He swabbed 33 keyboards and 33 desks. He then swabbed a toilet seat so he could compare the results. He found that the keyboards and the desks had more bacteria than the toilet seat. Make sure you wipe down your keyboard, desk and keyboard with disinfectant daily.