Are you wondering where your children have the best chance of picking up the H1N1 Swine flu disease? Are you worried when they go to school or run off to the mall or go with you shopping. Well guess what – you should be worried. Everything you touch viruses and bacteria run rampant!!
How do the germs get transfer to you? Just touch a germ-infected surface, then touch your own mouth, rub your nose and bingo you are infected.
Germaphobes have plenty to worry about this year with H1N1 Swine flu virus, seasonal flu and the run-of-the-mill bugs crawling about in all the public places.
Where there is a crowd there is a chance for you or your kids to pick up any germs. The H1N1 Swine Flu germ may be near.
Disease-carrying bacteria and viruses live everywhere, shopping malls, grocery stores, playgrounds, restaurants and libraries. Did you know that germs can survive up to 2 hours on shopping carts, escalator handrails, even door knobs before they find their next victim, which could be you.
1. Children’s playgrounds
Where the germs are hiding: The swings, jungle gym and other equipment
Playgrounds are germ infested pools. Children touch everything they see and where do their hands go next? That’s right directly into their mouths.
I know this sounds gross, but the largest threat is from fecal bacteria from bird droppings on playground equipment and diaper-wearing kids.
Petting zoos and exhibits with animals infected with E. coli, are hot beds for germs says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What is the fix: Washing hands thoroughly and the use of a hand sanitizer after returning from playgrounds, using the bathroom and changing diapers. (Rub hands together for 20 seconds under clean hot running water, the CDC advises.) You cannot over emphasis the need to wash your hands after any activity. ALL-NATURAL HAND SANITIZER-1 oz-1 oz.-Liquid
2. Libraries
Worst areas for germs items: All counter tops, surfaces and books of course.
Libraries appear to be tidy, sterile places, but they are crawling with germs.
Other people and kids are touching the books, counter tops etc carrying any germs they may have from object to object.
What should you do? Immediately after thumbing through books or touching counter tops use a hand sanitizer or wash your hands. Do not wait until you get home to clean your children’s hands. Do it before leaving the library. You do not want to leave possibly carrying the swine flu germ with you.
3. Malls
By far one of the worst germ areas of all – Escalator handles.
Everyone hangs onto the escalator handrails while riding the escalators at the mall.
If I told you that scientists took samples from dozens of escalator handrails across the country and found 19% showed high bacterial contamination would you keep your hands off. Well that is the facts. Escalator handrails are teeming with germs. Keep you hands to your side.
Just think about the sheer volume of people touching the handrails – germ hot spot!
The fix here is obvious – do not touch them. Plain and simple. However if you think you must use them to stable yourself, again wash your hands or use hand sanitizer afterward.
4. Public restrooms
Of course since we are at the mall every child must use the restroom. And what do you think is the germiest area.
Most women worry about public toilets. Well, you can sit a little easier now: The porcelain throne is not the biggest restroom offender. That is correct the sick, hardware, and the surrounding surfaces.
And this is going to sound gross again, but what do people do immediately after using the toilet? Yes they touch the sink, hardware etc leaving fecal matter. Bacteria swarm on the sink tap or faucet handles.
And since the sink tap is a wet, moist environment, bacteria can survive there longer.
The soap dispenser is one of the first fixtures touched and are especially germ infected.
So what’s the cleanest part of a bathroom you may ask?
The toilet: Many Americans use covers or toilet paper to cover the seat in public restrooms because of fear of germs on the seat.
What should you do? Avoid touching moist surfaces and wash hands thoroughly after touching sink faucets and soap dispensers. After washing use a paper towel to turn the water off.
5. Grocery store
Shopping cart handles and child seat buckets are the germiest areas.
Before just grabbing that next shopping cart please note that the handles are a breeding ground for infectious viruses and gut-wrenching bacteria. Ouch!
Customers sneeze, wipe their noses, then touch the cart handles, leaving a multitude of germs.
Shopping carts are also contaminated by kid’s dirty hands and by leaky meat packages that you toss into your cart. Especially poultry and beef can contain bacterial bombs such as salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli, which cause severe diarrhea, intestinal swelling, nausea and vomiting.
We have all seen meat packages can leaking onto the checkout conveyor belts, which is contaminating the food on the conveyor as well as your hands.
Fact: About 70-80% of shopping carts tested nationwide had E. coli, says Charles Gerba, Ph.D., a University of Arizona microbiologist who spends a lot of time studying germs in public places.
Shopping cart kid seats are E. coli hot spots because they hold raw food and [diaper-wearing] kids, he says. And no one disinfects.
And here is another fact that Dr Gerba points out. Be careful, too, around those enticing displays of fruits and veggies. Sprinklers used to keep produce moist may contain Legionnella, Stamm says. The bacterium can cause a deadly respiratory tract infection, particularly in older people and others with underlying health problems.
Besides just giving up buying food what can I do to protect myself from swine germs? Use disinfecting wipes on handlebars and seats. You probably seen that many stores now offer these at the entrance. And as mom has always said, wash veggies and fruits thoroughly before eating them.
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6. Restaurants
Table surfaces and high chairs are the worst areas. That is besides the restrooms which was covered earlier.
No, contaminated food isn’t the biggest threat at restaurants, it is the rag used to wipe the table clean. Have you wondered how many times that rag probably dropped onto the floor.
When busboys wipe down a table or chairs, their dirty rags may be spreading a small film of E. coli.
While disinfectant should be sprayed on the rag after every use, studies show that the same cloth was used on more than a dozen tables before it was disinfected.
High chairs harbor fecal bacteria, because they hold diaper-wearing tots.
Again always carry sanitary wipes to swipe the tabletop and high chair when you’re seated. do not leave your health up to some 16 year old busboy.
You can see from this info that H1N1 Swine Flu germs can be left in all the places you visit. Besides always washing your hands thoroughly and having plenty of sanitary wipes available it is important that your immune system is sound and strong. Keep up with your vitamins during this H1N1 Swine flu season. It is especially important to maintain the proper level of vitamin C and vitamin D in your system.
To get your vitamins, visit our immune system store by clicking on this link.
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