Fortunately, experts say ?dirty? money and showerheads pose no real health risks for most of us (people with asthma or compromised immune systems should run the shower for a minute or take baths instead)—but plenty of other things in your life do harbor potentially harmful germs.
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says viruses like H1N1 flu, staph bacteria, and E. coli can take up residence on the very things you touch every day. How can you wage war against such germs?
Wash your hands a lot, says Matt Arduino, DrPh, acting chief of the CDC?s Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch. The best way: wash your hands for about 20 seconds with soapy, warm water every time you cook, use the bathroom, blow your nose, handle garbage, or touch a public surface. (The kind of soap doesn?t matter; the key is that the germs are being washed down the drain.)
Also, clean your house and the hot spots below with a disinfecting solution (1 part bleach to 20 parts water) or with an antibacterial product that has 5% bleach or that says it kills 99.9% of germs and bacteria.
Next: Where the germs are hiding
