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The bulk of germs are hiding where you least expect. The top germ carriers in public places are: playground equipment, the phone receiver, ATMs, elevator buttons, escalator handrails, shopping cart handles, picnic tables, and Port-A-Potties.

The kitchen sink has the most germs, more germs than the bathroom. The most contaminated sites are those that tend to remain moist such as a dishcloth, toilet bowl, garbage can, refrigerator, and bathroom doorknob.

Only 51% of Americans wash their hands after sneezing or coughing, and only 17% wash them after shaking hands. This is a real public health problem because 80% of infections are spread by hand.

An estimated 60 million days of school and 50 million days of work are lost annually because of the common cold.

A line of 1000 germs can fit across the period at the end of this sentence.
The speed of a sneeze is over 100 miles per hour and that sneeze can spread 5000 droplets, containing 10,000 bacteria to a distance of 12 feet.

A computer keyboard can have 3,295 germs per square inch. That amount is 400 times more than the number of germs found on the top of a public toilet seat.

More germs are spread by shaking hands than by kissing.
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