Did You Wash Your Hands???

Being a florist and handling exotic flowers grown and picked in third world countries, going to hospitals frequently and the everyday routine of living forces me to wash my hands a lot during a normal day or use a disinfectant hand gel. Although the handling of imported flowers is not listed in a recently released four year study, our everyday surroundings is with a surprising first place. Everyday common places have been found to be highly contaminated with E. coli and Enterococci. After reading this study you will probably pick up the pace in hand washing too for your family.

A team of scientists recently took some very hot showers after spending four years collecting nearly 1,100 samples at places like airports, restaurants, offices and bathrooms. According to them, the most frequently contaminated areas were:

1. Playgrounds and day care centers (46 percent of which showed high levels of contamination)
2. Public restroom surfaces (25 percent)
3. Public transportation handrails and armrests and shopping cart handles (21 percent)
4. Escalator handrails (19 percent)
5. Vending machine buttons (14 percent)
6. Public phones (13 percent)

More on the Study at Gadling The Travelers Weblog

The New York Times