For a home less loaded with germs
December 13, 2017
Health
educator remembers the hygiene rules that must be taken into account with some
articles of daily use
Even the cleanest and most
organized house could be plagued with unwanted germs.
And as the health educator Patricia
Romero says, linked to Kaiser Permanente in Downey (California), germs can be
alive and kicking in articles that we touch and use daily.
What are those items and what can
be done to exterminate them? Romero lists some of those that tend to be fixed
nests of bacteria after not cleaning them or changing them as often as hygiene
standards stipulate.
Cellphones
"Studies continue to show that
cell phones are much dirtier than most people think," says Romero.
"And believe it or not, our hands are the biggest culprits in terms of
putting germs on our mobile phones."
And this is proven by a recent
investigation by the University of Arizona, which found that mobile phones
carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet bowls, adds the expert.
"Studies have found serious
pathogens in cell phones, including Streptococcus, MRSA and even E. coli [which
can get seriously ill]," the interview deepens. "Viruses can also
spread on phones if a person is sick with strep throat or flu and coughs up on
their cell phone before handing it over to a friend."
Fortunately there are several
hygiene measures that can be followed to prevent these devices from spreading
bacteria or germs. One of them is "to always keep them out of the
bathroom. This prevents them from ending up with fecal bacteria like Ecoli”
Two
other smart measures to follow are the following:
· Wipe the cell frequently with a lint-free cloth,
moistened with a diluted alcohol solution (60% water and 40% alcohol), which
can be mixed in a spray bottle to be loaded into the wallet daily.
Towels
and sheets
The towels and sheets are other
household items that carry and spread the bacteria when they are not changed
and washed as often as required.
"According to a survey of
Women's Health, carried out in 2015, most people wash the sheets and towels
frequently, but they do not do it as often as they should," Romero
emphasizes. "With these two items you should have the same hygiene care
that we have with our clothes, since they come into contact with our
skin."
It is so to dry your body with
healthy towels you have to wash them after every three uses.
"Towels serve as ideal bases
for germs because they contain many of the requirements for microbial life:
water, warm temperatures, oxygen, food and neutral pH," says the health
educator. "Among the microbes that can grow on the towels are bacterium
and fungi, there are also dead skin cells, body fluids [sweat, urine and fecal
material], as well as other germs that live in the bathroom that may have
jumped to them, would be the case of droplets of water leaking from the toilet
with urine or feces residues.
Another hygiene measure to keep in
mind with this article is to avoid sharing towels, even among the same family
members.
As for the sheets and covers, these
should be washed once a week or every two weeks.
And as "every night we spill a
million skin cells, accompanied by oil and sweat", the health educator
says that these items should be washed with the hot water cycle, having added
to the water a little white vinegar for a Greater cleanliness and whiteness.
Toothbrush
As it turns out to be logical, the
toothbrush is another everyday item that has an environment conducive to the
accumulation and spread of germs because the mouth houses a number of bacteria
that get trapped in them after the action of brushing and can survive several
days in sows not to follow certain hygiene measures, including changing them in
their stipulated time.
The American Dental Association
(ADA) recommends changing the toothbrushes every three months and each time the
person has passed a cold or a flu episode or any respiratory or oral disease.
And if the child or adult suffers from a disease that compromises their immune
system, it must be changed more frequently.
And while it is time to change it,
the ADA suggests that your bristles are rinsed with clean water and dry well
after each use and the brush is placed vertically in the cup or brush holder
that is being used. It also recommends that you wash frequently (with water and
soap) the items that are being used to locate or transport the toothbrushes.
Center
table
It would seem to be a lie, but the surface
of the coffee table in the living room or family room is plagued with bacteria
that stick to the soles of the shoes and arrive there when the members of the
families usually put their feet on them.
Because according to a study from
the Department of Microbiology at the University of Arizona, there are more
germs in the soles of shoes than in a toilet. Researchers at this site detected
421,000 different bacteria in the shoes, 96% of which correspond to the
so-called coliform bacteria, which inhabit the intestines of animals and humans
and are present in the feces.
The remedy for this problem is to
try to leave the shoes outside and not to do it, not to put them on the tables
or beds and to clean frequently the surfaces of the coffee tables with a rag
moistened with a little water with ammonia.
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