According to the National Institutes of Health, the average person is walking around with 2-6 pounds of bacteria in their body, but that doesn’t mean all bacteria are safe or beneficial. While some help maintain gut health, others can cause serious illness or death and your home is filled with all kinds of bacteria and microbes. Keep your home safe and healthy by tracking down the most germ filled places in your house and disinfecting them properly.
It All Starts in the Kitchen
What do you think is the germiest object in your home? The floor? Pet food bowl? Toilet seat? NSF International, an organization focused on sanitation, found the kitchen to be the biggest germ offender in a 2011 study. The average kitchen sink contains 100,000 times more bacteria than the bathroom sink due to regular contact with food. Not only are sinks filled with their own slew of bacteria, kitchen sponges tend to be great incubators for microbes. Approximately 70% of kitchen sponges start to exhibit bacteria colonies after three week, including e.coli and salmonella.
How to Clean: Scrub with soapy hot water and remove all traces of food as needed. Once a month, use a hot water and bleach solution to disinfect the drain. Change sponges every two weeks or more to reduce bacterial exposure. Microwaving sponges for at least two minutes to kill most bacteria, viruses, parasites and mold spores between changes.
Stop the Cycle
Cleaning is a never ending process. There’s always another counter to scrub, corner to sweep, or load of laundry to do, but did you know your cleaning might actually be spreading more bacteria around? A 2015 academic study found that while washing machines can launder dirty clothes, they do not sterilize them. In fact, a load of underwear can transfer more than 100 million e.coli bacteria to a washing machine which can become a breeding ground and contaminate more clothing. Front loading washers can be even more germ-filled because the water settles at the bottom of the machine and creates a moist breeding ground.
How to Clean: The CDC recommends cleaning washing machines with bleach once per month to thoroughly disinfect the washing drum. It’s also a good idea to use bleach or disinfecting spray to clean clothes hampers to remove possible contamination points.
Tidy Up Your Tech
It’s no secret that technology plays a large role in our daily lives. From looking at emails from bed in the morning to checking social media throughout the day, it turns out our phones, computers, and tablets are high-touch bacterial hotspots. In fact, a study done by the University of Arizona found the average desk top to have 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
How to Clean: Disinfecting wipes are some of the best way to reduce or eliminate the bacteria found on desktops, keyboards, tablets, and laptops. A study done by researchers from the Slovak Academy of Sciences found antibacterial wet wipes reduced bacteria found on these surfaces by 36.8 to 100 percent.
In addition to deep cleaning the germiest spots in your home, it’s important to keep up general disinfecting and sanitizing practices. Achieve the highest level of clean for your home by trusting the professionals at PureProOne. Call us 800-418-1750 to receive a free quote today!