Subscribe to ListverseTop 30 Spots for Bacteria in the Home
- Published October 5, 2007 - 38 Comments
This list is from statistics published by the Center for Disease Control. In order to compile the list, researchers visited 35 U.S. homes, swabbing for bacteria in 32 locations in each home. Once you have read this list – if you feel the urge to clean, the FDA recommends 1 teaspoon of chlorine bleach to 1 quart of water for home disinfecting. Get scrubbing!
1 – 10
1. Toilet bowl: 3.2 million bacteria/square inch
2. Kitchen drain: 567,845 bacteria/square inch
3. Sponge or counter-wiping cloth: 134,630 bacteria/square inch
4. Bathtub, near drain: 119,468 bacteria/square inch
5. Kitchen sink, near drain: 17,964 bacteria/square inch
6. Kitchen faucet handle: 13,227 bacteria/square inch
7. Bathroom faucet handle: 6,267 bacteria/square inch
8. Bathroom sink, near drain: 2,733 bacteria/square inch
9. Pet food dish, inside rim: 2,110 bacteria/square inch
10. Kitchen floor, in front of sink: 830 bacteria/square inch
11 – 20
11. Toilet floor, in front of toilet: 764 bacteria/square inch
12. Kitchen countertop: 488 bacteria/square inch
13. Bathroom countertop: 452 bacteria/square inch
14. Garbage bin: 411 bacteria/square inch
15. Dish towel: 408 bacteria/square inch
16. Toy: 345 bacteria/square inch
17. Kitchen tabletop: 344 bacteria/square inch
18. Home office phone or refrigerator door: 319 bacteria/square inch
19. Toilet seat: 295 bacteria/square inch
20. Bathroom light switch: 217 bacteria/square inch
21 – 30
21. Microwave buttons: 214 bacteria/square inch
22. Kitchen chopping board: 194 bacteria/square inch
23. Child-training potty: 191 bacteria/square inch
24. Infant changing mat and infant high chair: 190 bacteria/square inch
25. Kitchen phone: 133 bacteria/square inch
26. Bathroom door’s inside handle: 121 bacteria/square inch
27. Toilet’s flush handle: 83 bacteria/square inch
28. TV remote control: 70 bacteria/square inch
29. Home office computer keyboard: 64 bacteria/square inch
30. Home office computer mouse: 50 bacteria/square inch
I guess I will start eating dinner on the computer mouse instead of the tabletop from now on!
Technorati Tags: hygiene
October 5th, 2007 at 8:14 am
It would really help if someone could calculate the way this information affects the 10 second rule, please.
Not that it matters. I like bacteria. Makes my pork extra spicy.
October 5th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Kwame: I prefer not to use the 10 second rule – I have my own: If no one saw it – it didn’t fall!
October 5th, 2007 at 8:30 am
The five-second rule was also featured in an episode of the Discovery Channel series MythBusters. The results they got showed time was not a factor when food is exposed to bacteria; even two seconds’ exposure is more than enough time to contaminate it.
Wikipedia: 5 Second Rule
5 or 10 second rule ‘myth’ dispelled!
i love Wikipedia and Mythbusters!
October 5th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Better than the timing rule is the “If you touch the handles on doors in public buildings, food off the floor is the least of your concerns” rule.
October 5th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Kwame: that is so true you know – since I started washing my hands whenever I come home from being out, I have had far fewer colds.
October 5th, 2007 at 8:43 am
That’s a good rule jfrater, but the scary thing is, you know they use YOUR rule in fast food places. I know… I used to work in one *dun dun dun*
October 5th, 2007 at 9:21 am
My Mom is a germaphobe and is constantly using that disinfecting hand rub. I have tried to explain to her that exposure to germs is actually a good thing, in that it helps the immune system build immunities to the most common germs.
October 5th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Vanna: haha – do you mind telling me which one? (I will avoid henceforth!)
soonerproud: I agree with you – and I have a friend in the very same boat as your mother – it can be quite annoying, but you have to be patient because it is not the fault of the person – it is a type of disorder – though luckily not one that is debilitating in most cases.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Another place to pick up uber amounts of bacteria is the handle on your local grocery store shopping carts, and if you have seen the kinds of individuals that come and go from Walmart…….”shiver”
October 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Joe: And just to think about all the mothers that allow their babys to put their mouths on the shopping cart handle. ewwww
October 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Joe Rosson: Ok – I buy all my groceries at the farmer’s market – and the extra bits I need I get online – but if I have to go to a grocery shop – I wlll definitely wear gloves from now on!
October 5th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Farmers market? I take it you are single. I have two teenage eating machines at home so I must go with bulk, I hit Sams club often. Farmers markets are nice but they don’t have much of a selection when it comes to family shopping.
October 5th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
JOE ROSSON:
The grocery store I shop at (Crest in Edmond OK) supplies disinfecting wipes for people to wipe down the handles of the carts with.
jfrater: I would shop at the farmers market too except it is only open for half days on Saturdays in the town I live in. The next closest one is about 20 miles away and is too far to drive for normal shopping.
October 5th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
if i’m not mistaken Jaime is ‘across the pond’. well to me. i’m in Texas and i think he’s in England? i know from friends there outside ‘the big cities’ there are still areas that have local ‘farmer’s markets’ …usually daily. unlike here where its seasonal and on Saturday, early mornings.
i think people here tend to forget how rural huge chunks of ‘over there’ are..or near rural. course here even in the country you can find a grocery store. especially in Texas. one on damn near any corner. and too, there are lotsa places ‘over there’ that people still shop daily for the evening meal. unlike our buy in bulk and freeze and zap in the microwave mentality. they actually prepare entire meals FRESH…LOL. and really who’s to say which is better or worse. some things are more dictated by time and money than anything else.
October 5th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
apparently you haven’t seen my keyboard and mouse.
October 5th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I am in England – London in fact (though I am not English!). The market I am referring to is Borough Market – it is a huge market held 3 days a week where all the finest food comes together in London for the restaurants. You can get rare pig breed meat, freshly killed rabbits and game, and virtually all of the finest foods imaginable (which is quite a treat for England, the home of bad food – in my experience so far. The meat is aged as it should be (a month or more), the cheeses are made by hand and matured, the vegetables are picked that day, and the coffee is the only decent coffee in England. It takes me 30 minutes by car to cross the city to the market but there is plenty of parking and I miss good food so much that I am willing to make the trip.
Tomorrow I am going to get a good Bresse chicken for chicken and leek pie, and a freshly killed rabbit for a nice French dish I have discovered. It will be my first time skinning and gutting a rabbit so hopefully it all goes well – but I may only be posting sporadically as I will be chained to the stove, so to speak
October 5th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
what i grew up w/ here in Texas was the weekly ‘farmer’s market’ that was exclusively produce and home made items like jams and sauces. its not til you get to some larger cities here and certainly ‘over there’ that you see more variety like w/ game and fish. the local farmer is essentially gone here replaced by the huge corporate farms. and the mega grocery stores have taken over..HEB a regional chain has gone ‘Walmart’ w/ more than groceries in a new mega-store format. all this in just a few generations too.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
yea cyns case goes for iowa too. I even live in a relatively rural area and, though we have farmers markets once in a great while, everything we buy is packaged (well..my family does grow a few things themselves, and we get fresh hunted game). I’m kinda envious of jamie for having such a luxury available even if thrity minutes away
October 5th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
wow..Ben..would’ve thought Iowa had more family farms still..that’s sad. so its like all mega farms now, eh? during the various hunting seasons the little Mom and Pop stores or butcher shops in smaller towns will offer deer sausage or dove or whatnot..you won’t see game in grocery store chains…lol.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
well we still have plenty of farms yes and theyre not big commercial ones, but not alot of farms with livestock, mostly just corn and beans. what is livestock just goes to a packaging plant and comes out at the supermarket like any other meat in the first place. Unfortunately theres no doves for us here, its illegal in our state (not sure why, theres plenty)
October 5th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
The problems you are both experiencing there are happening here as well – most people are so used to supermarket meat that they would think a dark-red/brown (uncooked) steak was inedible when, in fact, it is the way it SHOULD be eaten. To make matters worse, people like Jamie Oliver advertise for the huge market chains on one hand and say you must have only the best ingredients on the other – making people think that that is what they are getting at the supermarket.
October 8th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Let’s not go crazy with cleaning those though. Supergerms will be worse than a little winter cold.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Fascinating list! I think I’m going to go out and buy a thing of Purell. Haha! I wonder how they figure this stuff out. I’d hate to be the person who has to count all the bacteria for a living.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I don’t use Purell and the like because it is good to be exposed to common bacteria. Not being exposed can lead to a lot of problems. You need them to boost your immunity. That being said, I disinfect my kitchen every night. Table, counters, sink, fixtures, drain. It only takes a few minutes, and SO worth it. I love having a clean kitchen. Love to cook.
July 21st, 2008 at 2:54 pm
yo now we have to watch what we touch that crazy
July 21st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
We’re all gonna die from superbug diseases with everyone using all this antibacterial stuff. Don’t people realize that there’s a reason the products say they kill 99.9% of bacteria? That .1% is resistant and then guess what, that resistant bacteria replicates.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:12 am
B_Rad- yup-yup!
December 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
This was cool when I found this because I am doing a science fair project on this
January 20th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I heard one of the worst places for bacteria (not in the home but close enough) is the driver’s steering wheel. If that’s true then the outside front door handle should be just as bad if not worse…especially if you have a screen that blocks the UVB from santizing it.
Anyone ever think of pillows? Sure the cases are changed but the pillows themselves aren’t very often.
And the air ducts! In high school I had a friend whose senior research project involved going to the schools in our county as well as some family homes to take samples near air ducts. There are some disgusting things to breath in at a school but surprisingly, there isn’t a great difference between schools and homes. There were one or two molds or bacteria that were more aggressive in the schools but overall she found similar growths in all her cultures.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
“I guess I will start eating dinner on the computer mouse instead of the tabletop from now on!”
Ewww. You eat food on a tabletop?? Where’s your plate???
April 18th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
There are more bacterial cells in the human body than there are human cells. So really, people, settle down and embrace your prokaryotic side.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
You know Purell and any ype of hand sanitizers kill 99.9% of bacteria. But it also kills the good bacteria that fights off diseases. Using hand sanitizer is a bad idea.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I use the 1 millisecond rule.
July 19th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
#30.. Think again. For computer addicts, that might be VERY untrue. /:
October 29th, 2009 at 5:47 am
uhh. I think this list is wrong. The toilet bowl should have the least amount of germs while the mouse should have the biggest amount of germs.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:52 am
What happens if i use the loo, dont wash my hands and head straight to my PC to finish reading up this list on listverse?