Besides providing a healthy renewal
Besides providing a healthy renewal of mind and spirit, a summer vacation makes good antimicrobial sense, especially when you consider that typical workplace desktop has more germs than a public toilet seat.
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But let's face it, when you hit the road for your weeklong escape, those kids arguing in the backseat or giant rodents posing for photos at theme parks aren't going to be your only travel companions. There are zillions of germs living on the umpteen surfaces you touch.
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And they don't take a vacation, even when you do.
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That could explain why 80% of infections are spread the same way: Someone touches a germ-ridden surface. Or someone infected by germ particles from a sneeze, a cough, or a touch -- gets the infectious bug onto their hands.
What's In a Touch?
"Whether germs are viral, bacterial, or fungal, some can remain active on most surfaces for several days -- no matter whether the surface is stainless steel, wood, plastic, or even the paper in a magazine," says Elaine Jong, MD, co-director of the University of Washington Travel Clinic in Seattle.
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"When you touch that surface, it's transmitted to your hands. Then if you touch your eyes or rub their nose or lips, when you eat or in any way get your fingers in contact with a mucous surface, voila ... you have infected yourself."
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The best way to prevent problems, of course, is to never touch these "problem" surfaces. But that's not so easy.
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"The funny thing is, what many people consider to be the germiest surfaces may not be so bad, while some of the most germ-ridden areas are not what most people expect," says University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba, PhD, a leading researcher better known in the science world as "Dr. Germ."
