Your Office is Covered With Germs

We all have had a virus. We all have worked through the sniffles, the watery eyes and the aches and pains. Not everyone can afford to lay out of work over the slightest feeling of a cold virus. It makes sense to us to just push through and tough it out, right? Not so fast!

The University of Arizona recently completed a study that may shock you.  Those of us that have ever gone to work sick have spread our nasty germs over 70% of our office by lunch!  The researchers used an artificial virus to compile the information.

They found that just one sick person can spread a  virus to over 70% of the most touched surfaces (like coffee pots, desks and doorknobs) by lunch! And another fun fact, if one person goes to work sick, they increase their co-workers chances of coming down with the bug by between 40% to 90%.

A few of us here at 95.3 The Bear were sniffling last week. A few more of us are sniffling today.

Here are a few tips to keep germs at bay from womenshealthmag.com

1. Know Thy Enemy
   Germs thrive on human touch, so anything that gets regular contact — telephone, mouse, keyboard — is a threat
2. Grab a Wipe
   Wipe down your space daily with a disinfectant — a chemical agent that kills microorganisms (plain ol' water won't deep-six germs)
3. Play Defense
   Don't just wash your hands in that bathroom ritual; scrub 'em, says Jack Brown, Ph.D., author of Don't Touch That Doorknob! How Germs Can Zap You and How You Can Zap Back.
4. Use Alcohol
   If you're desk-confined, disinfect your hands with a sanitizer that contains alcohol, such as Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer.
5. Avoid the Crowd
   Shared space like the office kitchen is a germ magnet. "About 20 percent of the office cups contain coliform bacteria, which is related to fecal contamination," Dr. Gerba says.

I'm going to was my hands NOW!