A Life Less Ordinary

Let me digress for a while from my what do i do? posts. There’s plenty of that coming, but I wanted to share with you this article I came across with on WebMD about germs. It must have been coincidence that I was also able to take a peek into my male friend’s wallet.

(WebMD) Women tend to have germier offices than men, according to a new study on office germs.

The study comes from University of Arizona researchers Sheri Maxwell, B.S., and Charles Gerba, Ph.D. It was funded by the Clorox Company.

The researchers swabbed the offices of 59 women and 54 men in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. They sampled eight sites in each office: the phone, desktop, computer mouse, computer keyboard, exclamation key on the computer keyboard, pen, bottom of desk drawer, and handle of desk drawer. Those samples showed twice as much bacteria in women’s offices as in men’s.

The researchers also swabbed workers’ personal items at the office, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), women’s purses and makeup cases, and men’s wallets. Men’s wallets had more germs than any other item studied — personal or office.

Here are the top three bacteria hot spots in women’s offices, in order of germs:

• Makeup case
• Phone
• Purse

The top three bacteria spots in men’s offices were as follows. They are listed in order from most bacteria to least:

• Wallet
• Personal digital assistant
• Phone

I think I know where most of the bacteria comes from for this friend of mine. From all the receipts—mostly from restaurants, bars and gasoline stations—he stuffs into his wallet!

I will have more on germs and how we can deal with it in my next posts.