The 6 surprising things in your home that are dirtier and MORE dangerous than the toilet – according to the hygiene doctor
THOUGHT your home was as clean as it could be? Think again.
There is a surprising list of things dirtier than your toilet seat - and they will have you reaching for the spray and wipe.
Your toilet seat can have as many as 50 bacteria per square inch, according to experts at the University of Arizona.
If that is gross enough for you, then you may need to prepare yourself for what you are about to read next.
Your oven door, keyboard and even your trusty kitchen cloth are teaming with more bacteria that your toilet, according to
Toilets get a bad rep as being filthy - for obvious reasons - but they are actually one of the cleanest things in a house.
Dr Lisa Ackerley said: "Virtually anything is dirtier than your toilet seat.
"They are generally one of the cleanest things in the house because you clean them all the time."
It's good to know that when we pop to the loo it is relatively germ free.
But here are the surprising places you'll find more bacteria than you thought.
1. The oven door
You might not think about it, but when you are preparing food before putting it in the oven you probably don't wash your hands before opening the door.
By not washing your hands, any bacteria from the raw food will be transferred onto the oven.
The worst offender is raw meat, particularly raw chicken, which can leave traces of salmonella and campylobacter that cause food poisoning.
That bacteria is then left to fester while the food is cooking and gets transferred back onto your hands, or the hands of the person who opens the over door, before the food is served.
Virtually anything is dirtier than your toilet seat.
Dr Lisa Ackerley - The Hygiene Doctor
The germs can then end up in the food and into your mouth, which can make you ill.
Still hungry?
Dr Ackerley said surfaces like this allow for the transfer of germs from one person to the other.
She said: "Hand contact points are where germs are transferred, so it is important to clean these surfaces.
"In can infect the food and therefore make people ill when they eat the food."
And it is not just your oven door you should watch out for - any kitchen surface can pose a risk from your kettle handle to cupboard doors.
2. The kitchen cloth
It is the cloth you use for cleaning surfaces with an anti-bacterial spray, surely it can't be full of bacteria?
Well, it turns out that not only is a kitchen cloth crawling with germs, it is also the perfect place for bacteria to breed.
Even if you rinse your cloth out with water after you have used it it is not enough to kill the bugs.
Just when you think it can't get any grosser, it does.
I have never come across a kitchen cloth that is safe.
Dr Lisa Ackerley - The Hygiene Doctor
Every time you reuse that cloth you are wiping bacteria across your kitchen bench.
The bacteria found in these cloths can be anything from ecoli to salmonella - all mainly from food prepared in the kitchen.
Dr Ackerley said: "I have never come across a kitchen cloth that is safe.
"People are picking up bacteria and peices of food when they wipe surfaces with it, then leaving it by the sink to fester.
"Rinsing it under the tap doesn't help."
Dr Ackerley explained that the best way to minimise germs on your kitchen cloth is to wash it in hot water using detergent.
3. The underside of a handbag
This makes sense if you think about it, but it isn't necessarily something that crosses out minds.
Your handbag probably comes everywhere with you, to work, to see friends for coffee, to the park, to public toilets.
And how often is your handbag left on the floor - left to pick up every germ that has crossed that floor before?
Now it sounds filthy, doesn't it?
It is covered in absolutely any germs that you can pick up from off the floor to the toilet.
Dr Lisa Ackerley - The Hygiene Doctor
Dr Ackerley said: "People put it on the floor, they take it to the loo, it basically gets dragged about all over the place.
"So it picks up bacteria and the risk there is when people think it is a good idea to put it on the kitchen worktop.
"That drives me insane!
"It is covered in absolutely any germs that you can pick up from off the floor to the toilet."
So perhaps it is best to leave your handbag on the floor from now on.
4. Your pillow
It may be the soft, warm sanctuary where you lay your head at the end of a hard day - but there are germs there too.
Not to worry, these germs are as gruesome as the ones found in your kitchen.
The main ew-factor in pillows is the dust mites lurking inside them, leaving behind drops of poo that can give you allergies.
By the time your pillow is two years old, ten per cent of its weight is dust mites and dead skin cells, Dr Ackerley said.
But she assures us that mites are not unhealthy, and exist basically everywhere we go.
If you are sharing pillows and someone has a cold then a bit of the virus can be left on the pillow.
Dr Lisa Ackerley - The Hygiene Doctor
Unfortunately, pillows can hold onto bacteria if you are ill.
And it is even worse if you share a pillow with someone.
Whoever is ill will leave a nice pool of their bacteria, whether in the form of drool or a drops of their snot if they have a cold, and the next person who lays on that pillow ends up inhaling them.
And that is how bugs like the common cold can be passed around.
Dr Ackerley said: "If you are sharing pillows and someone has a cold then a bit of the virus can be left on the pillow.
"So if you have got your own pillow that is probably better."
5. Hand towels
Surely not?
You only use them when you have washed? How dirty can you possibly still be?
Well, according to Dr Ackerley, far more dirty than we realised.
Hand towels especially are the worst culprit for hording germs.
Not only are they the ones used to dry our hands after we have halfheartedly washed them after nipping to the toilet, they also stay damp for longer because they are used more.
If you have a white hand towel you can really see how quickly it gets dirty...it can be anything that has come off of someone's bottom basically.
Dr Lisa Ackerley - The Hygiene Doctor
A damp towel is the perfect place for germs to breed.
And the real stomach-churning kicker?
Those germs can be anything people pick up after spending time on the porcelain throne.
Dr Ackerley said: "If you have a white hand towel you can really see how quickly it gets dirty.
"You can actually see that visual, but of course you can't see the bacteria that will be all over it.
"It can be anything that has come off of someone's bottom basically.
"That's anything from ecolli or anything they are carrying, so if they are ill it can also be organisms like norovirus."
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And it is not just in the home where the transfer of germs is cause for concern.
Even your everyday, sterile looking office isn't safe from the spread of germs.
This is the number one thing you need to clean on your desk....
6. Your keyboard
Whether it is at home or at work, your keyboard harbours germs.
The only thing that ever really touches your keyboard are your hands, so any germs your hands have picked up during the day are transferred onto the keys.
And if you work in an office where people hot-desk the reality is far more grim.
Not only are you transferring your germs onto the keyboard, you are picking up other people's at the same time.
It is that risk of transmission that is more important than the fact that something is dirty. The whole office can get contaminated.
Dr Lisa Ackerley - The Hygiene Doctor
That's right, your fingers are riddled with germs from whoever else has used the keyboard on your desk for the day.
That person you saw sneezing all over it yesterday - those germs are yours now.
The person licking their grubby fingers as they ate a greasy take out in the office - those germs are also yours.
Reached for the anti-bac yet?
Dr Ackerley added: "You can get quite gross contamination on keyboards.
"People are hot-desking more and more, so if someone has a cold and they are spluttering all over their keyboard and the mouse and the phone then the next day the virus will still be there and it will be transferred onto someone else.
"It is that risk of transmission that is more important than the fact that something is dirty.
"The whole office can get contaminated."
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