Five Second Rules Essay
You can almost taste the last chocolate truffle in the box. As you raise it to your lips, your mouth begins to water with delicious anticipation. And then -- oops! It slips out of your hand and lands (along with your sweet expectations) on the floor. But it's still intact. Do you a) apply the five second rule, pick up it, dust it off and eat it or b) throw it in the trash and head to the store for another box?
If you picked the second option, congratulations. You've just avoided consuming something covered with thousands of germs. If you picked choice A, however, you may be interested to know that the five second rule (no doubt invented by a kid eager to enjoy the last bite of his fallen Hershey bar) is a dirty little lie.
The idea that food scooped from the floor in less than five seconds would be free of germs was first disproved by high school student Jillian Clarke during her internship at the University of Illinois in 2003. Clarke coated tiles with E. coli bacteria and then proceeded to drop gummy bears and fudge-stripe cookies onto their surfaces. She not only found that bacteria certainly did jump onto the food in five seconds, she also uncovered some interesting facts about human behavior -- namely that women were more likely to eat food that had fallen than men, and that sweet treats were …show more content…
more likely to be rescued and consumed than were veggies.
In many ways, Clarke's research raised more questions than it answered. Did the surface food contacted have an impact on germ transfer? What about the type of food? And if five seconds was bad, was 10 seconds even worse? A team of researchers at a South Carolina University attempted to answer some of these questions. Their findings and more germy information can be found on the next page. Everyone knows that bleach is a good weapon in the war on germs, but until recently, it wasn't clear just how the liquid did its job. Research from the University of Michigan has shown that bleach works thanks to its active ingredient, hypochlorous acid. The compound attacks proteins in bacteria, causing them to clump together and eventually die. The reaction is similar to the way in which bacteria responds to high temperatures. The hope is that this discovery will help scientists better understand how people fight off infections. Bacteria in Your Home: Germ Geography
Think a doughnut dropped on your sparkling kitchen floor might be edible with just a quick brush off? It might be -- if you'd have no problem eating something out of the garbage. A study from the Hygiene Council (sponsored by the company that makes Lysol) found that kitchen floor just in front of the sink has more bacteria (830 per square inch) than the trash can (411 per square inch). Other surprises included the fact that the sponge held 60 times more bacteria than the pet's food bowl and that the kitchen counter was more germy than the toilet seat [source: CBS News]. In fact, toilet seats get a bad rap all around. A recent study by Gerba has shown that they're not even the dirtiest place in the bathroom. That honor goes to the toilet paper dispenser, with more than 150 times the bacterial levels of the porcelain throne. The next most contaminated spot is the paper towel dispenser, which harbors 50 times more germs than seats [source: Reuters]. To further defend the commode, your cell phone carries 25,000 germs per square inch, while toilet seats hold only 344 bacteria in the same space -- and we all know how much time we spend with our mobiles pressed close to our mouths [source: Sinovic]. Among the germs clamoring to join our conversations are staph, found on nearly half of 25 random mobile phones tested by Gerba [source: ABC News Health].
When the "germ guru" turned his attention to another everyday item -- women's purses -- the results weren't any more encouraging. Through a small random field test, the numbers of bacteria found on the bottom of ladies' bags ranged from small numbers to the nation-sized amount of 6.7 million [source: Leamy].
Fortunately, most of the germs that are crawling around our desks, on our phones and beneath our bags are of the benign kind and are kept under control with basic hygiene. But people with compromised immune systems, or those who spend time in areas likely to be contaminated with E. coli or salmonella, should definitely think for at least five seconds before putting anything in their mouths that has touched the floor. Your home may be germier than you think, new research shows.
Out of 32 places in the home, the top spots for bacteria are the toilet bowl, kitchen drain, kitchen sponge or counter-wiping cloth, bathtub, and kitchen sink., according to a new study.
But only 3% of Americans think they're more likely to pick up germs from their bathtub than from their garbage bins, a new survey shows.
The telephone survey included more than 10,000 people worldwide, including about 1,000 people in the U.S.
In the survey, few U.S. participants -- 5% -- answered "in the home" when they were asked where they thought children are most likely to catch infection.
While infections can happen anywhere, the home has plenty of places were bacteria roost, according to the report. Top Spots for Bacteria The study and survey come from the Hygiene Council -- which is funded by Reckitt Benckiser, the company that makes Lysol.
Researchers visited 35 U.S. homes, swabbing for bacteria in 32 locations in each home.
Here's how those spots ranked, in terms of the average number of bacteria per square inch. Spots with the same average number of bacteria have the same rank.
Kitchen floor, in front of sink: 830 bacteria/square inch
Toilet floor, in front of toilet: 764 bacteria/square inch Scientists involved in the Home Microbiome Project sequenced bacteria from seven families (pets included) and their homes over six weeks. They swabbed the surfaces of skin, hands, feet, noses, countertops, doorknobs, and nearly every surface with which the residents interacted in their abodes. Turns out, our bodies release bacteria in almost every encounter we have with our environment—when we shed skin, when we yawn, when we open the fridge door. And that germ-sharing happens rapidly. When three of the families in the study moved to a new house, it took less than 24 hours for their new places to look exactly like their old ones, at least when it came to their bacterial housemates. And that was true even when the new place was a hotel room. We don’t only share our bacteria with our houses, but also with each other. In the study, couples and their young children shared the most microbes with each other, thanks to regular physical contact. Hands were the most similar microbially, while noses retained an air of germy individuality since we pretty much keep them to ourselves (thank you, tissues!). The microbial constellations of families were so specific and unique that researchers were able to predict which family a given set of floor germs belonged to.
That’s fine when it comes to the more benign microbial hitchhikers, but what about the more scary ones that can cause disease?
The researchers tracked a potentially antibiotic-resistant human pathogen from a kitchen countertop to the hands of family members, but no one got sick. “It’s likely that we all carry around nasty pathogens all the time in our body,” Gilbert says. “People aren’t getting ill because of them.” So our immune systems are able to ward off many of the nastier bugs most of the time — as long as we’re relatively healthy. Gilbert believes that it’s only when our microflora are compromised or unbalanced that the bad bugs get the chance to attack
us. Exposing your immune system to a wider array of the microbial universe is another way to bolster your defenses against them. And one way to do that is to get a pet. Dogs and cats track in the outside world, and that includes microbes. In the study, families with pets had more plant and soil bacteria in their homes — and that’s a good thing: a study earlier this summer found that infants who lived among pet dander had lower rates of allergies. “[Having a dog] rapidly supercharges the highways of microbial transmission in the house,” Gilbert says. (He is so convinced by the results, in fact, that he got a dog.) The results are just the beginning of understanding how we interact with our environment, including with elements that we can’t even see. “There’s a continuum between you and your world, not a brick wall that ends at your skin,” says Gilbert. “We have to really embrace it in every aspect of our lives.”
If you picked the second option, congratulations. You've just avoided consuming something covered with thousands of germs. If you picked choice A, however, you may be interested to know that the five second rule (no doubt invented by a kid eager to enjoy the last bite of his fallen Hershey bar) is a dirty little lie.
The idea that food scooped from the floor in less than five seconds would be free of germs was first disproved by high school student Jillian Clarke during her internship at the University of Illinois in 2003. Clarke coated tiles with E. coli bacteria and then proceeded to drop gummy bears and fudge-stripe cookies onto their surfaces. She not only found that bacteria certainly did jump onto the food in five seconds, she also uncovered some interesting facts about human behavior -- namely that women were more likely to eat food that had fallen than men, and that sweet treats were …show more content…
more likely to be rescued and consumed than were veggies.
In many ways, Clarke's research raised more questions than it answered. Did the surface food contacted have an impact on germ transfer? What about the type of food? And if five seconds was bad, was 10 seconds even worse? A team of researchers at a South Carolina University attempted to answer some of these questions. Their findings and more germy information can be found on the next page. Everyone knows that bleach is a good weapon in the war on germs, but until recently, it wasn't clear just how the liquid did its job. Research from the University of Michigan has shown that bleach works thanks to its active ingredient, hypochlorous acid. The compound attacks proteins in bacteria, causing them to clump together and eventually die. The reaction is similar to the way in which bacteria responds to high temperatures. The hope is that this discovery will help scientists better understand how people fight off infections. Bacteria in Your Home: Germ Geography
Think a doughnut dropped on your sparkling kitchen floor might be edible with just a quick brush off? It might be -- if you'd have no problem eating something out of the garbage. A study from the Hygiene Council (sponsored by the company that makes Lysol) found that kitchen floor just in front of the sink has more bacteria (830 per square inch) than the trash can (411 per square inch). Other surprises included the fact that the sponge held 60 times more bacteria than the pet's food bowl and that the kitchen counter was more germy than the toilet seat [source: CBS News]. In fact, toilet seats get a bad rap all around. A recent study by Gerba has shown that they're not even the dirtiest place in the bathroom. That honor goes to the toilet paper dispenser, with more than 150 times the bacterial levels of the porcelain throne. The next most contaminated spot is the paper towel dispenser, which harbors 50 times more germs than seats [source: Reuters]. To further defend the commode, your cell phone carries 25,000 germs per square inch, while toilet seats hold only 344 bacteria in the same space -- and we all know how much time we spend with our mobiles pressed close to our mouths [source: Sinovic]. Among the germs clamoring to join our conversations are staph, found on nearly half of 25 random mobile phones tested by Gerba [source: ABC News Health].
When the "germ guru" turned his attention to another everyday item -- women's purses -- the results weren't any more encouraging. Through a small random field test, the numbers of bacteria found on the bottom of ladies' bags ranged from small numbers to the nation-sized amount of 6.7 million [source: Leamy].
Fortunately, most of the germs that are crawling around our desks, on our phones and beneath our bags are of the benign kind and are kept under control with basic hygiene. But people with compromised immune systems, or those who spend time in areas likely to be contaminated with E. coli or salmonella, should definitely think for at least five seconds before putting anything in their mouths that has touched the floor. Your home may be germier than you think, new research shows.
Out of 32 places in the home, the top spots for bacteria are the toilet bowl, kitchen drain, kitchen sponge or counter-wiping cloth, bathtub, and kitchen sink., according to a new study.
But only 3% of Americans think they're more likely to pick up germs from their bathtub than from their garbage bins, a new survey shows.
The telephone survey included more than 10,000 people worldwide, including about 1,000 people in the U.S.
In the survey, few U.S. participants -- 5% -- answered "in the home" when they were asked where they thought children are most likely to catch infection.
While infections can happen anywhere, the home has plenty of places were bacteria roost, according to the report. Top Spots for Bacteria The study and survey come from the Hygiene Council -- which is funded by Reckitt Benckiser, the company that makes Lysol.
Researchers visited 35 U.S. homes, swabbing for bacteria in 32 locations in each home.
Here's how those spots ranked, in terms of the average number of bacteria per square inch. Spots with the same average number of bacteria have the same rank.
Kitchen floor, in front of sink: 830 bacteria/square inch
Toilet floor, in front of toilet: 764 bacteria/square inch Scientists involved in the Home Microbiome Project sequenced bacteria from seven families (pets included) and their homes over six weeks. They swabbed the surfaces of skin, hands, feet, noses, countertops, doorknobs, and nearly every surface with which the residents interacted in their abodes. Turns out, our bodies release bacteria in almost every encounter we have with our environment—when we shed skin, when we yawn, when we open the fridge door. And that germ-sharing happens rapidly. When three of the families in the study moved to a new house, it took less than 24 hours for their new places to look exactly like their old ones, at least when it came to their bacterial housemates. And that was true even when the new place was a hotel room. We don’t only share our bacteria with our houses, but also with each other. In the study, couples and their young children shared the most microbes with each other, thanks to regular physical contact. Hands were the most similar microbially, while noses retained an air of germy individuality since we pretty much keep them to ourselves (thank you, tissues!). The microbial constellations of families were so specific and unique that researchers were able to predict which family a given set of floor germs belonged to.
That’s fine when it comes to the more benign microbial hitchhikers, but what about the more scary ones that can cause disease?
The researchers tracked a potentially antibiotic-resistant human pathogen from a kitchen countertop to the hands of family members, but no one got sick. “It’s likely that we all carry around nasty pathogens all the time in our body,” Gilbert says. “People aren’t getting ill because of them.” So our immune systems are able to ward off many of the nastier bugs most of the time — as long as we’re relatively healthy. Gilbert believes that it’s only when our microflora are compromised or unbalanced that the bad bugs get the chance to attack
us. Exposing your immune system to a wider array of the microbial universe is another way to bolster your defenses against them. And one way to do that is to get a pet. Dogs and cats track in the outside world, and that includes microbes. In the study, families with pets had more plant and soil bacteria in their homes — and that’s a good thing: a study earlier this summer found that infants who lived among pet dander had lower rates of allergies. “[Having a dog] rapidly supercharges the highways of microbial transmission in the house,” Gilbert says. (He is so convinced by the results, in fact, that he got a dog.) The results are just the beginning of understanding how we interact with our environment, including with elements that we can’t even see. “There’s a continuum between you and your world, not a brick wall that ends at your skin,” says Gilbert. “We have to really embrace it in every aspect of our lives.”