The Kansas City Star, Mo., Diane Stafford Column: News of Germs to Make You Squirm

By Diane Stafford, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Feb. 15–Instead of roses, maybe she should have received disinfectant wipes for Valentine’s Day.

Women pile up far more germs in their workplaces than men, according to a study released Wednesday by a team of microbiology researchers.

“Women’s offices may look clean, but the bacteria levels in their offices were nearly three times higher than in men’s,” said Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona who led a research project that analyzed 113 surfaces and objects found in typical offices around the country.

Keyboards and computer mice used by women had three to four times more germs than those used by men, the study found.

The germ gap was even worse when researchers probed workers’ desk drawers. Women’s drawers, overall, produced seven times more germs, partly because of stashed food.

Gerba, a professor in Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said his researchers found alarming concentrations of mold in drawers that served as mini-food pantries.

But before men gloat too much, Gerba said men overall reigned supreme with the single germiest item studied — their wallets.

“We couldn’t believe how germy men’s wallets are,” Gerba said. “Credit cards especially, with all their indentations, allow bacteria to hide, and then a man sits on his wallet all day, keeping it nice and warm. Germs love that.”

Men’s Palm Pilots also tended to be germier than women’s, “maybe because they play with them more,” Gerba said.

Among workplace surfaces — for men and women alike — the most bacteria-laden object was the telephone.

Because women tend to collect and handle more knick-knacks than men, that contributed to the germ load on women’s desks. Also, women’s makeup, stashed in desk drawers, harbored germs.

One of the team’s most alarming findings concerned fecal material. One-third of women’s handbags had fecal material on the bottom, probably because they’d been placed on restroom floors.

But a unisex alarm was sounded about coffee cups as well.

“In a previous study we found that about 60 percent of coffee cups contained fecal bacteria,” Gerba said.

“That generally was because they’d been wiped out with a communal sponge or dish rag. It’s better to use a paper towel that no one else might have used.”

Putting a coffee cup in the microwave for a minute will also kill most bacteria, he said. Or, he suggested, “Do what we’ve done in our lab: We’ve gone to disposable cups.”

It should be noted that Gerba’s research is partly financed by Clorox, which makes disinfectant wipes.

Last year, Gerba’s team identified the germiest jobs. Teachers, where “classroom surfaces are off the germ charts,” contended with the highest bacteria levels, Gerba said.

Accountants, bankers, radio DJs, doctors, and television producers ranked next in germ infestation. Lawyers’ offices were the most germ-free.

In a project four years ago, they analyzed the presence of viruses in the workplace. They found hundreds of thousands of viral particles on doorknobs, phones, staplers and other office surfaces, making it easy to see how colds and flu are spread among co-workers.

Generally, Gerba said, bacteria aren’t as hardy as viruses and tend to die overnight.

Still, his team found in a past study that the average office desk harbored 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat, probably because the toilet seat gets more rigorous cleaning each day.

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To reach Diane Stafford, call (816) 234-4359 or send e-mail to stafford@kcstar.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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