| I read this article in First magazine issue 12/24/07 and wondered how many people realized this. My mother always carries her own pen because of this but even though I know how many germs I can pick up I tend to just not worry about it. The article said:"During the month of December, up to 3,000 customers go through a single department-store checkout line per day. This creates a high-speed shopper-to-shopper germ relay that comes when person after person handles cash-register touch screens, Atm pads and the cashier's pen. Using objects frequently handled by others is a major mode of disease transmission cautions Philip M. Tierno, Jr., Ph.D., diretor of Clinical Microbiology at the New York University Medical Center in New York City and author of The Secret Life of Germs (Atria, 2004). To cut your risk, purchase a pen with a clip and attach it to your wallet or to a flap on your purse so it's always handy. Then use it to sign slips and punch buttons. If you're stuck without a pen and must touch these surfaces, rub hands with a dime-size amount of alcohol-based sanitizing gel afterward."What I think they forgot to mention is even if... |
