There are a million things that a million people touch every single day – doorknobs, elevator buttons, railings, bus seats, etc – that you should know by now are rife with bacteria.
Seriously, don’t touch them with your skin unless you don’t have any other choice, and afterward, go ahead and take a bath in hand sanitizer.
Also, go ahead and add those little touchscreens that you run your credit card through all day every day to the list of untouchable objects. A recent swab of the card readers at McDonalds will have you signing up for ApplePay or reverting to cash transactions ASAP.
Because poop. That’s what’s on them.
All of them.
Poop.
Microbiologists swabbed the self-order machines at six different England locations and, honestly, even the researchers were shocked at what they found.
“We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines. These cause the kind of infections that people pick up in hospitals.”
Bacteria like staphylococcus, which the researcher called “so contagious” and can cause things like Toxic Shock Syndrome. They also found listeria, klebsiella, and a proteus strain, all of which are behind different serious illnesses.
McDonald’s reacted to the news by saying in a statement that their “self-order screens are cleaned frequently throughout the day. All of our restaurants also provide facilities for customers to wash their hands before eating.”
But you know. They maybe don’t, always.
So, yeah…you’re definitely going to want to sanitize.