marcus terentius varro, who lived 2,000 years ago near rome, told friends and family members to steer clear of swamps because microscopic creatures who lived there would enter their mouths or noses and make them sick. this was centuries before the invention of the microscope.

in 1950, the u.s. navy sprayed 2 clouds of bacteria over san fancisco in a secret germ warfare test, in direct violation of the nuremburg code. at least 10 people were hospitalized. 1 died. the test was considered a success, and the military went on to perform tests in more than a dozen other major cities, without the knowledge or consent of their residents.

unwashed eggs can be stored in a cupboard - they're laid with a chemical coating that helps to prevent bacteria from getting in - but washed eggs must be stored in a refrigerator. (hint: the egg producer may have washed the eggs long before you saw them.)

soap amd water is actually more effective at killing germs than non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

you have the same number of bacteria on your body before and after a shower. all the shower does is move them around and strip off the layer of dead skin that helps to protect you from disease.

cryptosporidium causes explosive, watery diarrhea. it's responsible for almost half of all pool contamination. unfortunately, it's also resistant to chlorine.

half of all grocery carts test positive for e. coli.

unless you close your toilet before flushing, if you keep your toothbrush on the bathroom counter, there's a good chance it has fecal matter on it.

your kitchen sponge carries potentially lethal germs, and contaminates everything that you use it on - even if you use detergent. microwave that sponge!

the average toilet seat contains 49 germs per square inch. the average computer keyboard contains 3295 germs per square inch.

your body contains 10 times more bacteria cells than body cells. most are benign or even helpful, and have been with you since before you were born, every bit as much a part of your family as you are. they even affect your dna and rna, to the point where it could be argued that human beings are nothing more than big mobile homes, genetically engineered by germs.

only 1 out of 3 men washes their hands after using the bathroom.

shake?

your body contains 10 times more bacteria cells than body cells. most are benign or even helpful, and have been with you since before you were born, every bit as much a part of your family as you are. they even affect your dna and rna, to the point where it could be argued that human beings are nothing more than big mobile homes, genetically engineered by germs.

your kitchen sponge has more lethal germs in it than a bucket of sewage. to kill them, soak the sponge and heat it in your microwave for 2 minutes, then let it cool.

warm ponds and lakes, particularly in the southern u.s., are home to a brain-eating amoeba that can kill you in just 7 days. it's 98% fatal, and typically enters via the nose or eyes when you're swimming. or sometimes via neti pots, used for nasal irrigation.

3 u.s. presidents were infected by lethal bacteria and died: harrison, polk, and taylor. how? the washington of their time had no sewer system, and the white house got its water 7 blocks downstream from a field where the human waste of the entire city was dumped each day.

public toilets contain fewer bacteria than public drinking fountains.

(i bet it's because of that one kid who really gets in there and slobbers on the faucet. don't you hate him?)

cats carry around more than 130 disease-causing microbes in their mouths. if one bites you and breaks your skin, you have a 50/50 chance of contracting an infection that's bad enough to put you in the hospital or, if left untreated, kill you.

want to hear the worst part? human bites have 4 times that many microbes - and enough of them are lethal to rot the victim's arm right off.

see - we're all zombies waiting to happen.

in vienna during the 19th century, having your baby in a hospital was risky business. 1 in 5 babies, mothers, or both died. ignaz semmelweis decided to look into it, and found that hospital-based doctors often went from dissecting rotting bodies in the morgue to delivering babies. his suggestion: doctors should wash their hands in between. this wasn't a guess - he'd tried it, and mortality for his deliveries dropped to less than 1%.

washing your hands after touching future zombies is common sense, right? unfortunately, doctors don't like to be told what to do. as a result, even those who used to wash their hands stopped, and infant mortality tripled almost overnight. they also made sure that semmelweis lost his job and could never work in vienna again.

21 years later, pasteur discovered germs. soon after, most doctors started to wash their hands. but in the interim, 14,518 women and babies died in the vienna hospital for no reason but pride.

according to a study by the university of alberta, if you don't ever wash a pair of jeans, the number of bacteria and other fauna living in them maxes out after about 2 weeks. after that, the ecosystem becomes stable and defends the jeans against foreign invaders. (every 14-year-old boy knows this.)