These 9 everyday items in your home can make you ill

A bout of flu is easily caught, especially in winter. When there’s a true flu epidemic going around, it’s good to ‘arm’ yourself against it. Those of you who don’t feel like spending several days in bed with a fever and a family pack of tissues will benefit from this article. The following nine objects can make you ill! And they’re all common things to have around the house…

These are the most unhygienic items in our homes.

1. The mop

The mop is definitely at number one on this list with one billion bacteria per square centimetre. That’s not so weird when you think about it: you use the mop to clean the floor, which means it comes into contact with dust, hairs, food scraps and other dirt.

2. Contact lenses

Yes, really, contact lenses are on our list of most unhygienic items in a home. Researchers found out that there are over 5000 bacteria living in the eyes of people who wear contacts that shouldn’t actually be living there. This drastically increases the risk of getting an eye infection. This is partly due to the fact that contacts are always kept wet – that makes them a breeding ground for bacteria.

3. The faucet

And the faucet in the bathroom or toilet in particular. This gets touched by a lot of dirty hands, of course. Research has shown that it contains no less than 2.7 million bacteria. Yikes!

4. Tea towels

89 per cent of all tea towels contains E.coli, a bacteria that can be found on raw meat and raw dairy products and can cause a nasty infection. Apart from this infamous bacteria, tea towels contain a lot of other bacteria as well. That’s why you should change your tea towels every two to three days and wash them at 60 degrees Celsius. One last thing: never use them to dry your hands with!

Go to the next page for the other five items in your home that can make you ill!

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