9 Money Habits That Can Literally Make You Sick

Click here for our new sales flyer: Antimicrobial Cards Flyer 9 Money Habits That Can Literally Make You Sick by Jodi Helmer CBS Moneywatch | Apr 21, 2011You already know that dropping a few dollars at the fast-food drive-through every day will take its toll on your health — but you might be surprised to learn about other spending habits that could be harming your health and well-being. Before you whip out your credit card to pay for groceries one more time, read the following danger sign...

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Posted in: American Journal of Infection Control | hospital acquired infections | mobile phone infections | mobile phone MRSA |,credit card may get you sick,credit cards,money,staph,wallet

Surprising Germ Havens: Supermarket

Surprising Germ Havens: At The Grocery Store Those plastic covers made for the seat area of the shopping cart were created for good reason: “We find more E. coli on shopping carts than on toilet seats,” Dr. Gerba says. “In addition to germs from food, children’s dirty bottoms are going in the seat—and the carts are hardly ever cleaned.” The checkout screens where you swipe your credit or ATM card aren’t great, either. In some grocery stores, up to 80% have E. colion them—likely picked up from people handling leaky meat packages and unwashed produce, then touching the screen. Another germy spot: Your reusable grocery bag. Yes, you’re being environmentally conscious, but bacteria from meat and produce from your last trip are probably still in there. “Only 3% of people...

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Posted in: backpack,bag,credit card may get you sick,drug stores,E.Coli,GERMS,grocery cart,grocery cart handles,grocery stores,money,pens,purse,suitcase,supermarket

Campaign for a Healthy Denver | employees talk about working while ill

"Sick Rick" -- a volunteer dressed as a sick face surrounded by germs  who squirts Silly String out of holes in the costume’s nose and mouth was introduced Thursday as a mascot by the pro-Initiative 300 campaign. Campaign for a Healthy Denver, which supports a paid-sick-leave ordinance in Denver, presented three restaurant workers Thursday who backed one of their main arguments in favor of Initiative 300: They said they’ve gone to work sick and likely gotten customers ill because their companies don’t grant paid sick days. The move was meant to counter the claims of restaurant owners, who almost universally oppose Initiative 300, which will be on the November ballot. The owners say workers don’t come in sick because management encourages...

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Posted in: credit card may get you sick,denver,GERMS,Public Health,sick employees,sick rick

"Contagion" | a lethal virus transmitted by a traveler's credit card, poker chips?

An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter...One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted. In the film the virus was transmitted from a contaminated pig, to the cook, the cook shook hands with the traveler.  She was at a casino in China.  The traveler then used her debit card to get money from an ATM, played with poker chips, used her credit card at the airport. People don't take time to clean everything they touch while in public, or traveling. This movie is a fantastic infomercial for why we need manufactures to manufacture antimicrobial credit / debit cards, poker chips....

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Posted in: colds,contagion,credit cards,flu,fomites,GERMS,movie,pandemic,poker chips,trailer,virus

Hidden Poker Opponents: Germs, Colds and Staph

Researchers studied five different Vegas Strip casino chips and found 5,600 micro-organisms including MRSA Poker players risk more than money at the felt: they risk their health, as players who go to card rooms regularly are prone to catching germs along with their pot winnings. Dr. Will Sawyer from Cincinnati warns about the common germ sharing at the poker table. “Let’s say you’re sick, you cough into your hands, you pick up the cards and you shuffle and deal. Chances are, [germs] from your cough are now on those cards. And if someone picks up a card and they have an itch and they put their finger in their eyes, nose or mouth, they’re probably going to be sick the next day.” Students at the University of Wisconsin conducted a study...

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Posted in: Dr. Bill Rutala,Dr. Will Sawyer,GERMS,MRSA,poker table,Professor Brian Hedlund

When Cards and Germs Are Wild | Colds and Flu

Poker chips can harbor germs  No matter what version of poker you play, it’s a game where bluffers prosper. But some scientists have found that money isn’t the only thing people put to chance when they gather around the card table. If you play the game regularly, you are likely to win an opponent’s achy, oozing cold. In fact, the sniffles are a more sure bet than going home with the most chips. Lucky you. "Let’s say you’re sick, you cough into your hands, you pick up the cards and you shuffle and deal," says Dr. Will Sawyer, of Cincinnati who has devoted his career to spreading the gospel of proper hand washing. "Chances are, [germs] from your cough are now on those cards. And if someone picks up a card and they have an itch and...

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Posted in: antimicrobial,colds,flu,GERMS,poker chips

Business travel while sick: facts you need to know!!

Business travel while sick: facts you need to know!!:  The highest rates of flu have been among those aged one to four The second-highest rates are among those aged between 15 and 44 Most fatalities have been aged between five and 65 More than a third of deaths have not been in high-risk groups Nearly all of those who died had not been immunized. Here is a guide of the different types of flu, how to avoid it, and how to deal with the symptoms if you do catch it. Severe cases of flu are crippling, chances are that you or a member of your family have suffered from it What is the difference between a cold, flu and swine flu?  A cold is a mild illness caused by a respiratory virus that generally causes sneezing, a cough, a...

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Posted in: colds,flu,influenza,SWINE FLU,TRAVEL

Hospital garb harbors nasty bacteria | 60 percent of uniforms tested positive

They might look quite clean, but the white coats, pastel uniforms and colorful surgical scrubs worn by doctors and nurses actually may harbor a host of nasty, potentially dangerous bacteria, a new study finds.   More than 60 percent of health workers’ uniforms sampled by researchers tested positive for pathogens, including the germs that can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections and drug-resistant infections such as MRSA. That’s according to a study of hospital attire published today in the American Journal of Infection Control. Israeli researchers collected samples from the sleeves, waists and pockets of 75 registered nurses and 60 doctors at a busy university-based hospital to confirm the germs. Half of the samples tested positive for one or more pathogens; potentially dangerous...

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Posted in: BADGES,DOCTOR,GERMS,HAI,HEALTHCARE,infection control,MRSA,NURSING,SCRUBS,UNIFORMS

Why Antimicrobial Cards? Once circulated in the public, plastic cards are apt to harbor germs

Why Antimicrobial Cards?  Once circulated in the public, plastic cards are apt to harbor germs.  You cannot always control who has handles your cards.  Since you cannot control behaviors, you have to control the surface that the germ lands on, the contaminator that you may come in contact  with.  Why not make the plastic PVC card out of antimicrobial plastic?  An analysis of workers at Monash Medical Centre showed that badges carried pathogenic bacteria, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia. The Researchers collected samples from the surface, edge and connections of badges worn by 53 nurses and 18 doctors. They isolated 18 pathogens from badges.  Of the microbes isolated overall, seven were the 'superbug' methicillin...

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Posted in: CDC,credit cards,GERMS,id badges,membership cards,pandemic,pathogen

Don’t Catch the Flu From Your Credit Card (or Pharmacy and Grocery membership cards!)

We all know that using credit and debit cards on a regular basis can be bad for our financial health, but did you know that this can also be true of your physical health? With the current fears about swine flu, you’ve probably heard that germs can survive for hours on inanimate objects such as door handles or elevator buttons. What you may not realize is that this can extend to your credit and debit cards too. If someone who is carrying the flu virus comes into contact with your credit or debit card, he or she can easily pass the virus on to you. For example, if a cashier who has developed flu symptoms handles your card during a transaction, they can contaminate your card with germs that linger for anything from hours to months. The more people...

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Posted in: drug stores,flu,grocery stores,gym,h1n1,membership cards,pandemic,SWINE FLU

How to Clean Your Credit Cards

How to Rid Your Purse of Bacteria & Clean Your Credit Cards How many of us think about the germs that are in our purses or pocketbooks? Even more so how many of us take the time to clean them?  A scientist ran some tests on a mother of two, a single woman, and a woman executive's purse. In the mother of two he found bacteria that would be found in bathrooms and toilets. This particular bacteria would cause nausea and vomiting.  The second, a single woman he found she had cocaine residue on her money and fecal matter on her credit cards. The third was the worst. He found a bacteria that was related to meningitis. With the executive he found that she was constantly interacting with others and she was the most contaminated. Here...

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Posted in: bacteria,credit cards,dirty,flu,GERMS,infection control,money,purse