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 are a few tips to cut down on the germs.
Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Anti Bacterial Wipes
• alcohol
• Q-Tips

1. • 1
     
     

     Empty your purse once a week and wipe the inside of your purse or wallet with an anti-bacterial wipe. You can also use cotton balls and a little alcohol for leather. Do not use the alcohol on colors.
   • 2
     
     

     Repeat the process on your wallet or any pouches you might use for coupons or make up. Get rid of any expired Make-up. Do not share your make-up. Dip the tips of your lipsticks in alcohol. Gently take the top layers off any powdered make-up with a q-tip.
   • 3
     
     

     Gently wipe down your credit card with a cloth and a little soapy water not to touch the scan on the back of the card. 

     There is not much you can do with the money but you can wipe down your change. It seems extreme but think about all the people that handle the money before you get it. Try and get new bills when possible from the bank.
   • 4
     Last just be conscience of where you place your purse. You should never put it on the floor. Keep some travel size hand sanitizer with you.

How to Rid Your Purse of Bacteria | By drenee eHow.com 

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

Surprising Places Where Germs Can Live | Check out counter

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - Surprising Places Where Germs Can Live | Check out counter   While people are often conscientious about picking up germs after taking public transportation or using a computer keyboard, those aren’t the only spots where germs can linger. As it turns out, germs are everywhere. They are even on our bodies when we’re not sick. “The difference is whether or not those germs will make us ill. And that all depends on the type of germs you are exposed to and your immune system’s ability to fight them off,” explains William Betz D.O., M.B.A., FACOFP, senior associate dean for osteopathic medical education at the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine.  Betz discusses the surprising places where germs can live and ways you can minimize your chances of becoming ill through contact with germs. Checkout Counter: At many checkout counters, there is a ledge for shoppers to write out a check and a key pad for people to swipe their debit or credit card and type in their PIN number. These are two areas where shoppers stand— and perhaps cough or sneeze— while waiting to be checked out.  Betz stresses that the best way you can protect yourself from germs is to avoid sneezing or coughing into your hands. Instead, you should sneeze into your sleeve or another body part that won’t be touching any common area. In addition, you should use your own pen to write checks or sign receipts as a way to minimize your exposure to germs in the checkout line. William Betz D.O., M.B.A., FACOFP, is the senior associate dean for osteopathic medical education at the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine.

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Posted in: colds,credit cards,flu,GERMS

5 reasons credit cards collect germs

Spending is on the rise in the midst of flu season. What you may not realize is these things feed into each other.

The more time spent with others and the more money your hands touch the more likely it is that you're going to get sick. And if you think dirty cash is the only way that money makes you ill, think again. Those credit cards you whip out to pay for new gadgets and dinners with loved ones are also covered in germs.

5 reasons credit cards collect germs

Here are the five biggest reasons credit cards are likely to carry germs:

1. Flu germs remain alive on surfaces. That includes the plastic of your credit cards. These germs can live anywhere from a few hours to several months!
2. Germs thrive in the conditions where you keep your credit cards. Most people store credit cards in wallets, purses and pockets. These are all dark, warm, slightly moist places--great conditions for germs to thrive.
3. You're too casual about where you place your credit cards. You set credit cards down on counters and stick them into restaurant cardholders. Instead, get in the habit of passing credit cards directly between the person doing the processing, and wipe them clean regularly.
4. Many people touch your credit cards. Every time you hand your credit card to a cashier, waitress or friend, you're putting it in the hands of someone else who may have the flu. Your exposure soars when you add in the number of people with whom you share credit card/ATM keypads. A Pikeville College Report points up that the same places where you stand to hand over your credit card are places where people commonly sneeze or cough during their own transactions, so don't thinking sliding it across the counter provides any protection.
5. Your credit cards touch other germ-laden items. The most common example is if you store your credit cards right next to your paper money--a very filthy decision indeed!

5 easy ways to keep your credit card clean

Protect yourself from germs this season with these five easy tricks:

1. Sanitize your hands immediately. It is worth it to protect yourself by carrying around alcohol-based hand sanitizing wipes. Every time that you pass your credit card to a store clerk or use a keypad to enter in your PIN, you're putting yourself at risk of germs. Simply wiping down your own hands with sanitizer after each transaction will help. You may even want to wipe down credit card keypads before using them to further reduce the likelihood of catching an illness from these credit card devices. Engage in proper hand washing as soon as possible after all transactions. This is one of the most effective ways to eliminate the flu.
2. Wipe down your credit cards, too. Lightly wiping down credit cards with the same type of sanitizer will further decrease your risk of getting the flu this season.
3. Avoid the use of communal pens. When asked to sign a receipt, pull out your own pen from a clean pocket or purse rather than using one that a bunch of other people have put their germs on. If using a mechanical signature system, a retracted ballpoint pen works safely on those as well.
4. Keep your hands away from your face. This is a leading way to keep any germs you've collected throughout the day from getting into your body and making you ill. You may not always remember to clean your credit cards but if you can remember to keep your hands off of your face then you'll still protect yourself from those germs.
5. Keep each individual credit card in its own plastic case. Don't let credit cards touch each other or any money in your purse or wallet.

By Kathryn Vercillo | Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 | Is your credit card making you sick? | Money Blue Book

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Posted in: antimicrobial,colds,credit cards,flu,GERMS

Dr.Oz: bacteria lurks on your credit cards

Dr. Oz's All-Star Advice: bacteria lurks on your credit cards 

Suzanne's Purse: I've got something Suze's really excited about: your credit card. It's been used a lot. She wants to cut it, and I've got a medical reason to. 


It has something called enterococcus in it. When you have good guy bacteria protecting you, that's fine. But if you've got too much enterococcus, and if it's on your credit card, it gets into the numbers, gets into those digits, and it lives there....that can go to your heart. It can cause infections of some of the major organs in the body.

It's easy to deal with. You just clean it with an alcohol pad. You clean your credit cards off. You don't have to do it every time you go shopping, but once in a while. 


Remember, they're scooping credit cards through those machines. You've got to assume you're touching the hands of hundreds of people when you get your credit card.



From: Episode 1

OWN TV  |  January 03, 2011

Antimicrobial credit card information | Patent holder:Lisa Holmes   

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Posted in: antimicrobial,credit cards,GERMS

Beware infections from patient cell phone | hospital acquired infections (HAI)

CELL PHONES | carriers of bacteria in hospitals.  Next healthcare administrators also check the badges dangling around their employee's necks for cross-contamination!!

More info on antimicrobial employee badges

http://antimicrobialcards.blogspot.com/2011/02/download-information-about.html

********

Beware infections from patient cell phones

By: Neil Versel | Jun 1, 2011 6:02pm EST

For years, hospitals were reluctant to allow visitors or even staff to use cell phones over unfounded fears that the radio signals could interfere with sensitive medical equipment. Now, there may be a real risk associated with cell phones in hospitals: mobile devices carry all kinds of bacteria, some of them resistant to multiple antibiotics.

According to a study in the June issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, cell phones carried by patients and visitors were nearly twice as likely as the mobile phones of health workers to carry pathogens. Patient phones also tested for higher rates of multidrug-resistant bacteria, including MRSA.

Researchers in the Department of Medical Microbiology atInonu University in Turkey tested the keypads, microphones and earpieces of 200 cell phones—67 from hospital employees and 133 from patients and other hospital visitors. They found harmful bacteria on 39.6 percent of patient phones and 20.6 percent of phones belonging to workers. None of the employees’ phones contained resistant strains of bacteria, the researchers said, but seven patient phones did.

This, according to the Turkish research team, suggests that infection control efforts are working for healthcare personnel and need to be extended to patients and hospital visitors.

“The types of bacteria that were found on the patients’ [phones] and their resistance patterns were very worrisome,” the study said. “Some investigators have reported that cell phones of medical personnel may be a potential source of bacterial pathogens in the hospital setting.”

The authors say that hospital-acquired infections affect at least a quarter of inpatients in developing countries such as Turkey. In the U.S., 1.7 million such infections cause an estimated 100,000 deaths annually.

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Posted in: American Journal of Infection Control | hospital acquired infections | mobile phone infections | mobile phone MRSA |,HAI,hospital-associated infections