Urinary Tract Infection

Your hands can be constantly at work while you use your computer. And you should be paying attention to the places your hands frequent, such as the mouse and keyboard. Always wash your hands before eating, and don’t let them come into contact with unclean spaces while you eat. If you’re concerned that your home electronics aren’t as clean as they should be, start adding them to your cleaning routine to keep bacteria at bay.

As you channel surf, your fingers are dancing across a germ danger-zone that rarely gets cleaned. All those button presses are opportunities for germs to come into contact with your skin. And if you’re one of the many people who eat while they watch, your fingers are then potentially transferring germs onto the food you eat. That gives bacteria an easy route directly into your body, leaving you vulnerable to sickness.

How many times a day do you check your smartphone? One study found that people swipe, tap, type, and click over 2,600 times a day on average. That adds up to over 75 separate phone sessions for the average user.

Everyone knows there are germs around them. Some of the places are obvious—you probably wash your hands after cleaning up your cat’s litter, changing a diaper, or using the toilet. But there are places in your home that probably escape your attention, and some of those places need to be cleaned as frequently as germ hot spots you already know.

These usually happen when people are in contact with waste from infected rats, mice, or other rodents. You can also breathe dust that's carrying specks of rodent droppings or urine. You can get hantavirus, hemorrhagic fever, and other illnesses. If you need to clean up droppings, don't stir up dust with a broom or vacuum cleaner. Put on gloves, spray the area with disinfectant, and wipe it clean. Then take care of the rodent that left the droppings.

Mosquitoes carrying viruses, including malaria, Zika, West Nile, yellow fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya, can pass them to people through a bite. These infections tend to happen in specific parts of the world.

You get rabies when an animal that carries the virus bites you. Most cases involve infected bats, coyotes, dogs, and cats. Rabies is deadly, but it's rare for people to get it. If you are bit or scratched by an animal that might have rabies, a doctor can give you a vaccine to protect you from the virus.

You might have heard it called a brain-eating amoeba. Naegleria fowleri causes a rare deadly brain infection. This tiny organism, or amoeba, gets into your brain through your nose. It lives in warm lakes or rivers, or naturally hot water. Swimming pools without enough chlorine can host them too. The infection, which causes seizures, confusion, and hallucination, can kill people in as little as 5 days.

It's normal to have this type of bacteria in your intestines. But some strains of E. coli make people sick. People usually get them by eating food or drinking water that has the bacteria. It's more common with raw vegetables or undercooked ground beef. The infection can cause severe, bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps.

This type of bacteria can cause an infection in your intestines. If you eat raw or undercooked food containing salmonella bacteria -- often meat, eggs, or poultry -- you can get a salmonella infection. Salmonella can end up on countertops and kitchen gadgets and then contaminate other food. Thorough cooking kills this bacteria. Symptoms of salmonella infection can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, fever, chills, and headache.