Why You Should Care About Your Office Coffee Mug
Published at
iStock/Thinkstock(TUCSON, Ariz.) — Nothing like starting your workday off with a nice, hot, heaping cup of germs.
Coffee drinkers who bring in their own mugs to work may or may not want to hear the findings of University of Arizona microbiologist Chuck Gerba, who has earned the nickname of “Dr. Germ” because of his field of concentration.
He tested a batch of workplace coffee mugs and the bad news is that 90 percent of them were tainted with various germs.
The worse news is that Gerba also found fecal bacteria on about 20 percent of the mugs.
And the worst of the worse news is that the fecal bacteria was more common on mugs used by people that were higher up the corporate ladder.
Without trying to explain this phenomenon, Dr. Germ has some recommendations to reduce the chances of your cup turning into a petri dish. For one thing, he advised people not to leave their mugs exposed on the desk where they can turns into magnets for germs and viruses. If you’re lucky enough to have a kitchen, wash mugs with soap and hot water, minus a sponge, and dry off with a paper towel.
Even better, Gerba suggests people bring their mugs home each night to be scrubbed, preferably with a thorough wash and dry in the dishwasher.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.