Charles Gerba Quotations

Most people don't realize that they actually should wash their hands after they make dinner and also after they do the laundry.

Nobody cleans their desk because it's a personal space.

Keyboards are a lunch counter for germs. We turn them over in a lot of studies and we are amazed at what comes out of a keyboard.

Most of the common infections -- colds, flu, diarrhea -- you get environmentally transmitted either in the air or on surfaces you touch. I think people under-rate surfaces.

We don't want to make people overly paranoid here. You can reduce your risk of getting colds and flu by a few simple actions. You are always gambling with germs. You just want to keep the odds in your favor.

There is about a 10th of a gram of feces in the average pair of underwear. You don't want to be doing your handkerchiefs with your underwear.

We were surprised that bankers and accountants came up so high. I really expected lawyers, maybe television producers and radio announcers (to rank high). In my experiences, they're pretty bad.

Toilets get a bad rap. So does the door on the way out.

We spend more and more time at our desks, but we haven't learned to bring the hygiene habits we have at home to the office.

We were pleased to find a decrease in bacteria levels. Perhaps people are becoming more aware of germs in their office and doing something about it.

Teachers were not surprising because kids are so darn germy. Some of the others kind of surprised us, like the DJ.

Desks are really bacteria cafeterias. They?re breakfast buffets, lunch tables, and snack bars as we spend more and more hours at the office.