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07/23/2008

Immigrant Visa Vaccination Requirements Tightened

06/11/2008

Researchers Discover Significant Efficacy of Travelers’ Diarrhea Vaccine

04/14/2008

CDC Urges Travelers to Israel to Protect Themselves from Measles

03/27/2008

The Top 10 Health Tips for International Travel

03/18/2008

Travel Health Expert Offers Tips for a Healthy Summer Vacation

12/17/2007

Briggs & Riley Reports That More Travelers Focus on Health and Sanitation This Holiday Season

11/02/2007

Global Group Releases Update on International Status of Polio

10/29/2007

CDC Releases Interactive Malaria Map

09/27/2007

Fatal Ameba Attacks Expected to Increase if Global Temperatures Rise

09/19/2007

Iomai Patch-Based Vaccine Cut Rate of Travelers' Diarrhea by 75 Percent in Phase 2 Field Study

08/10/2007

AXA Assistance USA, Inc. Provides Care to UK Tourists During Stomach Virus Outbreak at Resort in Dominican Republic

07/13/2007

CDC Travel Health Book Advises Travelers on Hazards Both Ordinary and Extraordinary

07/09/2007

Doctors Urged to be Alert for Chikungunya Infection

07/06/2007

Rabies Considerations for Travelers

06/26/2007

Travelers Beware: Is Your Medicine Really What the Doctor Ordered?

06/13/2007

Keeping Kids Healthy While Traveling

03/26/2007

Severe Dengue Infections May Go Unrecognized in International Travelers

02/21/2007

Real-time Map of Infectious Outbreaks Briefs Disease Trackers, International Travelers

11/09/2006

Individualized Strategies Needed for Prevention of Malaria in Long-Term Travelers

09/12/2006

A Public Health Lesson from 9/11: to Curb the Flu, Limit Flights

11/08/2005

Avoiding the Travel Bug Nobody Wants

05/12/2005

Special Cleanliness Report: When Good Vacations Go Bad

03/10/2005

Aircraft Cabin Ventilation Influences Transmission of Diseases In-Flight

03/04/2005

Are Restroom Report Cards the Way to a More Hygienic Public Restroom? Survey Respondents Say Yes to Ratings, Touch-Free Systems and Guaranteed Supplies

08/06/2004

Travelers' Diarrhea Not Improved by Restricted Diet

08/02/2004

Survey Finds Most Air Travelers Want to be Contacted After Possible Exposure to a Serious Contagious Disease

07/16/2004

International Travelers at Risk for Typhoid Fever

09/11/2003

Another Airport Travel Hazard -- Dirty Hands

05/20/2003

Survey by American Dietetic Association Finds Many Travelers Risk Food Poisoning

04/25/2003

Misconceptions About Cabin Air Quality Will Hinder Airline Recovery, Says AAPA

09/20/2002

Modern Day Medicine Men and Women Help Stop Infectious Diseases From Spreading Worldwide

Bacteria and viruses are the microscopic organisms – otherwise known as germs -- that are responsible for causing and transmitting illness and disease. These microbes are so small, that according to the American Society for Microbiology, if the smallest of all microbes was the size of a baseball, an average bacterium would then be the size of the pitcher's mound, and just one of the millions of cells that make up your body would be the size of the ballpark!

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  • An average of only 1 in 6 people wash their hands after using the restroom.
  • After using the restroom, a single hand can have a population count of more than 200 million bacteria per square inch.
  • When you sneeze, germs can travel at 80 miles per hour across a room.
  • One microbe can grow to become more than 8 million germs in just one day.
  • A kitchen cutting board harbors 50 times more bacteria than your toilet seat.
  • The average desk harbors 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
  • Viruses can survive on common surfaces like faucet handles for up to 72 hours.
  • The majority of food-poisoning cases are acquired in the home.
  • The average child catches at least 8 colds in a year, and U.S. kids miss as many as 189 million school days each year due to colds.

Do you think it's important to wash your hands in order to prevent the spread of illness and disease?

Absolutely, and I wash constantly!
Whenever I remember to do so!
I'm too busy to wash my hands!

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