New book shares "guerrilla tactics" for effective germ warfare

Go ahead and put your buns on the toilet seat, without using those thin paper covers.

But stop using your shoe to flush and stop washing your hands with hot water and drying them under the hand dryer.

"If you're going to be a germ freak, do it the right way," says Allison Janse, who wrote "The Germ Freak's Guide to Outwitting Colds and Flu: Guerrilla Tactics to Keep Yourself Healthy at Home, at Work and in the World."

"Make sure the things you do are actually effective," she says.

Janse is an admitted germ freak — the kind who is never without Purell, carries her own pillow and blankets on planes and immediately rips the comforter off the beds in hotel rooms.

An editor for Health Communications, the company that does those "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, Janse came up with the idea for a book on germs after watching a waiter in a restaurant use the same rag to wipe down all the tables. The rag was dripping black. She wondered what kind of bacteria was on that rag. Then she started to worry about her twins, who would be dropping food on that table and then putting it in their mouths.

Janse began researching germs on the Internet and eventually partnered with her co-author, Charles Gerba, aka Dr. Germ, an environmental microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona.

"I hope this book helps people laugh at our germ hang-ups, laugh at our idiosyncrasies and the habits we have," she says. "I just hope people take away some information that can save them time, save them money on things they might be doing that aren't working."

So what are we doing wrong?

Let's start with

Toilets: Don't worry about squatting, and forget about making your own force field with toilet paper, because you're spending more time in the stall and you may accidentally touch the toilet when you're building the nest.

"The typical toilet seat only has 49 germs per square inch versus the desktop that has 21,000," says Janse. "That's problematic because a lot of people like me eat lunch at their desks. A typical office disinfects the toilet every night. Most people don't disinfect their desks."

Also, don't flush the toilet with your shoe. One, you're putting your dirty shoe on the handle, and two, accidents have been known to happen. (Plop goes the flip-flop.) Also, don't flush while you're still sitting on the toilet. Your butt could become a bull's-eye for E. coli.

Sinks: It's the most contaminated spot next to the floor, particularly the hot-water tap, since most people are using that one, says Janse. "Only 16 percent of Americans wash their hands the right way. If you go to lengths to wash your hands, don't recontaminate them by touching the tap." In other words, use a paper towel to turn the cold-water faucet on and off and to open the door.

Also, don't use the air dryers: They pull air from the bathroom floor, not the outside. "All you are doing is shooting a blast of hot bacteria onto your hands."

Other bathroom tips:

• Use the first stall, which usually is the cleanest.

• Don't use toilet paper that has been sitting on the floor.

• Don't put your purse on the bathroom floor or toilet tank.

Moving on to the office:

• Disinfect your desk, telephone and computer.

• Don't drink from the communal coffee pot. Who knows the last time someone cleaned it out?

• Don't keep tissue on your desk. "You're literally inviting a sick, germy person to blow her nose at your desk," Janse writes. "Also, if you're the go-to gal for aspirin, Band-Aids and other necessities, you are inviting people with headaches and open wounds to use your work station as triage central."

• And those office bagels? Don't eat them, says Janse. "How do you know if the person assembling the towers of bagels didn't have a cold, or one of the 20 people who came to grope them all didn't have something and were coughing all over it." If you must have one, don't eat the cinnamon raisin. Those get touched and rejected more because people think they are chocolate chip.

When does germ concern become obsessive compulsive disorder?

"I think it becomes obsessive when your hands are chafed from overuse of soap; when you won't do things you used to do because you are afraid of germs; when people say, 'Get away from me with that Handi-Wipe.' "

What does Janse hope people take away from this book?

"I guess my biggest hope is to end public displays of infection," says Janse. "People who cough and sneeze on other people and people who don't wash their hands. These things are so easy and could easily save a life."

So there you have it. Get up and go wash your hands. And don't forget Handwashing 101. Wet your hands, lather the soap all over, rubbing between your fingers, the top and palm of your hands and under your nails (don't do this under the faucet, or you'll wash the soap off). Do it for a full 15 seconds. Rinse. And don't forget the paper-towel move.