10 Things You Didn't Know About Hygiene

1) The human body is home to some 1,000 species of bacteria. There are more germs on your body than people in the United Kingdom.

2) Anti-bacterial soap is no more effective at preventing infection than normal soap, and triclosan (the active ingredient) can mess with your sex hormones.

3) A study of over 11,000 children determined that an overly hygienic environment increases the risk of eczema and asthma.

4) Monks of the Jain Dharma (a minority religion in India) are forbidden to bathe any part of their bodies besides the hands and feet, believing the act of bathing might jeopardize the lives of millions of microorganisms.

5) Ancient Egyptians and Aztecs rubbed urine on their skin to treat cuts and burns. Urea, a key chemical in urine, is known to kill fungi and bacteria.

6) A student in Florida recently won a school science competition by proving there are more bacteria in ice machines at fast-food restaurants than in toilet-bowl water.

7) There's no "three-second rule" when it comes to dropping food on the ground. Bacteria need no time at all to contaminate food.

8) The first true toothbrush, consisting of Siberian pig-hair bristles wired into carved cattle-bone handles, was invented in China in 1498. Yet it wasn't until the nineteenth century that toothbrushes were mass manufactured in Britain.

9) Up to a quarter of all women giving birth in European and American hospitals in the 17th through 19th centuries died of puerperal fever, an infection spread by unhygienic nurses and doctors.

10) University of Arizona researchers determined that television remotes are the worst carriers of bacteria in hospital rooms, worse even than toilet handles.