Plane toilets and bus seats among dirtiest things touched when travelling

Melbourne, October 31 (ANI): Travelling is similar to taking a bacteria bath all day long as you will be touching the dirtiest things, including plane toilets and bus seats.

This is because everything you've touched has been touched by others before and can hold a lot of bacteria, according to globetrotting Lonely Planet.

And the spread of germs grows greater as we travel more and more.

The guidebook has also revealed some of the dirtiest things you can touch while travelling, the Herald Sun reported.

Aeroplane toilets have been identified as the dirtiest place people encounter during their long journey.

They quickly become "germ farms", with the toilet bowl and sink placed in extremely close proximity to each other.

Again the inevitable splashing out of the sink can lead to moist conditions - perfect for bacteria to grow.

Next horror comes from money. Staphylococcus bacteria and faecal matter can be found on money around the world.

A test by the Health Commissioner of New York had found 135,000 bacteria on one especially nasty bill. ATM buttons are also filthy.

Another study carried out two years ago by University of Ballarat and his colleagues found that the cleanest dollars in the US hosted 20 bugs, while the dirtiest greenbacks had 250,000.

Public transportation is another source of bacteria.

Most public transport systems are hotbeds of germs as thousands of people touch the surfaces of that train or bus every day. While places touched by hands are the dirtiest, the seats can also be home to a "safari of faecal matter".

Other dirtiest things you can touch include computer keyboards, especially in cyber cafe or hotel.

According to Lonely Planet, "you may as well be typing inside a truck stop toilet bowl".

On average, shared desks can have up to 400 times more bacteria than a recently flushed toilet. This is because the keyboards are rarely cleaned, it revealed.

People are the main carrier of germs. A recent study of New York stations revealed that only 49 percent of people washed their hands after using the bathroom. (ANI)