This is an extradinarily important article. We are not sure of the exact accuracy, but we feel it important enough to place here. Cleanliness is serious business.

(Article sourced from MSN.com, from information provided in Discover magazine)

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

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

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

-A seventh grader in Florida recently won her school science fair by proving there are more bacteria in ice machines at fast-food restaurants than in toilet-bowl water.

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

- 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.

-TV kills! University of Arizona researchers determined that television remotes are the worst carriers of bacteria in hospital rooms, worse even than toilet handles. Remotes spread antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus, which contributes to the 90,000 annual deaths from infection acquired in hospitals.

- It is now believed President James Garfield died not from the bullet fired by Charles Guiteau but because the medical team treated the president with manure-stained hands, causing a severe infection that killed him three months later.

(What on earth made them think manure-stained hands were remotely acceptable to treat anyone?)