I just felt like writing a little about this subject since so many of you are Hell bent on wearing flip flops in showers. One of the grants that the lab got when I was working there was to research germs in common areas. This research was funded to aid in how far the bird flu pandemic would spread and how fast.
One of the things looked at was common showers. If the person before you had some type of germ, well, it's in the perfect place to breed. The second you reach down to wash your lower leg, well, you have it from the water splashing up. Next you wash your hair. The water gets in your mouth, nose and eyes. All perfect entry points. Flip flops do nothing to prevent infection unless you have open sores. Most germs you fight off with your natural immune system but having an open sore will allow the germ to take hold at a far accelerated pace.
Every single thing you touch has germs and there is no way to avoid them. When a person sneezes you only have to be within 15 feet and you will absorb enough to be infected.
Your mother will tell you that you need to eat better or something along those lines because you don't see her getting a cold. That's because there are only about 2500 variations of the cold. Once you get one, your immune to it from now on. Your mother has had 2499 already and that's why she doesn't get sick.
If everyone were to stay at home alone for 2 weeks we would wipe the common cold off the face of the earth. You can't catch your death of cold from being outside without proper clothing. You can only get a cold from another person.
Some guy takes a wiz and well, as you know, it splashes everywhere. He comes out, ties his shoe because it's loose and shakes your hand. Unless you have cut all your finger nails off, have a hard bristle brush and scrub your hands with bleach for 15 minutes until your hands are ready to bleed, you still have germs.
It was interesting to say the least when our lab did the experiment which everyone took part in. The germs were non infectious and at the end of the day we all put our hands under a Raman Spectrometer that detects if we had the germs. It's was totally amazing. People who had no contact with anyone had the germs and trying to figure out how we got it was a riot.
The bottom line was. In 3 weeks the whole U.S. would be infected with bird flu. As far as getting germs from public places. The absolute best defense is to eat right and get enough sleep. This alone keeps your immune system at top performance.