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We have a problem: We’re just too clean! The rise in allergies and autoimmune diseases during the past few decades may be at least partly due to our lack of exposure to the microorganisms in dirt.

We once walked barefoot in the dirt and washed it off of our food. Now we wear shoes and buy pre-washed vegetables from the grocery store, covered in plastic wrap. Even the increase in the rate of Caesarean section births means a potential loss of the germs that are usually passed from one generation to the next. The microorganisms in dirt establish "normal" background levels that keep our bodies from overreacting to germs.
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In 1968, a comedy called "The Odd Couple," starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, told the story of two divorced men, Felix Ungar (a neurotic neatfreak) and Oscar Madison (a fun-loving slob) who decide to live together. This is a script that plays itself out again and again as college starts and students find themselves paired with roommates whom they do not know and do not get along with.
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Think your desk is filthy? What about your hotel room? We all hope the room we rent is clean and hygienic, but we have no way of knowing how clean it really is. If recommended NASA cleaning standards are adopted by hotel chains, you can be sure that your hotel is at least as clean as a spaceship.

When a group of researchers decided to find out by swabbing surfaces in hotel rooms in Indiana, Texas and South Carolina, they found the bedside lamp switch and the TV remote control were the areas where most of the bacteria were found.
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Here’s another way men and women are different: Men’s offices have more bacteria than women’s offices. Also, New York City offices have more germs in them that San Francisco offices (and what about the bathrooms?)

This was discovered in a study of the bacteria in more than 90 offices in three cities–San Francisco, New York and Tucson–and on five types of surfaces: chairs, desktops, phones, computer mice and keyboards. The bacteria count in men’s offices was 10 to 20% greater than in women’s.
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