LIFESTYLE NEWS - Hygiene is one of the ways to help prevent catching the flu when everyone around you is sick. 

Have hand sanitiser on hand wherever you go and wash your hands regularly to protect yourself against nasty germs. 

Be on the alert for germs in the following places:

 Restaurant menus have 100 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. They're touched by hundreds of people, but only wiped down once a day, if that, and usually with a used rag. Instead of washing your hands before you sit down, scrub up after you order. And never lay your silverware on the menu. 

 Public recreational water areas: A water park crawling with a 1 000 kids can have 10kg of poop floating around, according to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Little kids can carry as much as 10g of leftover faeces on their rear ends and they don't make a habit of washing off before jumping in. The faeces adds up, and chlorine doesn't kill everything. What can you do? Try not to swallow water.  

 Lemon wedge garnish: Researchers looked at dozens of wedges from the rims of restaurant glasses. They found nearly 70% of the lemons had disease-causing microbes, including E coli and faeces. 

 Public soap pumps: Think about it: From the stall to the sink, there's no telling what your hands can pick up. Scrub for at least 20 seconds or carry hand sanitiser. And before you reach for that door handle, think about how many people don't wash after using the restroom. The CDC says only 31% of men and 65% of women do. 

 Hotel rooms: The TV remote is the dirtiest object in there and could use a quick wipe before you channel surf. Other potential petri dishes: the bedside lamp switch, bedspread, hair dryer, telephone, and unwrapped drinking glasses. 

 Playgrounds are rarely cleaned. The worse spot is the sandbox, with 36 times more germs than a restaurant tray.  

 ATM buttons and cash. The flu virus can live on a money note or coin for 17 days.  

(Source: WebMD, www.cdc.gov) 

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