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Spartanburg, S.C. — March 2, 2016 — The soles of shoes are usually dirtier than a toilet seat, and the bacteria can be transferred to any surface we walk on. A recent study found that as many as nine different types of pathogens can thrive on the bottoms of shoes, including bacteria that can cause infections in the stomach, eyes, and lungs.
“Everything that’s on the bottoms of your shoes gets transferred to whatever surface you’re walking on, especially during the winter when snow and slush prevail," said said Scott Hunter, director of franchise network for milliCare, a provider of commercial building carpet and textile cleaning services. "One square yard of commercial carpeting can accumulate a pound of dirt in just a week, and up to twice as much during periods of inclement weather. Bacteria flourish when sediment and other materials are present in the carpet. With a customized plan, milliCare can remove up to 99 percent of the germs and dirt in office carpeting, keeping it clean and spotless.”
What’s lurking in the office carpet? Bacteria live longer on our shoes than in other places, so as we walk, we are constantly picking up and depositing debris that leads to more bacteria growth. More than 90 percent of the time, bacteria on our shoes transfer to floors with a hard surface, and carpets can harbor even more bacteria.
Toilet seats generally contain 1,000 organisms or less, and when the soles of a pair of shoes were tested, they contained around 66 million organisms.
When a national morning show tested the bottoms of eight pairs of shoes and two dogs’ paws, nine of the samples contained coliform, a type of bacteria that most commonly comes from human and animal waste.
milliCare provides textile and carpet cleaning solutions for large facilities, such as Fortune 500 company offices, government agencies, airports, hotels, and other commercial buildings. Its dry carpet technology removes up to 99 percent of germs, dirt, and pollutants in commercial carpeting when used in conjunction with an effective HVAC system. For more information, visit www.millicare.com.
