Germs don't stick where you think they will:
Go ahead and touch door knobs and elevator buttons. Germs rarely stick around on them long enough to do you any harm. "Never fear a doorknob," Gerba explained to Reuters. Why? They aren't moist, and germs need moisture to thrive for long.
In a typical office, computer keyboards and telephones, especially when they are shared, carry far more bacteria than elevator buttons, the handles and buttons on the communal microwave oven or the office water fountain. "Keyboards are a lunch counter for germs," Gerba told Reuters. "We turn them over in a lot of studies, and we are amazed at what comes out of a keyboard."
There is 400 times more bacteria on the average office desk than on the average office toilet seat. Why? Toilets are cleaned regularly. "Nobody cleans the desktop, usually, until they stick to it," Gerba explained to Reuters.
While the toilet and bathroom door are safe to touch, beware the sink. "They have got everything a bacteria likes. It's wet, it's moist," he told Reuters. "In a home we usually find more E. coli in a sink than a toilet." The dirtiest handles in public restrooms are urinal flush handles in the men's room.