The 11 dirtiest surfaces you touch every day

From cell phones to kitchen sponges, we touch hundreds of things each day—and most of them are home bases for germs. Eighty percent of infections like the flu, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus, are spread by our hands and the things we touch. “The good news is, you’ve got millions of years of evolution of an immune system that tends to protect you from most of these things,” says infectious disease expert Raymond Blum, MD, of Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado.

But bugs like E. coli, Staphylococcus and rotavirus are constantly evolving, and spreading through these everyday items. Here are 11 of the dirtiest surfaces you touch every day, and how to protect yourself from yucky germs.