If you’re tempted to eat a mince pie after putting up some baubles, you might want to wash your hands first.
Christmas decorations can contain five times as many germs as the average toilet seat, according to swab tests on trees, wreaths and lamps, among other things.
Many of the festive decorations exceeded what experts consider to be within the normal range of biological contamination – often by as much as 30 percent.
More than two-thirds of the decorations returned with values of more than 500 units – indicating a high level of contamination – and some showed values of more than 1,000 units.
Those with the highest levels of microbial contamination harbored five times more than a typical toilet seat.
Of all the items purchased, the artificial Christmas tree boxes were on average the worst, with values of approximately 845 units.
The tests were performed using an ATP bioluminescence reader to detect levels of biological life not visible to the human eye.
Jamie Woodhall from Initial Washroom Hygiene, who carried out the research, said: ‘Many of us enjoy putting up decorations with a cake or drink in hand and decorations [are] often passed from one person to another as they are unpacked and hung.
Christmas decorations can contain five times as many germs as the average toilet seat, according to swabs from trees, wreaths and lamps, among other things.
Of all the items purchased, the artificial Christmas tree boxes were on average the worst, with values of approximately 845 units. In the photo: a test package with a festive Christmas bauble
‘Since 80 percent of all infections are transmitted through the hands, this can lead to the transmission of disease.’
He added: ‘No one wants their Christmas celebrations to be ruined by a seasonal virus.
“It is advisable to take precautions such as wiping down decorations with an antibacterial cloth and for everyone to wash and dry their hands before participating.”