Carpets are an element of your office decor that’s particularly prone to hiding potentially harmful bacteria. Careful carpet cleaning can help reduce bacteria in your carpets and other areas.
Bacteria are tiny microorganisms that exist pretty much everywhere. The only places that are devoid of any bacteria are those that have been manually and thoroughly sterilized by human beings. Bacteria are undetectable with the naked eye, but clearly visible under a microscope.
Their virtual invisibility makes them difficult to keep at bay, particularly in places of consistently high traffic, such as the workplace, and often require the strength of industrial or commercial cleaning equipment on a regular basis to ensure that your carpeted spaces are kept as clean and bacteria-free as possible.
What Are Bacteria?
Bacteria are single-cell organisms. Bacteria fall into three different categories according to their shape: round, cylindrical, and spiral. Most types of bacteria multiply via binary fission, replicating their DNA to create new cells. A few types of bacteria reproduce by a process called “budding.” As bacteria reproduce, they usually vary their genetic material for future survival and to enable them to adapt to their surrounding environment.
The Dangers of Bacteria
Certainly, some types of bacteria are beneficial. Good bacteria help our bodies digest food, absorb nutrients and help to keep the immune system strong; another, Streptomyces, for instance, is used to make antibiotics.
Other forms of bacteria are harmful. They can, in fact, be detrimental to human health, causing illnesses and infections. Escherichia coli and streptococcus are among the most common. Once a bacterium enters a host, it will try to multiply quickly. Sometimes, a person may have immunity to a specific type of bacteria, either naturally or from a vaccine. When immunity is present, the body will eliminate the bacteria without illness occurring, but if it is not, the person will fall ill: the bacteria multiply quickly, and symptoms of infection will occur and antibiotics may be necessary to help the body eradicate the bacteria.
Why Carpets hold on to Bacteria
Carpets can trap and hold dirt that people track into the office on their shoes. Bacteria will hide in the carpet fibers, but also settle into the padding and backing of the carpet. Carpets hold much more dust and dirt than hard flooring because they are much more porous.
The norovirus is a particularly common carpet-dwelling germ and is often responsible for causing gastrointestinal problems for humans. It can remain alive in carpet fibers for up to six weeks, and as people walk over the carpet, it becomes airborne. Tracked in on shoes, Salmonella can also easily be lurking in carpet fibers.
If carpets become damp, Campylobacter bacteria may fester in the carpet fibers. Often found in moist environments, this type of bacteria flourishes where mold and mildew thrive. For this reason, experts usually recommend that anytime carpet, padding, and backing become fully saturated, replacement is necessary.
Properly Clean Your Carpet
A professional commercial carpet cleaning company is best equipped with the best high-performance cleaning machines to ensure thorough cleaning, but fast and efficient as well.
Consumer cleaning machines cannot be compared to the ones designed for professional use in terms of speed, quality, and efficiency. The non-commercial cleaning machines are perfect for maintaining carpets and floors in good condition, but the professional commercial floor cleaning and carpet cleaning machines have many more advantages, such as:
Professional carpet and commercial floor cleaning will effectively remove harmful bacteria, but all greasy stains, dirt, dust, water damage and many other potential pollutants from carpets as well. As carpets especially are a magnet for dust, hair, dander, and many other germs and bacteria, simply regular vacuum cleaning is not enough. Quality, professional commercial carpet cleaning can remove every dirt, germ, and bacteria from office carpets with the simple use of special cleaning products and powerful machines.
Another great benefit of using professional carpet and commercial floor cleaning machines is that they can remove dust mites, mold, water damage and other contaminants from floors and carpets, leaving them clean and toxin free.
The third great benefit of using commercial carpet cleaning services is that these services can maximize your floor and carpet potential. The modern and innovative machines offer special features designed to help protect carpets from future stains and spills.
Steam cleaning carpets twice each year is the general recommendation to keep carpeted floors thoroughly clean. More, depending on the amount of traffic your space incurs.