Doctor Sasha Showsh from UW-Eau Claire's Biology Department incubated the samples for two days.

First, the samples were exposed to the same temperature as a person's extremities, and then, normal body temperature.

"We'll start out with one or two cells on the plate," Doctor Showsh said. "Then after 24 hours, each one of those cells divides and forms what's called a colony."

On the keyboard, we found a few potentially harmful germs, but there weren't any traces of bacteria from someones intestines.

"Many, many microorganisms," said Doctor Showsh. "Only a few are staphylococcus."

The same wasn't true for the Eau Claire City Hall Men's Room.

"We have more fecal contaminants in this plate than the previous ones," Doctor Showsh said.

That's no surprise to him.

He says just flushing a urinal or toilet with the lid up can spray micro-organisms up to 20 feet away.

Then there's the door handle, touched by dozens of students every minute.

"Out of the bacteria we were looking for," I asked Dr. Showsh, "the door handle was relatively bacteria free?"

"Yes it was," he said.

That's because it is cold enough to kill the germs.

Fortunately for Sunrise Meteorologist Mark Holley, Doctor Showsh says the Staph infection that was behind his ears isn't the kind that produces the potentially-deadly disease MRSA.

In fact, it's similar to what you likely have behind your ears right now.

"We have bacteria all around us," said Doctor Showsh. "You need to be able to understand that these microorganisms transfer to inanimate objects."

Even if you're totally grossed out by all this, Doctor Showsh admits, the germs we found, probably, aren't going to kill you.

"For the most part, I think people are too sanitized," said Georgene Hearden. "I remember making mud pies as a kid, and I swear some of the neighbor kids ate em'!"

Still, all it takes is someone coughing on their hands, sneezing on them, scratching their nose, or scratching behind their ear.

Health professionals say that person touches something, and it could be the start of a nasty chain reaction.

"It just underscores the need and should increase people's awareness that this is the time of year in particular that we need to practice good hand-washing," said Eau Claire City-County Health Department Director Richard Thoune.

He says spreading the word is what's going to slow the spread of bacteria.

"He knows how to wash his hands very nicely," Bill Benson said as he looked at a small child he was carrying. "With soap too."

"I don't like my hands being dirty. I keep sanitizer with me all the time," Anastasia Davis said.

The director of the L.E. Phillips Public Library says he's not surprised at what we found on the keyboard: both that we found traces of harmful bacteria, and that there wasn't much there. He doesn't consider the library's keyboards to be any different than a door handle that lots of people touch.

In response to our test of the City Hall Men's Room, Eau Claire Public Works Director Brian Amundson calls it "a random sample," and "not a scientific approach to researching the issue using laboratory protocol in collecting the samples." He goes on to cite the City-County Health Department in saying "a trace detection of bacteria in a public restroom would not be unusual."

Click on the links below for more information on Dr. Showsh, and for the NBC Today Show's "12 Germiest Places in Your Life"