You've probably heard that "sharing is caring," but some things are better to keep to yourself. We're not talking about your deepest, darkest secrets, but rather, physical items that can harbor disease-causing germs.

Technically, any shared item can spread pathogens from one person to another. In microbiology, these are known as fomites. Fomites are inanimate objects that can become contaminated with infectious agents and transmit them to a new host.

"We get exposed to a lot of pathogens — viral, bacterial, and fungal — from fomites," Dr. Bernard Camins, medical director for infection prevention at the Mount Sinai Health System, tells TODAY.com.

Common fomites we encounter in daily life include doorknobs, light switches and sink handles. These are almost impossible to avoid, which is

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