Germ Myths: True or False?

True or False: You have to clean new toys

False

"They're probably OK," says Chuck Gerba, University of Arizona Professor of microbiology, father to two and grandfather to two. He worries more about shared toys at daycare and on playdates.

What you can do: Wash hands during (and definitely after) playdates but also recognize some of this is out of your control. After all, Gerba points out that "kids under age two put something in their mouths about 81 times per hour. Under five, they do it 50 times an hour." So, chances are, at some point they're going to pick up a playmate's stomach bug. All you can really do to curb infection is keep your child home when he's sick.