0.01% of Germs

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About

.01% of Germs refers to the remainder of bacteria left behind after using a cleaning product which advertises that it kills 99%-99.99% of germs. The remaining bacteria has appeared as a character in various meme templates since 2010.

Origin

The claim that a cleaning product kills "99% of bacteria" is commonly seen on the packaging of products like Lysol^[1] and Clean Smart Disinfectant Spray.^[2] The remaining bacteria began seeing use in memes in the early 2010s. One of the earliest known images to reference the character was a Forever Alone posted to Cheezburger^[3] on November 3rd, 2010 (shown below).

L/ KILLS 99%OF BACTERIA レ 'forever alone COM

Spread

In the ensuing years, the character saw some use in other meme templates. For example, an image circulated during the Occupy Wall Street movement parodying We Are the 99 Percent referring to the 1% of remaining germs (shown below, left). Another image using the Rage Comic character Y U No Guy referenced the character (shown below, right).

CLOROK KILLS 99.99% OF GERMS 0.01% Y U NO DIE imgflip.com

In 2018, the meme resurfaced in object labeling templates. An image using Naruto characters grew popular. A post to /r/blackpeopletwitter with the image gained 6,800 upvotes (shown below, left). A post to /r/MemeEconomy from April 6th, 2018 featuring both Savage Patrick and Tired Spongebob gained over 30 upvotes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

When humans are trying to kill germs with that 99.9% hand santizer ,but you're the .1% that survives. laughs microscopically

USESHAND SANITIZER GETSKILLED BY 0.1% OF THE GERMS

IAM I KILL 99.99% OF GERMS HAND SANITIZER! 0 I SPARE THAT .01% o THAT IT CAN DELIVER A MESSAG.. TO TELL ALL THE OTHER GERMS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY GO ON YOUR HANDS 0

IF HAND SANITIZER ONLY KILLS 99.99% OF GERMS 32 WHAT THE HELL KIND THEN OF SUPER GERM IS THE .01% ? quickmeme.com

TO THE 0.01% OF GERMS THAT SURVIVE LYSOL imgflip.com

One day, I'll be a scientist & invent a soap that kills those remaining 0.01% germs

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References

^[1] Amazon – Lysol Disinfectant Spray, Crisp Linen, 38oz

^[2] Amazon – CleanSmart Disinfectant Spray

^[3] Cheezburger – Forever Alone

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0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Reddit Moments	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Abodos	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Qnomei	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira
0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira
0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira	0.01% of Germs Uploaded by Mezalira

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Top Comments

johnsmith20xx

Apr 07, 2018 at 02:13PM EDT

+48

Ruger

Apr 06, 2018 at 02:30PM EDT

Its actually a fairly misleading claim, and the bottles generally layout what bacteria they actually kill in the fine print. The germs that each cleaner kills (or has been tested to kill) is often different from disinfectant to disinfectant, with some specifications.

The only things that can claim to kill 100% of germs are EPA approved sterilants, or high-level disinfectants. These are generally meant to be used on medical equipment, and will often do nasty things to your hands if you tried using them as soap (since their job is to "literally kill everything with no survivors"). Sometimes it is just using the disinfectant in a higher concentration, using the Lysol as an example, the active ingredient for at least one line of products is hydrogen peroxide, which can act as a high-level disinfectant at higher concentrations.

+42

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