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With all the stories about eggs in the news, you probably know the basics for avoiding salmonella poisoning: Don't eat runny eggs, wash utensils and counter tops after use, and avoid the billion or so eggs the Food and Drug Administration has recalled.

But that's not the complete story for playing it safe around eggs. Here are seven things you might not know about cooking eggs safely:

• Cook casseroles and other dishes containing eggs to 160 degrees. Use a food thermometer to be sure.

• Eat hard-cooked eggs within one week of cooking

• If you refrigerate quiches or soufflés, reheat them to 165 degrees before serving.

• Divide hot egg dishes into shallow containers before refrigerating.

• Bake meringue-topped pies at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

• Use a cooked egg-milk mixture or pasteurized egg produces for homemade ice cream (or choose a recipe that doesn't use eggs).

• For recipes that call for raw eggs, heat the eggs in one of the recipe's other liquid ingredients to 160 degrees before adding them.

For more on egg safety, visit the FDA's consumer egg safety site.

A picture really is worth a thousand words in a college dormitory bathroom. Dr. Bruce Dan looks at a graphic campaign to make students wash their hands.

As summer draws to a close, many of us will be hitting the beach for one last hurrah. If, like some members of my family, you prefer building sandcastles over swimming because the ocean seems dirty and disgusting, I have some unsettling news: The sand is even worse.

Scientists have found that levels of E. coli bacteria in sand tend to be higher than those in the water. The result, according to a recently-published study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, is that people who dig in the sand are more likely to get sick than those who take a dip in the ocean or walk on the beach.

The scientists interviewed more than 27,000 visitors at seven U.S. beaches and asked about the beachgoers' activities. Ten to 12 days later, participants were contacted by phone and asked about any illnesses they had experienced since their trip to the beach.

Those who had dug in the sand were slightly more likely to develop stomach illnesses and diarrhea than those who had not dug in the sand. The risk was further increased among people who had been buried in the sand. As you might expect, kids were especially vulnerable.

Fortunately, you don't need to forfeit that sandcastle-building contest to stay well. According to another new study, this one in the Journal of Water and Health, there's a simple solution: Wash your hands. The researchers found that subjects with sand-covered hands who rinsed in clean water removed 92% of E. coli that might otherwise have ended up in their mouths and led to illness. Rinsing four times removed virtually 100%.

Of course, it's best to use soap or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. If you don't have access to either, though, rinsing your hands with clean water several times before you dig into your picnic basket or leave the beach can do the trick.

It's a reminder that even on vacation, Mom's advice to wash your hands still applies. To find out other surprising places where potentially harmful germs lurk and how to protect yourself, watch this video.

Proper grilling techniques can help prevent harmful bacteria and cancer-causing chemicals in food.

Keeping your teeth clean may help you prevent heart attacks. Here's how.

How clean is your office? Dr. Bruce Dan looks at the germiest jobs and where around the office germs tend to collect.