Bacterial contamination on touch surfaces in the public transport system and in public areas of a hospital in London.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate bacterial contamination on hand-touch surfaces in the public transport system and in public areas of a hospital in central London.


RESULTS
Dipslides were used to sample 118 hand-touch surfaces in buses, trains, stations, hotels and public areas of a hospital in central London. Total aerobic counts were determined, and Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified and characterized. Bacteria were cultured from 112 (95%) of sites at a median concentration of 12 CFU cm(-2). Methicillin-susceptible Staph. aureus (MSSA) was cultured from nine (8%) of sites; no sites grew methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus (MRSA).


CONCLUSIONS
Hand-touch sites in London are frequently contaminated with bacteria and can harbour MSSA, but none of the sites tested were contaminated with MRSA.


CONCLUSIONS
Hand-touch sites can become contaminated with staphylococci and may be fomites for the transmission of bacteria between humans. Such sites could provide a reservoir for community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) in high prevalence areas but were not present in London, a geographical area with a low incidence of CA-MRSA.
Otter
J A
JA
Department of Infection, St. Thomas' Hospital and King's College London, UK. jonathan.otter@kcl.ac.uk
French
G L
GL
D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014186:Transportation