Comparative surface‐to‐hand and fingertip‐to‐mouth transfer efficiency of gram‐positive bacteria, gram‐negative bacteria, and phage

• Published in: Journal of applied microbiology Vol. 93; no. 4; pp. 585 - 592
• Main Authors: Rusin, P., Maxwell, S., Gerba, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.01.2002; Blackwell Science; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Bacterial Infections - transmission; Bacteriology; Bacteriophage PRD1 - isolation & purification; Biological and medical sciences; Colony Count, Microbial; Disease Reservoirs; Disinfection - methods; Fingers - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gram-Negative Bacteria - isolation & purification; Gram-Positive Bacteria - isolation & purification; Hand - microbiology; Hand Disinfection; Humans; Microbiology; Micrococcus luteus - isolation & purification; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mouth - microbiology; Serratia - isolation & purification; Virus Diseases - transmission; Virus Diseases - virology

Aims: To determine the transfer efficiency of micro‐organisms from fomites to hands and the subsequent transfer from the fingertip to the lip. 
Methods and Results: Volunteers hands were sampled after the normal usage of fomites seeded with a pooled culture of a Gram‐positive bacterium (Micrococcus...