How Much Bacteria Is On A Door Handle

Traditional grocery store shopping carts have 361 times more bacteria than a bathroom door knob.

How much bacteria is on a door handle.

This study was conducted on the university campus an area which is considered fairly dense in population which many people will access these doors providing a host for the bacteria to travel elsewhere. On a hard non porous surface like a door handle most viruses are destroyed within 24 hours. Taps you touch them before and after you wash your hands so you are transferring germs onto taps every time. Difficile has been found to survive for up to five months.

Home office computer keyboard. Surfaces that are touched frequently from shopping carts to the elliptical machine at your gym are often crawling with bacteria. On clothing or skin the survival time is roughly halved. Salmonella are often found in toilet bowls.

That goes for door knobs too of course. Even still germs need a moist warm environment to survive and cannot live for more than one to two hours on a hard dry surface such as the door handle. However when those door knobs are made of brass or copper a chemical. One study found that starbucks door handles carried more bacteria than a new york city subway pole.

Some flush handles harbor as many bacteria as are found on the floor. Beth potter assistant professor of microbiology center helps students holly pier and marcelo lob test for bacteria on a door handle at penn state erie the behrend college. The survival time for bacteria is more variable. By some scientific estimates each human hand is home to roughly 150 species of bacteria.

A 2000 study by scientists at the uk s aston university school of health and life sciences examined the household conditions of six families who had recently suffered from a salmonella outbreak. So much so that it could be harbouring 2 733 bacteria on just one square inch. A budget grocery store cart has 8 112 bacteria colonies per square inch while a toilet handle only has 30 bacteria colonies per square inch. Salmonella only lasts four hours but mrsa can last several weeks and c.

These harmful bacteria can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea in affected persons. The faucet and interior door handles had only a fraction of the bacteria found on the shower curtain or floor. Interestingly though other surfaces we touch frequently had relatively few bacteria.