Chances are high you'll catch a cold by remote
Maggie Fox
October 1, 2006
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SOMEONE with a cold may just have left a little drop of
virus on the light switch for you to pick up and infect yourself with.
Adults with runny noses leave the virus on about 35 per
cent of objects they touch, such as telephones, remote controls and door
handles, research has found.
An hour after someone leaves a virus-infected droplet
on a surface, it can be picked up 60 per cent of the time. And 24 hours
later, 33 per cent of the little virus-laden droplets get onto a finger,
US researchers have discovered.
"Some adults left a few, and some contaminated almost
all of the sites tested,"
said Dr Owen Hendley, a professor of pediatrics at the
University of Virginia Health System, who led the study. Although the study
was funded by the makers of a disinfectant spray, Dr Hendley said it was
far more important for people to remember to wash their hands.
"In order to get infected with the rhinovirus, which
causes essentially half of the colds in adults and children, you have to
get the virus on your fingertip and then you stick it in your own nose
and your own eye," he said.
In the study, 15 people infected with rhinoviruses spent
the night in hotel rooms. Of the 150 places they touched, 52 had virus
on them, which was 35 per cent, Dr Hendley said. "The common sites
were the light switch, the pen, faucet handles, the door handle, the TV
remote and the phone," he said.
REUTERS