Link: Reporter online.com
You walk into the grocery store‚ grab the handle of a cart and as you stand in front of the canned soups pondering which varieties to purchase‚ you nervously bite your fingernail.
And that could start quite the chain of events.
On the human hand‚ both resident bacteria and transient bacteria exist‚ according to Mary Doherty‚ head of the Employee Health and Infection Control department at Central Montgomery Medical Center in Hatfield Township.
Resident bacteria is there all the time – it lives there – and doesn’t cause problems for the person.
Transient bacteria can be picked up from the supermarket grocery cart‚ door knobs and other places‚ she said.
How long the transient bacteria lives depends on what it is‚ Doherty said.
C. difficile bacteria‚ found in soil‚ can last for months‚ but can be gotten rid of during regular hand washing.
Some viruses and bacteria can live from 20 minutes and up to two hours or more on hard surfaces‚ such as door knobs‚ according to the cleanhandscoalition.org Web site.
