Scientists Test London Underground Rails for Bacteria and Germs

If you already had a reluctance to hold a handle or ring the bell, it will be even worse now. Stop right away and prepare for the hand through the sleeve method.

Scientists have been inspecting the types of and numbers of germs that commuters using the tube are passing to each other. It’s not good if this worry is your ‘thing’.

A commuter taking part int the Coldzyme commissioned research went through the underground system wearing a white glove, touching chip and pin pads, handrails and using the grab handles utilised during a typical journey.

Dr Jacob Malone from the University for East Anglia and the John Innes Centre analysed the glove, discovering a vomit inducing mix of nasty bacteria and fungi.

Bacteria from the Staphylococcus species, including S. aureus, Pseudomonas species, Escherichia coli and Salmonella were all found, including spores of fungi which float around in the air.

The concoctions discovered cause problems ranging from minor skin infections through to respiratory illness and food poisoning.

Dr Malone said that the amount found was ‘totally normal’ for sets of surfaces that people touch on a daily basis and there was no real cause for alarm.

He said: “The range of bacterial species we isolated was quite large, with many different species, and many shapes, sizes and colours of colonies present.”

“The bacterial colonies we see on the plates only represent a tiny subset of the different species that were likely to be present in each case, as the vast majority of bacterial species cannot be grown up in the lab.

“What we found was totally normal for any set of surfaces that come into contact with people daily.

“The whole world is teeming with bacteria and fungi, and this is a normal and healthy situation.”

As normal and healthy as this is, we’re sticking to handwashing, hand gel and the not directly touching the handles method.