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What Microbes Live In YOUR Subway Station?
By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 4, 2013
Modified Nov 4, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 4, 2013
Modified Nov 4, 2013
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We can presume that the man who licked his shoe on the subway dropped dead moments after the last frame of this video, but plenty of daily straphangers forget that the simple act of touching anything associated with the train also turns formerly clean hands into skin-cloaked dens of filth and germs. But what kinds of germs? That depends on the station!
PathoMap is a new project from Weill Cornell Medical College that seeks to map potentially pathogenic microbes and, ultimately, use that data to help respond to public health threats. So far, samples have been collected from nearly 500 stations, with more collections to take place in the coming months in order to establish a "baseline of microbes present in the New York subway system," GenomeWeb reports.
So far, they've found Enterococcus bacteria, found in fecal matter— "that basically means that not everyone is washing their hands, but we kind of knew that already," geneticist Christopher Mason told the site. They also found Acinetobacter bacteria, associated with the skin (yup) and Streptococcus, which causes strep throat, pink, meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, endocarditis, erysipelas and necrotizing fasciitis, which are "flesh-eating" bacterial infections.
There are also some helpful bacteria known to "clean up toxins," but who cares? Now that we have Extra Strength Nightmare Bacteria, your only hope now is to start washing your hands now and not stop until they're bloody—but sterile—stumps. You can't grip the disease-riddled handrail with a stump, and in that way, you will be safe. [Via Intelligencer]
Tagged
bacteria
germs
microbes
subway germs
Lauren Evans
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