E. coli found on 50 percent of shopping carts

[Recursion]

Source: MSNBC

Every day, parents blithely drop their toddlers into the baskets of shopping carts, never giving a moment’s thought to who might have had their hands on the handle last. Preliminary results from a new study show that may be a mistake.

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.

The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them — along with a host of other types of bacteria.

“That’s more than you find in a supermarket’s restroom,” said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. “That’s because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts.”

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41838546/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

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Eww

[MineralMan]

1. Actually, it's the infants/toddlers in the baskets that are the most frequent

source of fecal contamination of shopping carts. Think about it.

The supermarket in which I shop has a dispenser with disinfectant wipes at the shopping cart storage area. I use them each and every time. Why wouldn't I?

[FSogol]

4. Why would an infant's feces contain e coli? Infants aren't known for their consumption of raw beef.

:shrug: Germs are everywhere. Better to wash your hands more often than to be afraid of touching things in public.

[Maine_Nurse]

6. E. coli is a normal intestinal bacteria that produce vitamin K for us...

it is only when it overgrows, is found in abnormal places, or is one of the pathogenic strains that it is a problem. I'd be more interested to know how many handles were contaminated with MRSA or C. diff, which are dangerous and becoming much more common in the community.

[Renew Deal]

2. Awesome!

:9

[Possumpoint]

3. Became Aware Of The Problem When

I was shopping at of all places a WalMart and looked down and spotted dried yellow spots on the plastic flap that lays down to allow children's legs to stick out. Whether it was dried urine or not, it made me think about all the leaky diapers and shopping carts.

I now close up the cart so my food doesn't come in contact with that area and use the disinfectant wipes on the handles.

[itsrobert]

5. And the McDonald's tables at Wal-mart

One of many reason I don't shop there anymore. I seen too many young moms and dads changing diapers on a walmart McDonald's table.

[HuckleB]

7. Slow news day, and slow research day.

The bottom line:

"...

As far as Dr. Neil Fishman is concerned, that risk isn’t very big. “I’d be worried if there was any evidence of any disease outbreaks related to shopping cart use,” said Fishman, an infectious disease expert and director of health care epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “There isn’t — and we’ve been using them for a long time.”

While there may, indeed, be bacteria on shopping cart handles, they can also be found on doorknobs, countertops and a host of other items we touch every day, Fishman said. “My guess is that there are more bacteria on a car seat than on a shopping cart,” he added.

..."


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In an age of dwindling research dollars, this seems like quite a pointless exercise.

[AnOhioan]

8. Thanks for a note of common sense

[bemildred]

9. You know, I've heard there are actually lots of E. Coli right inside of you.

Billions and billions of them, just running amuck in there.

[hedgehog]

10. This story appears on an odd day, which is incorrect. Stories about

all the disease carrying objects around us are reserved for even days. On odd days we have stories about how our sanitized environment causes an uptick in auto immune diseases such as asthma and Crohn's.

[Recursion]

11. Hookworms for all! (nt)

[WolverineDG]

12. Babies wear diapers. Babies poop in their diapers

gee, I wonder why there's e coli & fecal matter in shopping carts? :think:

dg

[Codeine]

13. E. coli is everywhere.

What a non-issue.