Study shows cold germs can live on handles, remotes for 48 hours

Washington —- Someone in your house have the sniffles? Watch out for the refrigerator door handle. The TV remote, too. A new study finds that cold sufferers often leave their germs there, where they can live for two days or longer.

Scientists at the University of Virginia, long known for its virology research, tested surfaces in the homes of people with colds and reported the results Tuesday at the nation’s premier conference on infectious diseases.

Doctors don’t know how often people catch colds from touching germy surfaces as opposed to, say, shaking a sick person’s hand, said Dr. Birgit Winther, an ear, nose and throat specialist who helped conduct the study.

Two years ago, she and other doctors showed that germs survived in hotel rooms a day after guests left, waiting to be picked up by the next person checking in.

For the new study, researchers started with 30 adults showing early symptoms of colds. They were asked to name 10 places in their homes they had touched in the preceding 18 hours, and researchers used DNA tests to hunt for the virus.

“We found that commonly touched areas like refrigerator doors and handles were positive about 40 percent of the time” for cold germs, Winther said.

Next, the researchers deliberately contaminated surfaces with participants’ mucus and then tested to see whether the virus stuck to their fingers when they turned on lights, answered the phone or did other common tasks. More than half the participants got the virus on their fingertips 48 hours after the mucus was smeared.

The study was sponsored by Reckitt-Benckiser Inc., makers of Lysol, but no products were tested in the research. The study, designed by doctors with no ties to the company, was an effort to lay the groundwork for future research on germs and ways to get rid of them.

In a separate study, the university’s Drs. Diane Pappas and Owen Hendley went germ-hunting on toys in the offices of five pediatricians in Fairfax, Va., three times during last year’s cold and flu season.

Tests showed fragments of cold viruses on 20 percent of all toys tested —- 20 percent of those in the “sick child” waiting room, 17 percent in the “well child” waiting room and 30 percent in a sack of toys that kids are allowed to choose from after being good for a shot.

“Mamas know this,” Hendley said. “They say, ‘We go to a doctor for a well-child checkup, the kids play with the toys and two days later they have a cold.’ “

Doctors have long advised frequent hand-washing to avoid spreading germs. Wearing surgical masks and using hand sanitizers also can help, a study found.