The Bacteria of the London UndergroundIf you’ve ever been to London, then you’ve probabl

The Bacteria of the London UndergroundIf you’ve ever been to London, then you’ve probably at least heard horror stories of the cramped and uncomfortable conditions that Londoner’s are faced with when the tube lines are busy. However the person who just stuck a sweaty armpit in your face isn’t the only cause for concern on the underground. More than 1.34 billion passengers ride the tube each year, and each of them transport millions of bacteria on their journey. All of that human movement provides a perfect transport system for these little bugs to travel rapidly from one part of London to another within minutes. Should we be worried about what health problems this may pose? Well a team was sent into the underground to swab surfaces to uncover what monstrosities lurk down there. The image above shows the results of their findings. The line that comes out on top of all others is the Northern line, harbouring 1,647 CFU/10 cm^2. This means that for every 10 cm^2, over 1,600 viable bacterial cells were happily surviving and making themselves at home. This was nearly three times as many bacterial cells than seen within the central line, which came in second place. The team also looked at identifying the most contaminated tube stations. Stratford was found to take home the gold, although it is only the 7th busiest station in London.  They also found that the most bacteria contaminated surfaces were unsurprisingly the surfaces that are in contact with a lot of humans on a daily basis. This included: the ticket machines, the barriers, the seats, escalators, and the metal poles within the tubes themselves. So what does this all mean for you commute home? There is probably no need to run out and buy hand sanitiser. In reality, we’re surrounded by bacteria all the time, and just because the tube has high levels of viable cells does not necessarily mean that all of these organisms are bad for you. This study only quantified what was growing in the depths of the underground and did not identify probable disease causing species. That being said, the group do still recommend that you maintain good personal hygiene on a daily basis to ensure that you do not contract anything nasty.Read more: Mind the Germs -- source link

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