Dodgy Doorhandles

The inevitable call of nature has taken me to the building's toilets, and opening the door to return to my office left me with a damp hand - from the previous person who washed theirs and (as usual) didn't have them dried adequately by our puny hot-air-blower. (I just wipe mine on my clothes if it doesn't work properly...:) ).

Way back when I was studying Food Technology we did a bit of an experiment in our Microbiology class. We took a fresh agar plate (growth medium in a jelly-like format in a petri dish), then did all sorts of things to it. We washed our hands with soap and water, and touched a plate. We wiped our foreheads or the side of our nose (outside, not inside) with a Q-tip (earbud, whatever you call it) and smeared a plate. We shook our hair over a plate. We took lab equipment and swapped a surface, then wiped it onto a plate. We took a plate outside and swiped it at the air a few times.

We stuck all the plates in the growth box and left them for a few days.

What we saw on return was horrific! Washing our hands had left us with not only airborne bacteria, but added a good few slime moulds to the mix in all sorts of interesting colours from the water we'd used. What came off our face was gruesome, as was what fell out our hair. The so-called sterile lab stuff wasn't half as sterile as we'd imagined. The air was carrying all sorts of free-ride goodies.

As I touched the bathroom door, all that came flooding back to me. I had to wonder what's lurking in that dampness on the door - or in the dryness if someone DOESN'T wash their hands before they open it. And whether it's better to chance the former or the latter. Or simply open the door with my feet.