Cold virus on home surfaces transferable to fingers

By Anthony J. Brown, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If a family member has a cold, it's very likely that several surfaces in the home, including the refrigerator door, TV remote, and faucet, are contaminated with the cold virus (also called rhinovirus), which can then be transferred to fingertips following contact, new research shows.

"Rhinovirus in mucus may contaminate surfaces in the home that are frequently touched, and infectious virus may be transferred to fingertips during activities of daily life," senior researcher Dr. J. Owen Hendley, from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, told Reuters health.

"If the virus on the fingertip is transferred to the eye or nose, a rhinovirus cold may ensue," Hendley added.

Hendley and colleagues examined rhinovirus contamination in the homes of 30 adults with garden-variety colds.

Tests confirmed rhinovirus infection in 16 subjects. Forty-two percent of home surfaces tested had rhinovirus detected. The number of positive surfaces per home ranged from 1 to 10 out of 10 tested. Bathroom faucets were the surface most likely to harbor the cold virus.

After the home surfaces were tested, the researchers deposited nasal mucus on objects, then examined the rate of transfer of rhinovirus from surfaces to fingertips during normal daily activities.

Transfer of infection-causing rhinovirus in mucus from objects to fingertips by daily life activities occurred on 23.5 percent of fingertips after the mucus had dried for one hour.

With drying for 24 hours, transfer fell to 4 percent and after 48 hours, no transfer was noted.

Further research, Hendley said, is needed to determine "whether treatment of surfaces in the home could reduce the frequency of catching rhinovirus colds."

Hendley presented his team's findings Tuesday at the combined annual meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in Washington, DC.