As someone who rides BART to work when I don't bike, this is a disturbing finding: On BART Trains, the Seats Are Taken (by Bacteria):
The Bay Citizen commissioned Darleen Franklin, a supervisor at San Francisco State Universityâs biology lab, to analyze the bacterial content of a random BART seat. The results may make you want to stand during your trip.
Fecal and skin-borne bacteria resistant to antibiotics were found in a seat on a train headed from Daly City to Dublin/Pleasanton. Further testing on the skin-borne bacteria showed characteristics of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, the drug-resistant bacterium that causes potentially lethal infections, although Ms. Franklin cautioned that the MRSA findings were preliminary.
High concentrations of at least nine bacteria strains and several types of mold were found on the seat. Even after Ms. Franklin cleaned the cushion with an alcohol wipe, potentially harmful bacteria were found growing in the fabric.
Dr. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, played down the threat of infection from harmful bacteria on a BART seat. âI suspect itâs not a very big problem,â Dr. Swartzberg said. âThat said, if thereâs another way to do it, where you can clean it better, then you should do it.â
He said the cloth seats most likely allowed bacteria to flourish because they were more difficult to clean and disinfect.
I'm not generally too worried about measurements of bacteria or mold on outdoor surfaces, because most aren't pathogenic, and your body can generally fight off the ones that are, if you aren't immuno-compromised. There's some reason to think that your immune system benefits from the chance to regularly fight back against small-scale contact with bacteria.
But MRSA is different. This strain of Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to the dominant antibiotics used against staph infections. It kills thousands, and can tremendously difficult to treat even in otherwise healthy people.
The story notes that BART is looking at new seats, and frankly they can't switch to non-upholstered surfaces soon enough. Who knows what combinations of urine, phlegm, and other grossness have been absorbed into the current cloth covers.
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When you make your seat selection
Note the coffee-colored stains,
Which were found, upon inspection,
To contain resistant strainsâ
A bacterial infection
Which the Transit man explains
Is a function of the fabric
Thatâs a feature of these trains.
You could start your own collection
Of the stuff beneath the seats
Crumbs of crackers or confections
Little scraps of luncheon meats
Itâs a sample of perfection,
What a hungry microbe eats
In a perfect little petri dish
That runs beneath the streets
For the customersâ protection
Every night they try to clean,
And to figure a correction
For the problems that are seen
But keep up with your injections
Of all relevant vaccines
Cos these buggers are resistant
And theyâre cunning, and theyâre mean
http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2011/03/bart-bugs.html
Bugs are not the best outcome measure here. Don't just look at the cultures, look at the epidemiology. Are BART riders getting MRSA infections at greater rates than matched control non-BART riders? The seat cultures do suggest further inquiry is warranted.
If so, then invest in a solution. If not, then there is a lot of competition for those scarce infection prevention resource dollars, like research on a new antibiotic.
Follow the scientific evidence trail, don't go back on that principle now just because something sounds dangerous or undesirable.
Oh, and do wash your hands after using BART. That much we can ascertain from this result.