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On Your Side: Metro Germ Patrol

Posted - November 02, 2009 5:30pm

WASHINGTON - With all the concerns about H1N1 flu, it is one question on Metro riders' minds: What else is riding along on the trains and in the stations?

Metro says it has a robust disinfecting procedure in place and 7 On Your Side put it to the test, finding indications that something countless Metro riders sit on everyday, could make you sick.

Chris Blevins, from Aerobiology Laboratory in Dulles, collected samples from three busy Metro stations and cars on the Red, Blue, and Orange lines.

"We are doing bacterial analysis on different types of surfaces," he said. "Let's see what grows ..."

The process is pretty simple: each swab is rubbed on a surface and sent off to the lab, where a culture is grown and analyzed.

Crews disinfect all the 'hand contact surfaces' at Metro stations daily. The train cars are disinfected weekly. But with the threat of H1N1, many riders are still worried.

"I Purell before and after I get off the train," said George Washington University student Elizabeth Fisher. "I try not to touch the hand rails on the train."

Todd Ayer says he also tries "not to hold the railings."

» click here for test results

Tests found a small amount of staphlyococcus aureas, a bacteria that can cause everything from minor skin infections to life-threatening diseases, on one ATM at Union Station.

"I'm not sure if we are cleaning that," said Joan Lelacheur, Metro's deputy chief for environmental management and industrial hygiene, referring to the ATM. "I haven't been able to confirm that."

Most of the commonly touched surfaces, including escalators rails, elevator buttons, seats and hand rails on the trains, showed very low levels of bacteria.

"I was surprised how clean the hand rails are," said Aerobiology lab director Suzanne Blevins. But she says our tests show there may be some problem spots, including a bench at Union Station.

"If i had a client doing a building survey, I would say this is a dirty area," she said, referring to the bench. "It does need to be cleaned."

A swab turned up more than double the bacteria than the sample taken from the grout between floor tiles just a few feet away.

Among the bacteria present was one from the respiratory system. It is harmless, but it would be a spot where one would be at risk for picking up someone else's cold or flu, according to Suzanne Blevins.

That means someone with H1N1 could leave the virus on that bench.

"That's true for a certain number of hours and that's true of the floor and everywhere else," said Lelacheur.

Lelacheur says benches are cleaned, but are not disinfected like a hand rail -- even though our cameras found plenty of people using them.

"We are just trying to keep up the best we can," she said. "To me it's not a typical hand surface, but we we'll look into it."

We were not able to test for viruses like H1N1 directly.

Metro officials say they were largely happy with our results and believe they prove their cleaning program is working.

"It's quite impressive," Lelacheur said. "I'd like to think our efforts are working for us."

When asked if people should be concerned about germs on Metro, Lelacheur replied, "No, not anymore than anywhere else out in the public."

She adds the best thing people can do is practice good personal hygiene: "Cover your cough and sneeze, wash your hands regularly. If you can't get soap and water, which works well, do the hand sanitizer and really if you are sick -- stay home. Even if you
have a sick child, stay home."

According to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel, "touch surfaces" that are disinfected daily are:

Escalator Hand Rails

Farecard Machines

Handholds/Stanchions on Metrorail cars and Metrobuses

Handrails in stations

"As for the benches inside train stations, while we do not consider them to be hand touch surfaces either, they are wiped down daily and cleaned weekly," Taubenkibel added in an e-mail.

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