Someone in your house have the sniffles? Watch out for the refrigerator door handle. The TV remote, too. A new study finds that cold sufferers often leave their germs there, where they can live for two days or longer. Scientists at the University of Virginia, long known for its virology research, tested surfaces in the homes of people with colds and reported the results Tuesday at the nation's premier conference on infectious diseases.

Doctors don't know how often people catch colds from touching germy surfaces as opposed to, say, shaking a sick person's hand, said Dr. Birgit Winther, an ear, nose and throat specialist who helped conduct the study.

Two years ago, she and other doctors showed that germs survived in hotel rooms a day after guests left, waiting to be picked up by the next person checking in.

For the new study, researchers started with 30 adults showing early symptoms of colds. Sixteen tested positive for rhinovirus, which causes about half of all colds. They were asked to name 10 places in their homes they had touched in the preceding 18 hours, and researchers used DNA tests to hunt for rhinovirus.

"We found that commonly touched areas like refrigerator doors and handles were positive about 40 percent of the time" for cold germs, Winther said.

All three of the salt and pepper shakers they tested were contaminated. Other spots found to harbor the germ: 6 out of 18 doorknobs; 8 of 14 refrigerator handles; 3 of 13 light switches; 6 of 10 remote controls; 8 of 10 bathroom faucets; 4 of 7 phones, and 3 of 4 dishwasher handles.

Next, the researchers deliberately contaminated surfaces with participants' mucus and then tested to see whether rhinovirus stuck to their fingers when they turned on lights, answered the phone or did other common tasks. More than half of the participants got the virus on their fingertips 48 hours after the mucus was smeared.

The study was sponsored by Reckitt-Benckiser Inc., makers of Lysol, but no products were tested in the research. The study, designed by doctors with no ties to the company, was an effort to lay the groundwork for future research on germs and ways to get rid of them.

In a separate study, the university's Drs. Diane Pappas and Owen Hendley went germ-hunting on toys in the offices of five pediatricians in Fairfax, Va., three times during last year's cold and flu season.

Tests showed fragments of cold viruses on 20 percent of all toys tested — 20 percent of those in the "sick child" waiting room, 17 percent in the "well child" waiting room, and 30 percent in a sack of toys that kids are allowed to choose from after being good for a shot.

"Mamas know this," Hendley said. "They say, `We go to a doctor for a well-child checkup, the kids play with the toys and two days later they have a cold.'"

There is no proof that the remnants themselves can infect, but their presence suggests a risk, said Dr. Paul Auwaerter, an infectious-diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins University. He was familiar with the study but had no role in it.

Doctors have long advised frequent hand-washing to avoid spreading germs. Wearing surgical masks and using hand sanitizers also can help, a novel University of Michigan study found.

About 1,000 students who live in dorms tested these measures for six weeks during the 2006-07 flu season. They were divided into three groups: those who wore masks, those who wore masks and used hand sanitizer, and those who did neither.

The two groups who used masks reported 10 percent to 50 percent fewer cold symptoms — cough, fever, chills — than the group who used no prevention measures.

Researchers note that the study was not "blinded" — everyone knew who was doing what, and mask wearers may have been less likely to report cold symptoms later because they believed they were taking steps to reduce that possibility.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paid for the study.

The conference was a joint meeting of the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

有人在你的屋里打噴嚏？注意你的冰箱門把手，電視的遙控器也需要關注，一項最新的研究發現，感冒者通常會把細菌留在這些地方，在這里這些細菌可以存活1-2天的時間，弗吉尼亞大學的科學家，長期以來因為微生物學的研究聞名，測試感冒患者家里的可觸表面并在上周二的國家感染疾病首席會議上提出測驗結果。

“醫生不知道人們通過觸摸這些帶菌表面而感染疾病的頻率，比如和一個病人握手”Dr Birgit Wintehr，一個耳，鼻，喉專家，也是本次試驗研究的負責人。

兩年前，她和其他的醫生曾經證明細菌在酒店房間里面能夠在客戶離開之后的1-2天內繼續存活，直到他們找到下一個入住的客人。

作為一項新的研究，研究人員從30個有早期感冒癥狀的人開始。其中的16人被證明確實染病，但是卻導致半數以上的人染病，他們被要求說出他們曾經在屋里18個小時前接觸的地方，研究人員通過DNA測試來捕捉這些病菌。

“我們發現，被廣泛接觸的地方，比如說冰箱門，把手，在40%的可能性被感冒細菌利用”Winther說

所有的三個鹽，以及辣椒粉的容器都被證明是被污染的，其他的地方也被證明是病毒的港灣，6/18的門把手，8/14的冰箱扶手，3/13的電燈開關，6/10的遙控器，8/10的水龍頭，4/7的電話和3/4的洗碗機扶手。

下一步，研究故意的獎這些物體的表面帶菌，然后測試當開燈，應答電話或者日常其他的一些活動的時候病菌是否會傳遞，超過半數的人感染了病毒，而此時細菌已經在這些表面存活了兩天了。

這項研究由Rechitt-Benchised.Inc公司贊助，同時他們也是Lysol消毒劑的生產廠商，但是在這項測試中沒有任何產品被測試。這項研究，由醫生主持設計，和這家公司沒有任何關系，是一項未來對于細菌和擺脫細菌的深入研究的第一步工作。

另外一項并列的研究，由弗吉尼亞大學的Diane Pappas博士和Owen Hendley博士展開，主要研究玩具商細菌的傳播，同樣還有另外5名兒科以上參與，去年三次明顯的流感季度進行了試驗。 試驗表明，感冒細菌的碎片在20%的玩具上被檢測到，20%的病菌在病人候診室發現，17%在普通候診室發現，一袋玩具中有30%，這袋玩具則通常是當孩子在打針時好好表現后的獎勵。

“媽媽們知道這一點”Hendley說“他們通常說，我們會找一個醫生進行慣例的檢查，但是這些孩子在玩過這些玩具兩天之后卻得了感冒”

并沒有證據說殘留物會導致感染，但是他們的存在證明是一個風險，Paul Auwaerter來自Johns Hopkins大學的傳染病學博士這樣說。他對于這項研究非常了解，但是并不是其中的一分子。

醫生長久以來一直建議經常洗手來讓病毒減少傳播。一項又密歇根大學的研究表明，帶口罩和洗手液同樣會有幫助。1000名宿舍生活的學生經過在2006-2007年的流感季節中進行了測試，他們被劃分為3組，帶面具組，使用洗手液組，和不采用任何防范措施組

面具組中感冒癥狀，咳嗽，發燒，打顫比沒有防范組少10%-50%。研究者說，這項研究并不是盲目測試，每個受測者都知道他們在做什么，帶面具者很少有感冒癥狀，因為他們相信他們采用了防范的措施減少這一概率

聯邦疾病防治中心為這次試驗買單，這次會議是美國微生物協會（American Society for Microbiology）和疾病感染協會（Infectious Diseases Society of America.）聯合舉辦