WEBVTT - Can Used Books Spread Germs?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>luring vogel bomb. Here you remember books? Words printed on

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<v Speaker 1>paper bound between two covers. When Guttenberg introduced the printing

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<v Speaker 1>press in fourteen fifty, books became objects of extraordinary wonder

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<v Speaker 1>that would change the world. Throughout the centuries, These fascinating

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<v Speaker 1>tactile objects educated and amused, instructed and advised, and curled

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<v Speaker 1>up with us on rainy nights, sparking our imaginations. In

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<v Speaker 1>eighteenth century America, lending libraries became egalitarian sanctuaries of knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>where farmers and financiers alike could access for free all

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<v Speaker 1>the mysteries of the world. But in our current virtual, ephemeral,

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<v Speaker 1>device driven culture, books have become marginalized clutter. Sometimes casually

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<v Speaker 1>thrown away books, just like the rest of us, can

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<v Speaker 1>end up in some truly grungy places. In some cases,

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<v Speaker 1>bona fide treasures have literally been tossed into garbage bins

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<v Speaker 1>and kicked to the curb. A couple of cases in

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<v Speaker 1>point in Vancouver, British Columbia, in twenty seventeen, a homeless

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<v Speaker 1>man salvaged for rough condition. Eighteen seventies, Moroccan leather books

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<v Speaker 1>from an alleyway trash heap. Turns out, the four volumes,

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<v Speaker 1>titled The Far East, consists of twenty four issues of

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<v Speaker 1>a rare English language news magazine published in Shanghai, China,

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<v Speaker 1>between eighteen seventy and eighteen seventy eight. Back in two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand nine, South Bees in London auctioned a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen issues of the same periodical with a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>twelve original album and prints, the largest collection to surface

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<v Speaker 1>on the market in thirty years, for over forty two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars. Don Stewart, a veteran bookseller and the owner

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<v Speaker 1>of renowned mc lloyd's Books in downtown Vancouver, who purchased

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<v Speaker 1>the volumes for an undisclosed amount, said it's the best

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<v Speaker 1>thing ever to come out of the garbage that I've

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<v Speaker 1>ever encountered. And then in Ankara, Turkey, over a period

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<v Speaker 1>of time, sanitation workers in the Turkish capital collected thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of discarded books while making their garbage pickups. Instead of

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<v Speaker 1>abandoning them to landfills, these thoughtful, curious stewards of knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>rescued the books and compile the library that now houses

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<v Speaker 1>six thousand volumes in every imaginable genre. Originally, the library

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<v Speaker 1>was set up only for the sanitation workers and their families,

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<v Speaker 1>but as words spread, people began to donate cast off books,

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<v Speaker 1>and the library open to the public in September. Now

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<v Speaker 1>a vital part of the community, The libraries located in

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<v Speaker 1>an old brick building at the headquarters of the city

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<v Speaker 1>sanitation Department. The collection of salvaged volumes has grown so

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<v Speaker 1>large that the library now loans books to schools, various

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<v Speaker 1>educational programs, and prisons. These books, like any used books,

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<v Speaker 1>may carry the stains and abrasions of their former experiences,

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<v Speaker 1>including generations of people handling them. But as much as

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<v Speaker 1>books may impact us, how much of an impact do

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<v Speaker 1>we leave on books? Let's get over to Los Angeles.

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<v Speaker 1>In Sick at Home with the flu, Cheyenne day Bert,

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<v Speaker 1>a sixteen year old high school sophomore, wondered if she

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<v Speaker 1>was getting contagious germs all over the library book she

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<v Speaker 1>was reading, and then began to wonder if library books

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<v Speaker 1>in general might be potential carriers of infectious disease. So

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<v Speaker 1>she created an award winning international Science Fair project to

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<v Speaker 1>find out with the help of local librarians. She chose

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<v Speaker 1>popular books that were checked out often and rubbed. Methodically

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<v Speaker 1>taken swabs from each book onto four Petrie dishes per book.

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<v Speaker 1>Two of the dishes contained agar, a substance that bacteria

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<v Speaker 1>thrive upon, and two of the dishes contained methylene blue,

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<v Speaker 1>a chemical that thwarts the growth of certain bacteria while

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<v Speaker 1>enabling others. Next, she put the plates in an oven

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<v Speaker 1>at body temperature to find out how many microbial colonies

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<v Speaker 1>were present and guess what, fearless library card holders. Not

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<v Speaker 1>much bacteria was present on the books she tested, and

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<v Speaker 1>none of the swabs exhibited E. Coli. Would that in

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<v Speaker 1>mind say hello to formites. A formite is any non

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<v Speaker 1>living object or substance capable of carrying infectious organisms, such

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<v Speaker 1>as viruses or bacteria, and transferring them from one individual

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<v Speaker 1>to another. We spoke via email with Jesse T. Jacob

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<v Speaker 1>m D, an Associate professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist

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<v Speaker 1>at Emory University Hospital Midtown. He said that books and

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<v Speaker 1>e readers can be considered formites, but quote the infection

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<v Speaker 1>risk is very low. Asked if it's possible to get

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<v Speaker 1>sick from touching a library book. For example, someone with

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<v Speaker 1>the flu licked their finger to turn the pages, or

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<v Speaker 1>sneezed or coughed on the book. Jacob said it's possible,

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<v Speaker 1>but unlikely influenza can survive on paper and cloth for

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<v Speaker 1>less than twelve hours. It's usually the respiratory secretions that

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<v Speaker 1>carry the highest burden virus, and it would not be

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<v Speaker 1>expected on spit, So licking a finger and turning a

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<v Speaker 1>page is less likely contagious than picking your nose and

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<v Speaker 1>then turning the page. Important safety tip, Jacob continued. Most

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<v Speaker 1>respiratory viruses are transmitted by indirect contact, such as when

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<v Speaker 1>a person touches an object think door knobs and handles

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<v Speaker 1>that has been contaminated and then inadvertently touches a mucous

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<v Speaker 1>membrane such as the lining of the eyes, nose, and mouth.

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<v Speaker 1>While bacteria can potentially be spread by books or tablets

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<v Speaker 1>in moost people, it will not cause infection. Asked what

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<v Speaker 1>kind of bacteria and viruses have the strongest survivability on paper,

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<v Speaker 1>Jacob said Graham positive materia such as strep and staff

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<v Speaker 1>are better at persisting on surfaces in general, followed by viruses.

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<v Speaker 1>Jacob suggests that because so many people are allergic to

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<v Speaker 1>dustin mold, those are probably bigger problems than bacteria or

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<v Speaker 1>viruses on books. He left us with this sage advice

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<v Speaker 1>good for shared books and any other objects. Clean your

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<v Speaker 1>hands and avoid touching your face or mucous membranes with

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<v Speaker 1>potentially contaminated fingers to avoid catching a virus. So, if

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<v Speaker 1>you perchance regret tossing that once cherished, dog eared, pizza

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<v Speaker 1>stained copy of whatever it was that first ignited your

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<v Speaker 1>passions or awakened your sensibilities, but why not revisit another

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<v Speaker 1>well loved copy by checking it out at your local library.

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<v Speaker 1>According to Jacob, the odds of it making you sick

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<v Speaker 1>are quote very low, but with a pine, the odds

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<v Speaker 1>of it making you happy are very very high. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Carrie Tato and produced by Tristan McNeil.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other viral topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com