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KMID : 0364820130490010051
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Korean Journal of Microbiology
2013 Volume.49 No. 1 p.51 ~ p.57
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Comparison of Microbiological Risks in Hand-Contact Surfaces of Items in Cafeteria versus Items in Other Facilities in a College Campus
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Zo Young-Gun
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Abstract
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As facilities and equipments for learning activities in college campuses are handled by mass public, their contact
surfaces may function as major routes of cross-infection of microbial pathogens. However, unlike items in cafeteria
which is the typical target for campus hygiene, those surfaces are not under regular surveillance or sanitary
maintenance. In this study, I made a quantitative comparison of the risk of being exposed to microbial pathogens
from use of learning facilities such as classrooms and library to the risk from use of cafeteria, for about 1,500
students in a college. Regarding total coliforms as surrogate model of bacterial pathogens, exposure rates were
estimated for each item in learning facilities and cafeterias by devising deterministic exposure algorithms based on
bacterial abundance, contract rates and transfer rates. The exposure rate in cafeterias was 1.0 CFU/day while
learning facilities imposed the rate of 0.5 CFU/day, which reaches a half of the exposure rate in cafeterias. However,
70% of students were exposed more in learning facilities than cafeteria because individuals had different frequencies
in using cafeteria. Based on the results, some human-contact surfaces of learning facilities, including elevator buttons,
may require regular sanitary maintenance. An efficient sanitary maintenance considering seasonality in diversity of
pathogens involved with cross-infections is suggested besides improvement of personal hygiene among students.
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KEYWORD
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cafeteria, college campus, exposure rate, quantitative microbial risk assessment, total coliforms
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