Survival of Bacterial Pathogens on Paper and Bacterial Retrieval from Paper to Hands: Preliminary Results.

The article presents a study on the survival of bacterial pathogens on regular office paper and to quantify the proportion of pathogens transferred from hand to paper and back to another hand. Findings reveal that bacteria can be transferred on paper by contaminated hands of healthcare workers, deemed the most important route of pathogenic bacteria transmission. It stresses that the best way to minimize the pathogen spread is proper hand hygiene as paper is hard to disinfect once contaminated.