The next time you take an elevator in a hospital, get a little cautious while pressing the buttons. A new study reveals that hospital elevator buttons may be dirtier than toilets.
Lead author of the study Donald Redelmeier, professor of medicine at University of Toronto said after you have used an elevator, it's a good idea to wash your hands.
For the study, a total of 120 elevator buttons and 96 toilet surfaces were swabbed over separate intervals at three hospitals in Canada.
Elevator buttons had a 61 percent chance of bacterial growth while toilets had a lower 43 percent level of contamination, the findings showed.
Since the samples in the study were only tested for bacterial infections, the amount of germs may even be higher.
The organisms found in both cases were not deadly germs, but elevator buttons widely used by people could be cause for worry.
In a hospital, a visitor is likely to come into contact with an elevator button or a toilet and may transmit organisms if interacting with patients.
The study was published in the journal Open Medicine.
