There’s an unexpected item in the bagging area—and it’s not a pleasant one, reports the Daily Mail (U.K.). Researchers have found that supermarket self-service checkouts are crawling with harmful bacteria, including some found in feces. For the new study, they swabbed 19 items that people typically touch on an everyday basis, such as handrails, door handles, and keyboards. Check-out screens had “one of the highest bacterial loads,” the researchers found, with five types of bugs known to cause disease. These included Enterococcus, a bacterium commonly found in feces. E. coli—which can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, and bloody stools—was found on almost every item. Candida albicans, which can cause yeast infections, was on an escalator handrail; Klebsiella, which can lead to a painful UTI, on keyboards. “We live in a…
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The Week (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 23, 2022