Superbug MRSA could spread across world by travellers touching airport toilet doors

November 4, 2016

Study took swab samples of 400 toilet door handles at 136 airports
Contamination rates were highest for Staphylococcus aureus at 5.5%
One batch of MRSA detected in Paris may have travelled from India

Naomi Leach For Mailonline

Published:
10:59 EDT, 4 November 2016

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Updated:
11:02 EDT, 4 November 2016

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New research has revealed that it pays to be extra careful with hygiene at airports – because toilet doors at some hubs could be harbouring killer superbug MRSA.

The study revealed that the superbug could be transferred between tourists on airport toilet door handles and then spread to different destinations across the world.

The study investigated how easily drug resistant bacteria could hitch a ride with travellers as they jet across the world.

The study focused on internal toilet doors, taking samples from 136 airports around the world

Authored by Frieder Schaumburg and published in medical journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, it focused specifically on internal toilet doors as they are ‘frequently used by multiple people after potentially unhygienic activities (eg, defecation and urination) and are mostly contaminated with the flora of the skin and the gut’.

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Researchers from the University Hospital Munster and Robert Koch Institute, both in Germany, asked 39 tourists to swab 400 bathroom door handles at 136 airports in 59 countries, between December 2012 and November 2015.

The travellers targeted men’s toilets more frequently in their samples than women’s toilets (60 per cent versus 39.5 per cent) with samples taken on arrival (16 per cent) before departure (80.7 per cent) or in transit (2.75 per cent). Researchers then took the swabs back to a lab.

MRSA: THE SYMPTOMS

If only the skin is affected, patients will experience localised pain, swelling and tenderness.

If the MRSA bacteria penetrates the blood, symptoms will include:

– A high temperature of 38C (100.4F)

– Chills

– Generally feeling unwell

– Dizziness

– Confusion

– Muscle aches and pains

– Pain and swelling in affected area

Source: NHS Choices

Worldwide the team detected a variety of bacteria common to fecal contamination which could be transferred by touch from toilet door handles to tourists’ homes.

The study found that contamination rates were highest for Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause a variety of infections from sore throats to meningitis, recorded on 5.5 per cent of the samples. This was followed by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (two per cent) which is naturally resistant to a number of antibiotics and Acinetobacter baumannii complex in 1.3 per cent.

In the samples S.aureus was recorded as slightly more common on airport handles in Africa (7.7 per cent) than in Asia (4.7 per cent), Europe (5.5 per cent), North America (4.7 per cent) and South American (6.5 per cent).

One batch of methicillin-resistant s.aureus (MRSA) was detected in Paris and matched a ‘community-associated MRSA clone’ found in India.

One batch of methicillin-resistant s.aureus (MRSA) was detected in Paris and matched a ‘community-associated MRSA clone’ found in India

Mr Schaumburg told MailOnline Travel: ‘Antimicrobial resistance is no longer a national problem but a global challenge. Resistant bacteria do not respect national borders so it is an issue of the international community.

‘Our study suggests that resistant [bacteria] could be transmitted in airports but the risk seems to be low.

‘Although our finding suggests that the MRSA was imported to France from the Indian sub-continent, we should keep in mind that almost every geographic region has its problems with antimicrobial resistance.

‘This is not limited to MRSA but also includes Vancomycin resistant enterococci, carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter or Enterobacteriaceae or so-called Extended-spectrum betalactamase producers.’

He concluded: ‘Antimicrobial resistance is not restricted to industrialised regions. A joint strategy that brings together low, middle and high income countries is probably the most important aspect in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.’