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Bacteria on Shopping Carts
Name: Sterling B.
Status: Student
Age: 12
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: January 2004
Question:
What kind of bacteria would grow on shopping carts?
Replies:
What part of the shopping cart? When you think of the size of a bacterium vs. the size of the cart,
there are many different ecosystems. I am going to assume you are thinking of the "handlebar" that
you push the cart with, or where you put your hands. The bacteria that would be found here would be
basically of two kinds: the ones that are found there all of the time because they can live in dry
conditions and at room temperature, and those that were transferred from someone's hands and will be
there only until someone else comes along and touches the cart. The first kind are probably not the
kind that can make you sick, and are the same bacteria that would be found on the floors, in the dirt
and flying through the air on dust particles. They are with us all the
time and we cannot get rid of them. Normally, they do not bother us. The second kind might make you
sick, but probably will not. Even the bacteria that you carry around on your skin, including your
hands, is mostly just normally there. If you do not wash your hands well after going to the
bathroom, or you wipe your nose with your hands and you are carrying something that can make you
sick, if you touch the cart and someone comes along after you and touches the cart, they might
pick up your bad bacteria. But it is more complicated than that also. This second kind of bacteria
is used to living on or in your body, where it is dark and warm and moist. They do not survive long
outside of your body.
So just because someone touches the cart before you, that does not mean you will automatically get
sick. And even if you do pick up a bad bacteria, it depends on how strong your immune system is
whether it will ever be able to make you sick. So, to make a long story short, it is hard to
say!
vanhoeck
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Update: June 2012
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