Can Used Books Spread Germs?

Libraries are bastions of knowledge -- but are they also bastions of germs? Short answer: Nope! For the long answer, tune in to this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
luring vogel bomb. Here you remember books? Words printed on
paper bound between two covers. When Guttenberg introduced the printing
press in fourteen fifty, books became objects of extraordinary wonder
that would change the world. Throughout the centuries, These fascinating

(00:23):
tactile objects educated and amused, instructed and advised, and curled
up with us on rainy nights, sparking our imaginations. In
eighteenth century America, lending libraries became egalitarian sanctuaries of knowledge
where farmers and financiers alike could access for free all
the mysteries of the world. But in our current virtual, ephemeral,

(00:44):
device driven culture, books have become marginalized clutter. Sometimes casually
thrown away books, just like the rest of us, can
end up in some truly grungy places. In some cases,
bona fide treasures have literally been tossed into garbage bins
and kicked to the curb. A couple of cases in
point in Vancouver, British Columbia, in twenty seventeen, a homeless

(01:05):
man salvaged for rough condition. Eighteen seventies, Moroccan leather books
from an alleyway trash heap. Turns out, the four volumes,
titled The Far East, consists of twenty four issues of
a rare English language news magazine published in Shanghai, China,
between eighteen seventy and eighteen seventy eight. Back in two
thousand nine, South Bees in London auctioned a hundred and
eighteen issues of the same periodical with a hundred and

(01:27):
twelve original album and prints, the largest collection to surface
on the market in thirty years, for over forty two
thousand dollars. Don Stewart, a veteran bookseller and the owner
of renowned mc lloyd's Books in downtown Vancouver, who purchased
the volumes for an undisclosed amount, said it's the best
thing ever to come out of the garbage that I've
ever encountered. And then in Ankara, Turkey, over a period

(01:49):
of time, sanitation workers in the Turkish capital collected thousands
of discarded books while making their garbage pickups. Instead of
abandoning them to landfills, these thoughtful, curious stewards of knowledge
rescued the books and compile the library that now houses
six thousand volumes in every imaginable genre. Originally, the library
was set up only for the sanitation workers and their families,

(02:10):
but as words spread, people began to donate cast off books,
and the library open to the public in September. Now
a vital part of the community, The libraries located in
an old brick building at the headquarters of the city
sanitation Department. The collection of salvaged volumes has grown so
large that the library now loans books to schools, various
educational programs, and prisons. These books, like any used books,

(02:32):
may carry the stains and abrasions of their former experiences,
including generations of people handling them. But as much as
books may impact us, how much of an impact do
we leave on books? Let's get over to Los Angeles.
In Sick at Home with the flu, Cheyenne day Bert,
a sixteen year old high school sophomore, wondered if she
was getting contagious germs all over the library book she

(02:54):
was reading, and then began to wonder if library books
in general might be potential carriers of infectious disease. So
she created an award winning international Science Fair project to
find out with the help of local librarians. She chose
popular books that were checked out often and rubbed. Methodically
taken swabs from each book onto four Petrie dishes per book.
Two of the dishes contained agar, a substance that bacteria

(03:17):
thrive upon, and two of the dishes contained methylene blue,
a chemical that thwarts the growth of certain bacteria while
enabling others. Next, she put the plates in an oven
at body temperature to find out how many microbial colonies
were present and guess what, fearless library card holders. Not
much bacteria was present on the books she tested, and
none of the swabs exhibited E. Coli. Would that in

(03:39):
mind say hello to formites. A formite is any non
living object or substance capable of carrying infectious organisms, such
as viruses or bacteria, and transferring them from one individual
to another. We spoke via email with Jesse T. Jacob
m D, an Associate professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist
at Emory University Hospital Midtown. He said that books and

(04:01):
e readers can be considered formites, but quote the infection
risk is very low. Asked if it's possible to get
sick from touching a library book. For example, someone with
the flu licked their finger to turn the pages, or
sneezed or coughed on the book. Jacob said it's possible,
but unlikely influenza can survive on paper and cloth for
less than twelve hours. It's usually the respiratory secretions that

(04:22):
carry the highest burden virus, and it would not be
expected on spit, So licking a finger and turning a
page is less likely contagious than picking your nose and
then turning the page. Important safety tip, Jacob continued. Most
respiratory viruses are transmitted by indirect contact, such as when
a person touches an object think door knobs and handles
that has been contaminated and then inadvertently touches a mucous

(04:44):
membrane such as the lining of the eyes, nose, and mouth.
While bacteria can potentially be spread by books or tablets
in moost people, it will not cause infection. Asked what
kind of bacteria and viruses have the strongest survivability on paper,
Jacob said Graham positive materia such as strep and staff
are better at persisting on surfaces in general, followed by viruses.

(05:06):
Jacob suggests that because so many people are allergic to
dustin mold, those are probably bigger problems than bacteria or
viruses on books. He left us with this sage advice
good for shared books and any other objects. Clean your
hands and avoid touching your face or mucous membranes with
potentially contaminated fingers to avoid catching a virus. So, if

(05:27):
you perchance regret tossing that once cherished, dog eared, pizza
stained copy of whatever it was that first ignited your
passions or awakened your sensibilities, but why not revisit another
well loved copy by checking it out at your local library.
According to Jacob, the odds of it making you sick
are quote very low, but with a pine, the odds
of it making you happy are very very high. Today's

(05:53):
episode was written by Carrie Tato and produced by Tristan McNeil.
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