MTR commuters exposed to daily cocktail of bacteria that flourish in different areas of Hong Kong, HKU study says
But researchers say there’s no need to fear – no severe pathogens were detected on train handrails and the antibacterial coating applied on them has helped curb the spread of germs
Commuters on Hong Kong’s MTR trains bring in bacteria that are unique to the areas they live in, creating a cocktail of germs that passengers are exposed to throughout the network by the end of every day, according to a University of Hong Kong-led study.
About 5 million passengers – and the bacteria they bring on board – use the railway system’s 11 lines daily, with lines serving the New Territories close to the Shenzhen border having bacteria with more antibiotic resistance genes during the earlier part of the day, researchers said in a paper in scientific journal Cell Reports.
“It appears that these antibiotic resistance genes disperse into different lines in the MTR system with the carriage of human traffic and finally become relatively abundant in every line in the later hours of the day,” the researchers wrote.
Samuel Kang Kang, first author of the study, told the Post that the study was to “raise awareness of the possibility of pathogens’ and antibiotic resistance genes’ transmission via mass transit”, which was a key message to policymakers.
But Kang also assured MTR passengers there was no cause to shun the city’s most popular mode of public transport as no severe pathogens had been detected. He also cited the use of antibacterial nano-silver-titanium dioxide coating on handrails by the MTR Corporation as a mitigating factor.
The research team, comprising members from Hong Kong and Denmark, and supervised by HKU associate professor Gianni Panagiotou, said their findings could help officials adopt public health plans to stop the spread of disease within and between cities.