Patrick Gannon raised the issue of common cold virus transmission via contaminated surfaces- in 
the literature this is referred to as fomite transmission when contaminated fingers are poked into 
the nose or the eye. There is quite a bit of data to support this route of infection. Some studies 
demonstrated that washing the hands with iodine solution reduced the spread of colds in the home 
environment.

The big problem with colds is that we do not really know which route of infection is most 
important -

dirty hands poked into the nose or eye, small suspended particles from coughs and sneezes that are 
breathed in or impinge on the eye, or large droplets at close range from someone coughing or 
sneezing that hit the eye or are breathed in

Maybe all routes are equally involved ?

As a side issue- how many people are suffering from a cold today world wide- my estimate is 40 
million or 1 in 50 persons world wide based on an averge incidence of 2 colds a year - infants may 
get 2-8 colds a year so this is probably a great underestimate of the incidence. You are never alone 
with a cold!!

As another side issue just think that in a lifetime of 75 years we suffer 200 colds and with each 
cold lasting 5 days that is close to three years of our life suffering from common cold symptoms !!!

Keep on sniffing


Best wishes

Ron Eccles
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Professor Ronald Eccles
Director, Common Cold Centre
Cardiff University
Cardiff CF1 3US
Wales, United Kingdom

voice 44-1222-874099
fax     44-1222-874093
WEB URL  http://www.cf.ac.uk/uwcc/biosi/associates/cold/home.html
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