Survival of thermophilic campylobacters on fingertips and their elimination by washing and disinfection.

A simple impression-plate technique has been used to investigate the survival of four thermophilic campylobacter strains applied to fingertips. Campylobacters suspended in 0.1% peptone water and dried on the fingertips survived for different periods of time ranging from less than 1 to greater than or equal to 4 min. However, campylobacters suspended in chicken liquor or blood survived for much longer periods. The most resilient organism was Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 11392 which, when suspended in 50% horse blood, survived for an hour. Suspensions containing 10(6)-10(7) organisms prepared in 50% blood and dried on to fingertips were removed by thorough hand washing with either soap and water or water alone followed by drying on paper towels, but persisted on wet hands. The organisms were also eliminated by wiping the hands with a tissue saturated with 70% isopropyl alcohol for 15 sec.