Feb 4, 2008 5:00 pm US/Pacific
David Goldstein Investigates Dirty ATMs
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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You may want to think before you touch that ATM.
CBS
We press these buttons just about everyday. But are we pressing our luck with germs? Like the bacteria we found on the button of this atm. Where did it come from?
"Someone had to have put their finger in their mouth or nose and then pushed the button"
"Gross. Gross"
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Or this elevator button.
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"It's nasty because there's other things associated with it."
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"That doesn't sound very appealing"
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"Long Beach ATM"
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We swabbed the buttons on 10 ATMs.
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"ATM Old Pasadena"
And 10 elevators...
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"Parking garage Beverly Hills"
In L.A. and Orange counties.
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"Disneyland elevator"
Clearly marked each one.
Sent them to a lab for testing.
The results showed 17 of 20 locations had some kind of bacteria. Much of it common everyday variety. But some--like the one found on this ATM machine in Santa Monica--got the attention of our micro biologist.
"On one of the buttons we found morexalla cataralius"
When touched that can cause respiratory tract infections and more.
"This organism can cause sinustitus which is an ear infection. It can pneumonia and rarely can cause meningitus"
"We are at Montebello Town Center"
How about this elevator button at the Montebello Town Center. We uncovered what's called escherichia -- commonly found in wound infections. How did it get there?
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"Someone with an open wound or an open cut could have touched the button and transmitted the bacteria to the button that way"
And if you had an open wound you could get the bacteria and be infected.
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"Camden and Beverly Hills"
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And finally in ritzy Beverly Hills--some low class bacteria found on this ATM button.
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"Rothia is a common bacteria in our mouth"
And from there it ended up on this button.
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"That means that a person who had recently put their fingers in their nose or mouth went and touched the button"
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"So most likely anything else in their mouth is going to be transmitted to that button"
And on to anyone else who used it next.
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"It's pretty gross like everything else"
Most people we spoke said they never thought about it.
"Someone put their hand in their nose and mouth and touched one of the buttons?
Now I'm going to be thinking about it even more when I go to an ATM machine"
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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