Abstract:
Fomites are inanimate objects that serve in the spread of infectious disease. Our hypothesis was that
door handles may aid in the spread of microbes between individuals and that they may be a reservoir
of microbial contamination. In our experiments, we assessed the prevalence of specifically the Gram
negative bacteria that were found on door handles of Olin Hall. It was hypothesized that during times
where the building was near its peak usage, a larger percentage of the bacteria sampled from the door
handles of Olin Hall would be Gram negative. The results showed that 20% of the total colonies were
Gram negative bacteria. Our hypothesis was rejected, though further statistical analysis revealed an
interesting observation and the data showed differences in prevalence of Gram negative bacteria
found on individual doors.
