Bacterial transfer from biometric devices

This poster outlines current research centering around the survivability and transferability of bacteria from fingerprint sensors and a hand geometry reader. The cleanliness and potential for these devices to serve as conduits for transferring bacteria is of concern as biometric devices are deployed in a variety of public domains. The devices were intentially contaminated and the survivabilility was measured over a period of 60 minutes. The transfer studies required the devices to be intentionally contaminated and successive touches of the device to a gloved hand were plated onto growth medium. The results indicate that the biometric devices show similar survivability and transfer rates as you would find from a common door handle.