Fecal bacteria found in taxis

Try and not think about it....
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6973383/site/todayshow/ns/today-today_health/t/what-germs-are-your-hands/#.USZ9m45id8M

Lauer: I open the door using the paper towel. I walk out. Germ free? Relatively speaking.

An experienced microbe hunter, Tierno's going to help me see what biological crime scenes I encounter every day.  He'll swab selected surfaces and then grow what he finds back at his lab.

We started at the ATM, then took a ride in a New York City cab. So many surfaces, so many riders, so many chances at contamination. And how about the subway? It's more popular, used by almost 7 million riders daily.

Lauer: People get in the subway, they reach up and grab this all the time. What might be found here?

Tierno: You pick up the entire flora of humanity that has passed this way, including feces, fecal flora, skin flora, and respiratory secretions.

Lauer: The escalator is a haven for hands, and possibly germs and bacteria.

The samples went back to the lab, where they were cultured and allowed to grow for a few days.

Lauer: How did we do in the taxi cab?

Tierno: It had fecal organisms in the form of what we call a klebsiella, and an enterobacta.  In addition it had enterococci, which are found in feces.  It also had strep viridans, which is an oral bacterium, which can be there just simply by talking.