Bacterial transmission from contaminated surfaces via hand contact plays a critical role in disease spread. However, the fomite‐to‐finger transfer efficiency of microorganisms during multiple sequential surface contacts with and without gloves has not been formerly investigated. We measured the quantity of Escherichia coli on fingertips of participants after 1‐8 sequential contacts with inoculated plastic coupons with and without nitrile gloves. A Bayesian approach was used to develop a mechanistic model of pathogen accretion to examine finger loading as a function of the difference between E coli on surfaces and fingers. We used the model to determine the coefficient of transfer efficiency (λ), and influence of swabbing efficiency and finger area. Results showed that λ for bare skin was higher (49%, 95% CI = 32%‐72%) than for gloved hands (30%, CI = 17%‐49%). Microbial load tended toward a dynamic equilibrium after four and six contacts for gloved hands and bare skin, respectively. Individual differences between volunteers’ hands had a negligible effect compared with use of gloves (P < .01). Gloves reduced loading by 4.7% (CI = −12%‐21%) over bare skin contacts, while 20% of participants accrued more microorganisms on gloved hands. This was due to poor fitting, which created a larger finger surface area than bare hands.

中文翻译：

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在戴着和不戴手套的连续表面接触过程中，细菌转移到指尖。

细菌通过手接触从受污染表面传播的细菌在疾病传播中起关键作用。但是，以前没有研究过在多次戴着手套和不戴手套的连续表面接触过程中微生物从手指到手指的转移效率。在连续1-8次接触带或不带丁腈手套的接种塑料试样后，我们测量了参与者指尖上的大肠杆菌数量。贝叶斯方法用于建立病原体积聚的机理模型，以检查手指负荷与表面和手指上大肠杆菌之间差异的关系。我们使用该模型确定转移效率系数（λ），以及擦拭效率和手指面积的影响。结果表明，裸露皮肤的λ（49％，95％CI = 32％‐72％）比戴手套的手（30％，CI = 17％‐49％）高。戴手套的手和裸露的皮肤分别经过四次和六次接触后，微生物负荷趋于达到动态平衡。与使用手套相比，志愿者双手之间的个体差异可忽略不计（P  <.01）。与裸露的皮肤接触相比，手套减少了4.7％（CI = -12％-21％）的负荷，而20％的参与者在戴手套的手上积聚了更多的微生物。这是由于贴合性差，与裸手相比，手指的表面积更大。