DATE: Tuesday, May 6, 1997                  TAG: 9705060236

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER 

LENGTH: 87 lines

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING DAY-CARE GERMS

KIDS SHOW STUNNING ABILITY TO SPREAD ITTY-BITTY ENEMIES

Warning to parents: You might want to wear rubber gloves when you pick your kids up from day care.

In a study presented Monday to a national pediatric conference in Washington, D.C., Norfolk researcher Xi Jiang conducted an innovative experiment using a vegetable virus to show where germs spread in day-care centers.

The answer: Everywhere - including home with the kids.

Researchers have known for years that children in day-care centers tend to have more contagious illnesses than children cared for in the home, or even in home-based day care.

To develop preventive programs, however, they first had to understand how and where children spread the germs.

But they couldn't introduce strep bacteria or diarrhea-causing viruses in a day-care center. So Jiang, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Center for Pediatric Research, a joint program between Children's Hospital of the King's

Daughters and Eastern Virginia Medical School, used the next-best thing.

Cauliflower viruses.

He painted rubber balls with a solution of the harmless cauliflower mosaic virus DNA, then tossed the balls in the middle of the infant and toddler rooms at a typical licensed Norfolk day-care center.

Within a few hours, the genetic marker was everywhere, Jiang said.

On the walls, on cupboards, on benches and toys. On the refrigerator handle, the telephone, the toy box.

It even spread into a toddler room that did not have the treated balls, indicating that indirect contact also plays a role in the spread of germs.

And the spread wasn't limited to the day-care center. When researchers tested families' homes the following day, they found the marker on highchairs, toys, cribs and beds, diaper-changing areas, and the rims of tubs.

How did the germs travel home? Usually via the car seat.

``It highlights high-risk areas,'' pediatric center director Dr. Larry Pickering said of the study. ``We know some (high-risk areas), like diaper-changing areas, but some, like benches, we may not wash frequently.''

Researchers found that the markers spread within one hour of their introduction into the classroom. They tracked the genes' progress by swabbing toys and other surfaces, then putting the swab into a special solution that multiplied any existing genes, making them easier to spot.

After the first day, they removed the contaminated balls but continued testing the room. They found that the genetic markers remained in certain spots for as long as 28 days. In fact, two weeks after the balls were removed, nearly half the toys in the toddler room and 20 percent of the room's surfaces were still contaminated.

This showed the researchers that surfaces were not washed as often as they should be, Pickering explained.

While it is unlikely that an infectious organism - like a cold virus - would remain active that long, some bacteria and viruses can live for weeks on moist surfaces.

The study also highlighted the importance of washing children's hands.

All the children had the markers on their hands when they went home Friday afternoon, the day the balls were introduced into the classroom.

On Saturday, 44 percent of the children still had markers on their hands.

Jiang also conducted the study in a home-based day-care center, with similar results.

Overall, the study has several important ramifications, say Pickering and Jiang.

Hands play an important role in spreading germs, and washing hands, wiping surfaces and washing toys is critical in stopping the spread.

The gene is a helpful method for determining whether a center's disinfecting program works.

The presence of the markers in the child's home shows how common germs are brought from the child-care setting to the home, often infecting family members.

The information will be used to design educational campaigns for day-care centers to use in training employees how and where to focus cleaning efforts, Pickering said. ILLUSTRATION: Color illustration by JANET SHAUGHNESSY/The

Virginian-Pilot

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For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: GERMS DAY-CARE CENTER CHILDREN STUDY DAYCARE

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