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VTA passenger's ride the Winchester line north passed the San Jose State stop at Paseo del San Antonio on Sunday afternoon. Recently there has been some concern about germs passed through the railings and supports.

The handle straps on the VTA trains are a central to a concern regarding the spread of disease and germs.

Light rail commuters fend off germs

By: Carla Mancebo

Posted: 2/26/07

"Bless you," someone called out to an elderly sick man as the light rail reached its stop at Paseo de San Antonio.

A dozen students disembarked, unaware they may have gotten off with a little more than their iPods and books.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu season peaks in February and may spread until May. Reported influenza cases have risen by 12 percent in California this month.

The CDC recommends avoiding close contact with people who are sick, but some don't have the choice.

"I have had the flu twice this year, so riding the light rail is a nightmare," said Jamie Freitas, a senior majoring in history and a light rail commuter. "It's my obsessive compulsive disorder, I try and ignore the coughing and hacking but I can't, so I cringe the whole way to campus."

Bacterial and viral infections are most commonly caught through the air we breathe, said John Boothby, a professor of biological sciences at San Jose State University.

Boothby said sneezes and coughs produce particles that once evaporated will turn into a dried residue called, droplet nuclei.

This residue, which can last in the air for hours, may then transfer infection through the respiratory tract.

"When I'm on an airplane and I hear somebody sneezing in the back of the plane I know within hours I'm going to be breathing whatever that person had," Boothby said.

In the past year, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has seen an increase in commuters, said VTA Communications Manager, Jayme Kunz.

She said that on an average weekday roughly 33,000 people use the light rail.

The influx in riders will force cramped conditions, which Dr. Kamila Shekhar said is a perfect place to catch illnesses.

"Avoiding infectious viruses is difficult," said Shekhar, a physician at Kaiser Permanente. "Humans are breeding grounds for germs. Unfortunately, stopping the spread is not so easy - especially in poorly ventilated and crowded places."

Kunz said the VTA is concerned for the health of the riders and that the trains are cleaned once in the evening for garbage and visible dirt.

"I don't think they boil the train," Kunz said. "But the trains are very clean in comparison to other public transportation in the country."

But Boothby said the transmission of infections through surfaces is possible but not as prevalent as transmission through aerosols.

Living in a microbe-infested world can be unbearable for some people but they learn to adapt.

"I'm a freak about germs, some people call me a germ-a-phobe," said German Toledo, a radio, television and film major. "If someone is coughing near me I ask them to cough into their sleeve or I, simply, move."