Are Toys Clean Enough?

Plastic toys 'can harbour nasty viruses for hours, raising risk of infection', experts say.

14:56 27 June 2016

Certain viruses, such as influenza, could survive on toys’ surface for hours, increasing the risk of infectious diseases, experts have warned.

 

In their study, they used a flexible children’s toy to see how long a virus could survive in the toy’s surface at 60per cent humidity. After 24 hours, the researchers were able to recover complete particles of the virus. Meanwhile, at 40per cent humidity, the virus was still present 10 hours after contamination.

 

Lead author, Richard Bearden II from Georgia State University, said: 'People don't really think about getting viruses from inanimate objects.’

 

'They think about getting them from other people. Children are vulnerable to contracting infectious diseases because they put their hands and foreign objects in their mouths, and their immune systems aren't fully developed.' 

 

The findings relate to enveloped viruses including influenza and coronaviruses, such as Middle East Respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

 

Researchers said that toys could increase the risk of infectious diseases, particularly in day care centres, doctor’s office, and homes. 

 

Mr Bearden added: 'I think the main focus should be for parents, daycare facilities, doctor's offices and other places where children share toys to implement some type of strategy for decontamination to make sure those toys aren't a reservoir for disease,'