经济学人下载:旅馆卫生 当心遥控器

Science and technology
科学技术

Hotel hygiene
旅馆卫生

Mind the remote
当心遥控器

The next time you check in…
下次你在办理入住手续的时候…

NO ONE likes to think about who was in their hotel room before them, let alone what they got up to.
没人愿意想象在他们入住旅馆之前有人在里面待过，更不愿去想那些人在房间里干了些什么，

The best to hope for is that your lodgings are clean and hygienic.
如果房间干净卫生就谢天谢地了。

But are they? Researchers from the University of Houston have probed the cleanliness of rooms, exposing the most—and least—filthy surfaces.
可是事实真的如此吗？休斯顿大学的研究者调查了客房的洁净度，揭露了那些最肮脏的地方。

After swabbing samples from hotel rooms in Indiana, Texas and South Carolina, they found the TV remote control and the bedside-lamp switch were among the most contaminated.
他们分别在印第安纳州、德克萨斯州和南卡莱罗纳州的旅馆客房提取了样品，然后发现其中的电视遥控器和床头灯开关是最脏的，

The toilet, bathroom sink and items from the housekeeper's carts also had high levels of bacteria.
厕所、洗手池和保洁员手推车里的物品也是细菌量较高的地方，

Maids' mops and sponges were thought to pose the greatest threat as they could cause cross-contamination between rooms.
研究人员认为最大的威胁来自保洁员的拖把和海绵，因为它们可能造成各房间的交叉污染，

Some of the cleanest surfaces included the bed headboard and the bathroom-door handle.
而床头板和浴室门把手等地方是最干净的。

Katie Kirsch, an undergraduate who this week presented the results to the general meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, cautioned that the data were limited by a small sample size:
大学生Katie Kirsch这周在美国微生物学会的全体大会上提交了研究结果，值得注意的是，他们只在每个州的三家旅馆进行了调查，样本太少所以数据有一定限制。

only three hotel rooms were tested in each state. Within each room the same 19 surfaces were tested for aerobic and coliform bacteria.
他们在每间房取19个相同的地方进行有氧大肠菌群测试，

No infectious diseases were tested for and the presence of bacteria is not necessarily a health threat.
他们没有进行传染病测试，因为这里的细菌不大会引发健康威胁，

Indeed, humans have always lived with bacteria.
事实也确实如此，我们每天都和细菌生活在一起。

As a whole, Ms Kirsch thought hoteliers maintained a high level of sanitation.
总的来说，Kirsch认为旅馆老板把环境卫生维持在一个较高的标准，

But the researchers, who included members of Purdue University and the University of South Carolina, were concerned that there is no universal cleaning process for hotels.
但是包括普渡大学和南卡莱罗纳大学在内的一些研究人员担心旅馆没有一个通用的保洁程序，

Standards are largely down to the beady eye of individual housekeepers.
卫生标准的高低很大程度上取决于个别管家的警觉性，

They suggested applying Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, a preventive approach to reducing the risk of physical, chemical and biological hazards.
所以他们建议采用“危害分析和关键环节控制点”这种预防方法来减少物理、化学和生物方面的威胁，

HACCP was drawn up by NASA, America's space agency, to ensure the safety of food for astronauts.
HACCP由美国宇航局NASA起草，起初是用来确保航天员的食品安全，

Since then it has been adopted by a number of industries.
后来被各个行业广泛采用。

But is cleaning a hotel room really rocket science?
打扫旅馆房间是一件很复杂的事吗？

Good hotels value a reputation for cleanliness, and people can easily discover online those that are filthy.
好旅馆会在整洁方面很重视自己的名声，并且人们很容易在网上发现那些较脏的旅馆。

Paranoia about cleanliness has already risen to the point that sterile modern living can make people sick by weakening their immune systems.
一些重视清洁的偏执狂已经上升到打造无菌生活的层面，但这样会削弱他们的免疫系统使他们更容易生病，

The odd night in a roach motel might even do some people a bit of good.
所以在蟑螂出没的汽车旅馆度过一个不平凡的夜晚甚至可能对某些人更有益处。