20/12 - Teddy bears pose health risk in doctors'

Teddy bears pose health risk in doctors'
waiting rooms

Teddy bears might have to be banned from doctors'
waiting rooms because they may spread infections to already sick children,
New Zealand public health specialists said today.

"Isn't it time to give teddy the boot?" asked Paul Corwin and
colleagues at Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand after
checking contamination levels in toys at six group practices in
Christchurch.

Their findings, published in the British Journal of General Practice,
showed 90 per cent of soft toys examined had moderate to heavy bacterial
contamination.

The researchers also found that soft toys are difficult to disinfect and
rapidly get recontaminated after cleaning.

Hard toys were much less likely to be contaminated and were easy to
disinfect.

They noted that many doctors provide toys in waiting rooms and stopped
short of calling for a ban at this stage.

"Children, many with infectious diseases such as those causing
diarrhoea, are likely to be handling toys and putting them in their
mouths," they said.

"The next child to play with these toys may thus be exposed to
pathogens that could make them ill," they said in the research
journal.