{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T18:20:08Z","timestamp":1773339608054,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763337600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763337600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Internal Medicine Journal"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The discovery of pathogenic bacteria in the late 19th century led librarians to ask whether their books might spread disease. Microbiological investigations over the following decades found that certain bacteria could be isolated at low levels from books used by persons carrying infections. UK public health legislation prohibited the return of library books from households where a case of notifiable disease had dwelt, and this idea was taken up to varying degrees in Australian states and New Zealand. Libraries enthusiastically promoted themselves as hygienic and many put in place likely ineffective formaldehyde fumigation of returned books. Each new pandemic reignites this concern, but no evidence has been found that library users or staff are at risk of acquiring infections from books.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/imj.70270","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T09:04:59Z","timestamp":1763370299000},"page":"128-132","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Do pathogens lurk in library books?"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"56","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8413-2654","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mark J.","family":"Ferson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Public Health Unit South Eastern Sydney Local Health District  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"School of Population Health UNSW Medicine  Sydney"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","first-page":"427","article-title":"Beware the deadly books: a forgotten episode in library history","volume":"20","author":"McClary A","year":"1985","journal-title":"J Library History"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhin.2008.03.001"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_4_1","first-page":"13","article-title":"Books as a source of disease","volume":"86","author":"Reinick WR","year":"1914","journal-title":"Am J Pharm"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1912.04270100294010"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_6_1","first-page":"180","article-title":"Books as disseminators of disease","volume":"1","author":"Anon","year":"1896","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_7_1","first-page":"388","article-title":"Paris","volume":"1","author":"From our own correspondent","year":"1896","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(00)80786-2"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_9_1","first-page":"549","article-title":"Survival of tubercle bacilli in books","volume":"46","author":"Smith CR","year":"1942","journal-title":"Am Rev Tuberc"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(00)95831-8"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_11_1","first-page":"561","article-title":"The disinfection of books","volume":"22","author":"Young AG","year":"1898","journal-title":"Sanit Rec"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.1.1.54"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_13_1","first-page":"61","article-title":"The disinfection of books","volume":"1","author":"Nice LB","year":"1912","journal-title":"Bull Med Libr Assoc"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_14_1","first-page":"5","article-title":"Books\u2010shall they be sterilized?","volume":"16","author":"Smiley HE","year":"1933","journal-title":"Rhode Island Med J"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(01)17255-7"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_16_1","volume-title":"The Health Act, the Infant Life Protection Act, the Margarine Act, with Regulations, Notes of English and Victorian Cases, and Index","author":"Cole HS","year":"1894"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_17_1","volume-title":"Books, toys and animals","author":"NSW Department of Public Health","year":"1898"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_18_1","unstructured":"Herpes virus and cocaine found on library copy of erotic novel \u2018Fifty shades of grey\u2019. Huffington Post UK. Updated 17 Nov 2013; [cited 2025 Sept 5]. Available from URL:https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/2013\/11\/15\/fifty-shade-of-grey-herpes_n_4279925.html"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/jam.15468"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_20_1","unstructured":"Australian Library and Information Association.Australian libraries responding to COVID\u201019. Checklist for reopening libraries;2020; [cited 2025 Sept 5] Available from URL:https:\/\/read.alia.org.au\/australian-libraries-responding-covid-19-checklist-reopening-libraries"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.puhe.2006.03.012"}],"container-title":["Internal Medicine Journal"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/imj.70270","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1111\/imj.70270","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/imj.70270","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T08:24:23Z","timestamp":1773303863000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/imj.70270"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]]},"references-count":20,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/imj.70270"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/imj.70270","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["1444-0903","1445-5994"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1444-0903","type":"print"},{"value":"1445-5994","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-09-16","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-10-17","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-11-17","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}