Personal protection

Tahir, S. et al. 2018. Transmission of Staphylococcus aureus from dry surface biofilm (DSB) via different types of gloves.

Objective

• Do gloved hands of healthcare personnel (HCP) become contaminated with dry-surface biofilm bacteria and hence may transmit bacteria associated with healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
• Is the result different if the biofilm is treated with neutral detergent simulating cleaning.
• Transmission was tested with nitrile, latex, and surgical gloves.

Results

• Bacterial cells were readily transmitted by all 3 types of gloves.
• Sufficient S. aureus to cause infection were transferred from 1 DSB touch up to 19 consecutive touches.
• 6 times more bacteria were transferred by nitrile and surgical gloves than to latex gloves (P <.001).
• Treating the DSB with 5% neutral detergent (simulating cleaning) increased the transmission rate of DSB bacteria 10-fold.

Conclusions

• Staphylococcus aureus incorporated into environmental DSB and covered by extracellular polymeric substances readily contaminates gloved hands and can be transferred to another surface.
• These results confirm the possibility that DSB contributes to HAI acquisition.

Phan, L. T. et al. 2019. Respiratory viruses on personal protective equipment and bodies of healthcare workers.

Objective

To characterize the magnitude of virus contamination on personal protective equipment (PPE), skin, and clothing of healthcare workers (HCWs) who cared for patients having acute viral infections.

Results

• 31% of glove samples, 21% of gown samples, and 12% of face mask samples were positive for virus.
• Among the body and clothing sites, 21% of bare hand samples, 11% of scrub samples, and 7% of face samples were positive for virus.

Conclusions

• Healthcare workers are routinely contaminated with respiratory viruses after patient care, indicating the need to ensure that HCWs complete hand hygiene and use other PPE to prevent dissemination of virus to other areas of the hospital.