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Washing Surfaces in Hospitals Reduces Spread of MRSA
Basic hospital cleaning should take a higher priority if infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are to be brought under control, concludes a review published online in Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The author, looking back on studies examining the epidemiology of MRSA and other staph infections, finds the organisms to be long-lived, even when not colonizing patients or their caregivers. She points to the profusion of electronic gear at the bedside, all offering hand-touch sites from which MRSA can spread. Infection-control recommendations, including those from the CDC, stress visible cleanliness as a performance criterion, even though less than half of the "visibly clean" wards were microbiologically clean.
Recommending more spending for cleaning, she concludes: "We do not yet know exactly what impact cleaning could have on control, but this ignorance should not be used as an excuse for doing nothing."
LINK(S):
Lancet Infectious Diseases article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)
CDC report on managing multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare settings (Free PDF)
Published in Physician's First Watch October 31, 2007
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