- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
mutated, drug-resistant "superbugs that cause an increasing number
of hospital infections and deaths can live for weeks on bed linens, computer
keyboard covers and under acrylic fingernails, U.S. researchers reported
on Monday.
-
- The study supports other research that shows super-strict
hygiene is needed to battle the bacteria, some of which are now nearly
impossible to kill even with the strongest antibiotics.
-
- A team at sanitation-services company Ecolab Inc. dabbed
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus onto samples of bed linen,
keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails.
-
- MRSA could be detected eight weeks later on acrylic fingernails,
six weeks later on computer keyboard covers and five days later on bed
linens, the researchers told a meeting in Atlanta of the American Society
for Microbiology.
-
- "The results of this study clearly demonstrate the
need for frequent hand-washing and environmental disinfection in health
care settings," said researcher Kris Owens of Ecolab, which is based
in Mendota Heights, Minn.
-
- Staphylococcus aureus is usually harmless and very common,
found on skin or in the noses of about 30 percent of people. It can cause
stubborn problems such as rashes and boils and an infection is often mistaken
for a spider bite.
-
- In hospitals, MRSA can cause serious and sometimes deadly
infections, including necrotizing fasciitis or "flesh-eating"
disease. It resists almost everything but an intravenous antibiotic called
vancomycin.
-
- A study at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago,
published in April, found that computer keyboards can contaminate the fingers,
bare or gloved, of a nurse or doctor, who could then transfer bacteria
to patients.
-
- Other studies have shown that, despite the importance
of hand-washing, doctors, nurses and other health care workers often fail
to do so or do not wash thoroughly.
-
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Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters.
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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