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What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit

Intensive care unit- (ICU-) acquired infections are a major health problem worldwide. Inanimate surfaces and equipment contamination may play a role in cross-transmission of pathogens and subsequent patient colonization or infection. Bacteria contaminate inanimate surfaces and equipment of the patie...

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Autores principales: Russotto, Vincenzo, Cortegiani, Andrea, Fasciana, Teresa, Iozzo, Pasquale, Raineri, Santi Maurizio, Gregoretti, Cesare, Giammanco, Anna, Giarratano, Antonino
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5682046/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29214175
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6905450
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author Russotto, Vincenzo
Cortegiani, Andrea
Fasciana, Teresa
Iozzo, Pasquale
Raineri, Santi Maurizio
Gregoretti, Cesare
Giammanco, Anna
Giarratano, Antonino
author_facet Russotto, Vincenzo
Cortegiani, Andrea
Fasciana, Teresa
Iozzo, Pasquale
Raineri, Santi Maurizio
Gregoretti, Cesare
Giammanco, Anna
Giarratano, Antonino
author_sort Russotto, Vincenzo
collection PubMed
description Intensive care unit- (ICU-) acquired infections are a major health problem worldwide. Inanimate surfaces and equipment contamination may play a role in cross-transmission of pathogens and subsequent patient colonization or infection. Bacteria contaminate inanimate surfaces and equipment of the patient zone and healthcare area, generating a reservoir of potential pathogens, including multidrug resistant species. Traditional terminal cleaning methods have limitations. Indeed patients who receive a bed from prior patient carrying bacteria are exposed to an increased risk (odds ratio 2.13, 95% confidence intervals 1.62–2.81) of being colonized and potentially infected by the same bacterial species of the previous patient. Biofilm formation, even on dry surfaces, may play a role in reducing the efficacy of terminal cleaning procedures since it enables bacteria to survive in the environment for a long period and provides increased resistance to commonly used disinfectants. No-touch methods (e.g., UV-light, hydrogen peroxide vapour) are under investigation and further studies with patient-centred outcomes are needed, before considering them the standard of terminal cleaning in ICUs. Healthcare workers should be aware of the role of environmental contamination in the ICU and consider it in the broader perspective of infection control measures and stewardship initiatives.
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spelling pubmed-56820462017-12-06 What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit Russotto, Vincenzo Cortegiani, Andrea Fasciana, Teresa Iozzo, Pasquale Raineri, Santi Maurizio Gregoretti, Cesare Giammanco, Anna Giarratano, Antonino Biomed Res Int Review Article Intensive care unit- (ICU-) acquired infections are a major health problem worldwide. Inanimate surfaces and equipment contamination may play a role in cross-transmission of pathogens and subsequent patient colonization or infection. Bacteria contaminate inanimate surfaces and equipment of the patient zone and healthcare area, generating a reservoir of potential pathogens, including multidrug resistant species. Traditional terminal cleaning methods have limitations. Indeed patients who receive a bed from prior patient carrying bacteria are exposed to an increased risk (odds ratio 2.13, 95% confidence intervals 1.62–2.81) of being colonized and potentially infected by the same bacterial species of the previous patient. Biofilm formation, even on dry surfaces, may play a role in reducing the efficacy of terminal cleaning procedures since it enables bacteria to survive in the environment for a long period and provides increased resistance to commonly used disinfectants. No-touch methods (e.g., UV-light, hydrogen peroxide vapour) are under investigation and further studies with patient-centred outcomes are needed, before considering them the standard of terminal cleaning in ICUs. Healthcare workers should be aware of the role of environmental contamination in the ICU and consider it in the broader perspective of infection control measures and stewardship initiatives. Hindawi 2017 2017-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC5682046/ /pubmed/29214175 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6905450 Text en Copyright © 2017 Vincenzo Russotto et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Russotto, Vincenzo
Cortegiani, Andrea
Fasciana, Teresa
Iozzo, Pasquale
Raineri, Santi Maurizio
Gregoretti, Cesare
Giammanco, Anna
Giarratano, Antonino
What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
title What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
title_full What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
title_fullStr What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
title_full_unstemmed What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
title_short What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
title_sort what healthcare workers should know about environmental bacterial contamination in the intensive care unit
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5682046/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29214175
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6905450
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