Background
Privacy curtains are a potentially important site of bacterial contamination in hospitals.
We performed a longitudinal study to determine the prevalence and time course of bacterial
contamination on privacy curtains.
Methods
Over a 3-week period, swab cultures (n = 180) were obtained twice weekly from the
leading edge of 43 curtains in 30 rooms in 2 intensive care units and a medical ward.
Curtains were marked to determine when they were changed. Contamination with Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA), Enterococcus spp, vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), or aerobic gram-negative rods was determined
by standard microbiologic methods. To distinguish persistence of pathogens on curtains
from recontamination, all VRE and MRSA were typed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
Results
Twelve of 13 curtains (92%) placed during the study showed contamination within 1
week. Forty-one of 43 curtains (95%) demonstrated contamination on at least 1 occasion,
including 21% with MRSA and 42% with VRE. Eight curtains yielded VRE at multiple time
points: 3 with persistence of a single isolate type and 5 with different types, suggesting
frequent recontamination.
Conclusion
Privacy curtains are rapidly contaminated with potentially pathogenic bacteria. Further
studies should investigate the role of privacy curtains in pathogen transmission and
provide interventions to reduce curtain contamination.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 01, 2012
Footnotes
Supported by an unrestricted grant from PurThread, a maker of antimicrobial textiles.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
