Background
Since hospital patient privacy curtains can harbor bacteria, are high-touch surfaces,
and are cleaned infrequently, they may be involved in pathogen transmission. The aim
of this longitudinal prospective study was to understand curtain contamination to
inform curtain hygiene protocols, thereby minimizing the role of curtains in pathogen
transmission.
Methods
Over 21 days, cultures of 10 freshly laundered curtains (8 test curtains surrounding
patient beds and 2 controls in an unoccupied staff room) were taken in the Regional
Burns/Plastics Unit. Contact plates were used to sample the curtains near the edge
hem where they are most frequently touched. Microbial contamination and the presence
of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were determined.
Results
By day 3, test curtains showed increased microbial contamination (mean colony-forming
units [CFU]/cm2 = 1.17) compared to control curtains (mean CFU/cm2 = 0.19). Test curtains became increasingly contaminated over time, with mean CFU/cm2 for days 17 and 21 of 1.86 and 5.11, respectively. By day 10, 1/8 test curtains tested
positive for MRSA, and 5/8 were positive by day 14.
Conclusions
Patient privacy curtains became progressively contaminated with bacteria, including
MRSA. Between days 10 and 14 after being hung, curtains showed increased MRSA positivity.
This may represent an opportune time to intervene, either by cleaning or replacing
the curtains.
Key Words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: April 11, 2018
Footnotes
Funding source: Support from for this work comes from the Firefighters Burn Fund (Manitoba), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery grant (Grant no.: RGPIN/04922-2014 ) and Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) Operating grant (Grant no.: CHRP 413713-2012 ).
Conflicts of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest relevant to this manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
