This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
Background
Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) continue to be prevalent in hospitals, including
pediatric Hematology/Oncology (HO) Units. Contamination of floors in HO units may
pose a unique problem for the immunocompromised patients treated there. The objective
of this study was to determine whether Clostridium difficile (Cdiff) or Methicillin
Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were present on floors in a Hematology/Oncology
unit of a Children's Hospital, potentially serving as a reservoir for these pathogens.
Methods
Two locations in four rooms (floor at room entry and room bathroom floor), and two
floor locations (main sink and the adjoining hallway) were swabbed weekly for seven
weeks with sterile transport swabs. Swabs were used to inoculate Hardy CHROM MRSA
agar plates (to detect MRSA), and to inoculate Hardy Cdiff Banana Broth tubes (to
detect Cdiff). Incubation was at 37°C for 48 hours. Data was analyzed with SPSS 26
and used descriptive statistics and odds-ratios to compare contamination by site.
Results
Results of the cultures indicated the following: the percent positive swabs for the
room sites for Cdiff were 29.2% and 25.0% (floor by door, and bathroom), and for the
hallways were 19.0% and 33.3% (by the main sink, and main door). For MRSA presence
the percent positive for the room sites were 42.3% and 26.9% (floor by door, and bathroom),
and for the hallways 42.9% and 33.3% (by the main sink, and main door). Odds-ratios
were highest (1.99) for room entry doors.
Conclusions
The data presented suggests that Cdiff is fairly uniformly distributed throughout
the floors of the rooms, possibly serving as the source of this contamination in the
hallway. MRSA in the rooms appears to represent a possible reservoir for this pathogen,
leading to contamination of the hallway floors. Our data suggests that the floors
in HemOnc patient rooms present a potential hazard for HAIs in these patients.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to American Journal of Infection ControlAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
