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Summary
Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are capable of surviving for days
to weeks on environmental surfaces in healthcare facilities. Environmental surfaces
frequently touched by healthcare workers are commonly contaminated in the rooms of
patients colonized or infected with MRSA or VRE. A number of studies have documented
that healthcare workers may contaminate their hands or gloves by touching contaminated
environmental surfaces, and that hands or gloves become contaminated with numbers
of organisms that are likely to result in transmission to patients. Pathogens may
also be transferred directly from contaminated surfaces to susceptible patients. There
is an increasing body of evidence that cleaning or disinfection of the environment
can reduce transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens. Because routine cleaning
of equipment items and other high-touch surfaces does not always remove pathogens
from contaminated surfaces, improved methods of disinfecting the hospital environment
are needed. Preliminary studies suggest that hydrogen peroxide vapour technology deserves
further evaluation as a method for decontamination of the environment in healthcare
settings.
KEYWORDS
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© 2007 The Hospital Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
