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Effect of poly-hexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride (PHMB) treated non-sterile medical gloves upon the transmission of Streptococcus pyogenes, carbapenem-resistant E. coli, MRSA and Klebsiella pneumoniae from contact surfaces

Ali, S; Wilson, APR; (2017) Effect of poly-hexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride (PHMB) treated non-sterile medical gloves upon the transmission of Streptococcus pyogenes, carbapenem-resistant E. coli, MRSA and Klebsiella pneumoniae from contact surfaces. BMC Infectious Diseases , 17 , Article 574. 10.1186/s12879-017-2661-9. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Reduction of accidental contamination of the near-patient environment has potential to reduce acquisition of healthcare-associated infection(s). Although medical gloves should be removed when soiled or touching the environment, compliance is variable. The use of antimicrobial-impregnated medical gloves could reduce the horizontal-transfer of bacterial contamination between surfaces. AIM: Determine the activity of antimicrobial-impregnated gloves against common hospital pathogens: Streptococcus pyogenes, carbapenem-resistant E.coli (CREC), MRSA and ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. METHODS: Fingerpads (~1cm(2)) of PHMB-treated and untreated gloves were inoculated with 10 μL (~10(4) colony-forming-units [cfu]) of test-bacteria prepared in heavy-soiling (0.5%BSA), blood or distilled-water (no-soiling) and sampled after 0.25, 1, 10 or 15 min contact-time. Donor surfaces (~1cm(2) computer-keys) contaminated with wet/dry inoculum were touched with the fingerpad of treated/untreated gloves and subsequently pressed onto recipient (uncontaminated) computer-keys. RESULTS: Approximately 4.50log10cfu of all bacteria persisted after 15 min on untreated gloves regardless of soil-type. In the absence of soiling, PHMB-treated gloves reduced surface-contamination by ~4.5log10cfu (>99.99%) within 10 min of contact-time but only ~2.5log10 (>99.9%) and ~1.0log10 reduction respectively when heavy-soiling or blood was present. Gloves became highly-contaminated (~4.52log10-4.91log10cfu) when handling recently-contaminated computer-keys. Untreated gloves contaminated "recipient" surfaces (~4.5log10cfu) while PHMB-treated gloves transferred fewer bacteria (2.4-3.6log10cfu). When surface contamination was dry, PHMB gloves transferred fewer bacteria (0.3-0.6log10cfu) to "recipient" surfaces than untreated gloves (1.0-1.9log10; P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Antimicrobial-impregnated gloves may be useful in preventing dissemination of organisms in the near-patient environment during routine care. However they are not a substitute for appropriate hand-hygiene procedures.

Type: Article
Title: Effect of poly-hexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride (PHMB) treated non-sterile medical gloves upon the transmission of Streptococcus pyogenes, carbapenem-resistant E. coli, MRSA and Klebsiella pneumoniae from contact surfaces
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-017-2661-9
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-017-2661-9
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Keywords: Gloves, Hand hygiene, PHMB
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Infection and Immunity
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1572263
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