We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Contamination, disinfection, and cross-colonization: are hospital surfaces reservoirs for nosocomial infection?
- Authors
Hota, Bala
- Abstract
Despite documentation that the inanimate hospital environment (e.g., surfaces and medical equipment) becomes contaminated with nosocomial pathogens, the data that suggest that contaminated fomites lead to nosocomial infections do so indirectly. Pathogens for which there is more-compelling evidence of survival in environmental reservoirs include Clostridium difficile, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and pathogens for which there is evidence of probable survival in environmental reservoirs include norovirus, influenza virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus, and Candida species. Strategies to reduce the rates of nosocomial infection with these pathogens should conform to established guidelines, with an emphasis on thorough environmental cleaning and use of Environmental Protection Agency-approved detergent-disinfectants.
- Publication
Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2004, Vol 39, Issue 8, p1182
- ISSN
1537-6591
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1086/424667