Assessment of Environmental Contamination with Pathogenic Bacteria at a Hospital Laundry Facility.
Assessment of Environmental Contamination with Pathogenic Bacteria at a Hospital Laundry Facility.
复制标题
医院洗衣设施中致病菌环境污染的评估。
DOI：
10.1093/annweh/wxx082
复制
发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Roberts,MarilynC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Michael,KarenE;No,David;Daniell,WilliamE;Seixas,NoahS;Roberts,MarilynC
Little is known about exposure to pathogenic bacteria among industrial laundry workers who work with soiled clinical linen. To study worker exposures, an assessment of surface contamination was performed at an industrial laundry facility serving hospitals in Seattle, WA, USA. Surface swab samples (n= 240) from the environment were collected during four site visits at 3-month intervals. These samples were cultured forClostridium difficile, methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Voluntary participation of 23 employees consisted of nasal swabs for detection of MRSA, observations during work, and questionnaires. Contamination with all three pathogens was observed in both dirty (laundry handling prior to washing) and clean areas (subsequent to washing). The dirty area had higher odds of overall contamination (≥1 pathogen) than the clean area (odds ratio, OR = 18.0, 95% confidence interval 8.9–36.5,P< 0.001). The odds of contamination were high for each individual pathogen:C. difficile, OR = 15.5; MRSA, OR = 14.8; and VRE, OR = 12.6 (each,P< 0.001). The highest odds of finding surface contamination occurred in the primary and secondary sort areas where soiled linens were manually sorted by employees (OR = 63.0,P< 0.001). The study substantiates that the laundry facility environment can become contaminated by soiled linens. Workers who handle soiled linen may have a higher risk of exposure toC. difficile, MRSA, and VRE than those who handle clean linens. Improved protocols for prevention and reduction of environmental contamination were implemented because of this study.
