Outbreak of Shigella sonnei in a clinical microbiology laboratory

Mermel, Leonard A.; Josephson, Stephen L.; Dempsey, Jane; Parenteau, Stephen; Perry, C. A.; Magill, N G

doi:10.1128/jcm.35.12.3163-3165.1997

Cited by 41 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Mermel et al reported that hands of HCWs became recontaminated from faucet handles during a Shigella outbreak. 183 Soap bars also have the potential to spread contamination from person to person via the hands. 88…”

Section: Efficacy Of Handwashing Using Soap and Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Bloomfield

Aiello

Cookson

et al. 2007

American Journal of Infection Control

273

200

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Infectious diseases (ID) circulating in the home and community remain a significant concern. Several demographic, environmental, and health care trends, as reviewed in this report, are combining to make it likely that the threat of ID will increase in coming years. Two factors are largely responsible for this trend: first, the constantly changing nature and range of pathogens to which we are exposed and, secondly, the demographic changes occurring in the community, which affect our resistance to infection. This report reviews the evidence base related to the impact of hand hygiene in reducing transmission of ID in the home and community. The report focuses on developed countries, most particularly North America and Europe. It also evaluates the use of alcohol-based hygiene procedures as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, handwashing. The report compiles data from intervention studies and considers it alongside risk modeling approaches (both qualitative and quantitative) based on microbiologic data. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Hand hygiene is a key component of good hygiene practice in the home and community and can produce significant benefits in terms of reducing the incidence of infection, most particularly gastrointestinal infections but also respiratory tract and skin infections. (2) Decontamination of hands can be carried out either by handwashing with soap or by use of waterless hand sanitizers, which reduce contamination on hands by removal or by killing the organisms in situ. The health impact of hand hygiene within a given community can be increased by using products and procedures, either alone or in sequence, that maximize the log reduction of both bacteria and viruses on hands. (3) The impact of hand hygiene in reducing ID risks could be increased by convincing people to apply hand hygiene procedures correctly (eg, wash their hands correctly) and at the correct time. (4) To optimize health benefits, promotion of hand hygiene should be accompanied by hygiene education and should also involve promotion of other aspects of hygiene.

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Section: Efficacy Of Handwashing Using Soap and Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Bloomfield

Aiello

Cookson

et al. 2007

American Journal of Infection Control

273

200

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The finding of hand operated faucets is not different from several reports from studies conducted in other resource-constraint settings in developing countries [30,35,36]. The use of hand held faucet can predispose to recontamination of the hands from faucet' handles as it was observed during a Shigella sonnei outbreak in a clinical microbiology laboratory [37]. Having a sink without water flowing through the faucet negates the very foundation of hand washing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…However, the use of hand rubs has been found to be very crucial to improvement of compliance with HH in clinical settings. Other aspects where the use of hand rubs may be better than hand washing are: more antimicrobial efficacy, shorter time of procedure, and less potential for recontamination by water or soap particularly in low socioeconomically, resource-constraint settings [37]. The US National Guidelines on Hand Hygiene recommends HH with soap and water as the standard of care and waterless antiseptic hand rubs only in situations where sinks are not available [42][43][44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hand Hygiene Facilities in the Clinical Laboratories of a Tertiary Health Facility in a Lassa Fever Endemic Country

Busari¹

2018

AJLM

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Hand hygiene is a general term referring to any action of hand cleansing. It basically includes hand washing and hand rubbing. It is considered the most important simple measure for preventing the spread of pathogens generally and particularly in health-care setting. The objective of the survey was to evaluate the availability and accessibility of hand hygiene facilities in the clinical laboratories of a tertiary health facility in south west Nigeria. A previously used survey checklist assessing the condition of sink and other hand hygiene facilities in a health care setting was further modified and employed for data collection. Descriptive data analysis was done by calculating the frequencies. There were sixteen sinks in the laboratories where the survey was conducted. All the sixteen sinks were accessible to the users and were physically intact. Four (25%) of the sinks had damaged draining pipes. Half of the sinks had hand-held faucet. There was no sink with automated faucet. None of the faucets had water flowing when turned on at the time of the survey. Also, none had water flowed through it in the past 72 hours prior the survey according to users' interview. Soap was available in only 6 (37.5%) of the sinks and there was no hand rub/ hand disinfectant or hand drying materials available. The survey has shown that there was a gross lack of hand hygiene facilities in the clinical laboratories of the tertiary health facility. There is an urgent need for critical stakeholders in the health sector to give policy and financial priority to provision of adequate modern hand hygiene facilities in all health care settings.

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“…13 The need for close supervision of trainees was underscored in the report of an outbreak of shigella infection in a hospital laboratory where a medical technology student worked with the organism. 14 Only 15% of students reported vaccination against tuberculosis. As most persons receive BCG at birth, respondents may not be aware of their immunisation status.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and safety of laboratory science students in Ibadan, Nigeria

Omokhodion

2002

Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health

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Laboratory science students are engaged in laboratory practice under supervision during the course of their training programme. They are exposed to the risk of laboratory-acquired infection and need to be adequately informed and equipped with facilities to protect their health. A questionnaire was administered to laboratory science students to determine their perception of hazards in laboratory practice and the observance of safety codes in their work practices. Of 128 students, 118 completed the questionnaire, a response rate of 92%. Sixty of them (51%) were males and 53 (45%) were females; five students did not indicate their sex. The results revealed that only 34 (29%) of the students use gloves for handling biological samples and 26 (22%) use gloves for handling clinical waste. Ninety-four students (80%) reported that they washed their hands after handling specimens. Eighteen of the students (15%) had been immunised against tuberculosis, 80 (68%) against tetanus, six (5%) against hepatitis B, and 18 (15%) against yellow fever. Ninety-six students (81%) thought the greatest hazard in laboratory practice was harmful biological organisms, while 13 (11%) indicated that chemical agents were the greatest hazard. Virology was thought to be the most hazardous specialty by 41 students (35%) while morbid anatomy was ranked as least hazardous by 48 (41%) of the students. These findings indicate that whilst laboratory science students are aware of the hazards in laboratory practice, this knowledge is not translated to safe practices and students may endanger their health as a result of exposure to laboratory practice. They therefore need to be provided with adequate facilities to protect themselves and adequate supervision to ensure that they imbibe safe work practices during their training years.

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Outbreak of Shigella sonnei in a clinical microbiology laboratory

Cited by 41 publications

References 8 publications

The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers

The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Hand Hygiene Facilities in the Clinical Laboratories of a Tertiary Health Facility in a Lassa Fever Endemic Country

Health and safety of laboratory science students in Ibadan, Nigeria

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