A bacteriological study of hospital beds before and after disinfection with phenolic disinfectant

In hospitals, one of the ways to control microbial contamination is by disinfecting the furniture used by patients. This study's main objective was to evaluate the microbiological condition of hospital mattresses before and after such disinfection, in order to identify bacteria that are epidemi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Andrade, Denise de, Angerami, Emília L. S., Padovani, Carlos Roberto [UNESP]
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2000
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Repository:Repositório Institucional da UNESP
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unesp.br:11449/66116
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1020-49892000000300007
http://hdl.handle.net/11449/66116
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:disinfectant agent
phenol derivative
bacteriology
bacterium colony
bacterium contamination
controlled study
disinfection
hospital bed
hospital infection
infection prevention
nonhuman
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Staphylococcus aureus
Bacteria
Bacteriological Techniques
Beds
Brazil
Culture Media
Disinfectants
Disinfection
Phenols
Description
Summary:In hospitals, one of the ways to control microbial contamination is by disinfecting the furniture used by patients. This study's main objective was to evaluate the microbiological condition of hospital mattresses before and after such disinfection, in order to identify bacteria that are epidemiologically important in nosocomial infection, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. RODAC plates with two different culture media were used to collect specimens. Patient beds were selected according to previously established criteria, and surface areas on the mattresses were chosen at random. From the total of 1 040 plate cultures from 52 mattresses, positive results were obtained from 500 of them (48.1%), 263 before disinfection and 237 after disinfection. Considering the selectivity of the culture media, the positivity rate was high. There were high prevalences of S. aureus both before and after mattress disinfection. The study results suggest that the usual disinfection procedures, instead of diminishing the number of microbes, merely displace them from one part of the mattress to another, and the number of microorganisms remains the same.