Hospital Computer Equipment Could Harbor Nosocomial Pathogens

A new study claims that although hospital computer equipment can act as a reservoir for pathogenic organisms, actual bacterial contamination rates were low, possibly as the result of good hand hygiene.

Researchers at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH, Taiwan) studied information technology (IT) equipment in a 1,600-bed medical center in southern Taiwan, with 47 wards and 282 computers. The researchers wished to investigate the association of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii (three leading hospital-acquired pathogens) from ward computer keyboards, mice, as well as from clinical isolates, using pulsed field gel electrophoresis and antibiogram specimens. The researchers noted that the average compliance rate of hand hygiene in the medical center was 74% before the surveillance began.

The results of the study showed an overall contamination rate of 17.4% (49/282) of S. aureus species, Acinetobacter species, or Pseudomonas species was present. The actual specific contamination rates of MRSA and A. baumannii in the ward computers were 1.1% and 4.3%, respectively, and no presence of P. aeruginosa was found. The researchers concluded that with good hand hygiene compliance, relatively low contamination rates were present on the ward computer interfaces, without further contribution to nosocomial infection. The study was published in the October 2009 issue of the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, a publication of BioMed Central.

"No clinical correlation of contamination of these computer devices to clinical isolates was found,” said lead author Yen-hsu Chen, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the graduate institute of medicine at KMUH. "Routine disinfection and even surveillance of these computer devices may not be mandatory in nonoutbreak settings.”

Related Links:
Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital