Hospital Bath Basins Contaminated with Resistant Bacteria

Hospital bath basins, even when sparkling, are often contaminated with multidrug resistant organisms and could be a potential source of infection.

Researchers at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI, USA) randomly selected 53 hospitals in the United Stated and Canada, examining bath basins for bacteria using a damp swab culture. A central laboratory tested for the presence of Gram-negative bacilli, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE).

The researchers found that all of the basins appeared clean to the naked eye and were not visibly soiled. However, out of the 576 basins they tested, 63.3% were contaminated. Roughly, a third of the basins (34.6%) from 52 hospitals (98.1%) were colonized with VRE. Gram-negative bacilli were found in 251 basins (43.6%) from 47 (88.7%) hospitals, and 24 (4.2%) basins from 19 (35.9%) hospitals were colonized with MRSA. The study was presented at the 2011 annual critical care congress of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, held during January 2011 in San Diego (CA, USA).

"In this day and age, where there is a growing need for hospitals to be vigilant about hospital-acquired infection rates, diagnosing hidden reservoirs of pathogens and multidrug resistant organisms can improve patients' safety and decrease infection rates,” said study presenter and lead author Keith Kaye, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Wayne State University.

"Bath basins should never be shared between patients. If you are examining a wound or a device, like a line that's in a patient's vein, you must wash your hands after touching the basin, even if it's the patient's own basin, because these represent important reservoirs for bugs. Wash your hands before going on to the next patient,” added Professor Kaye.

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Wayne State University