Nitrile Gloves Play a Part in Pathogen Transmission

Nitrile gloves used by healthcare workers to protect themselves can transmit multi-drug resistant bacteria, according to a new study.

Researchers at Nippon Medical School (Tokyo, Japan) conducted an experimental study to test the transmissibility of microbes from multiple-use nitrile gloves to a polypropylene surface. The researchers tested eight agents: E. coli and its drug-resistant version, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) -producing E. coli; K. pneumoniae and ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae; both drug-sensitive and -resistant A. baumannii; and drug-sensitive and -resistant P. aeruginosa.


The researchers inoculated the nitrile examination gloves with 105, 103, and 10 colony-forming units (CFU) of each microorganism per 10 μl of fluid. Immediately after inoculation, 30 seconds later, and three minutes later (by which time the gloves had dried completely), the contaminated gloves were touched to a sterilized polypropylene surface, and the number of viable bacteria remaining on the surface was quantified. The results showed that at 0 seconds, all the pathogens transmitted 5-10% of the inoculum to the polypropylene surface.

All the bacteria, except A. baumannii, decreased transmission in a dose- and time-dependent fashion, and were not detected on the surface when the gloves were touched after three minutes. But both sensitive and resistant A. baumannii were transferred even after the gloves had dried completely. The researchers also found that antibiotic sensitivity or resistance did not appear to have a consistent effect on how long the bacteria survived on the polypropylene surface. The study was presented at the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Microbe conference, held during June 2016 in Boston (MA, USA).

“Drug-sensitive and -resistant Acinetobacter baumannii could survive for up to three minutes on the glove and be transmitted to the surface,” said study author and presenter Kazue Fujita, MD. “That raises scenarios in which a multidrug resistant strain of A. baumannii contaminates a caregiver's gloves and is transferred to a surface in the room, or in the next patient's room, carrying resistance genes that can jump into other pathogens, such as E. coli or K. pneumoniae.”

“It's all about the movement of resistance; the gloves can move the microbes,” said Michael Schmidt, PhD, of the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, USA), and a spokesman for the ASM. “Caregivers don't wash gloves between patients and, importantly, they don't always strip them off as soon as they have been in contact with blood or other body fluids from a patient. You're protected, but now the glove is contaminated and you have a failure of hand hygiene.”

Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) is a form of synthetic rubber is unusual in being generally resistant to oil, fuel, and other chemicals. NBR's ability to withstand a range of temperatures and its overall resilience make nitrile gloves more resistant to puncture than natural rubber gloves, especially if the latter are degraded by exposure to chemicals or ozone.

Related Links:
Nippon Medical School
Medical University of South Carolina