Abstract
Infection prevention strategies need to be identified and evaluated to reduce the risk associated with contaminated hospital sinks. This study used settle plates to compare the dispersal of Gram-negative bacteria from a conventional, rear-draining clinical handwash basin (CHWB) and a ‘splash-reducing’ CHWB with and/or without impaired drainage. Two scenarios were assessed: dispersal from a contaminated basin and dispersal from a contaminated drain. The associated tap was operated for 1 min and, for all contamination scenarios, the ‘splash-reducing’ CHWB had significantly lower odds of spreading contamination than the conventional CHWB.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 171-174 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Journal of Hospital Infection |
Volume | 114 |
Early online date | 22 Apr 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: The research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research ( NIHR ) Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance ( NIHR200915 ) at University of Oxford ( NIHR200915 ) in partnership with Public Health England (PHE). Armitage Shanks (UK) provided the Contour 21+ washbasin free of charge. However, Armitage Shanks did not contribute to the study design, research outcome, or the writing or editing of the manuscript.This work was supported by Public Health England (PHE). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PHE or any other government agency.
Open Access: No Open Access licence
Publisher Copyright: Crown Copyright © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Healthcare Infection Society. All rights reserved.
Citation: P. Aranega-Bou, C. Cornbill, N.Q. Verlander, G. Moore, A splash-reducing clinical handwash basin reduces droplet-mediated dispersal from a sink contaminated with Gram-negative bacteria in a laboratory model system,
Journal of Hospital Infection, Volume 114, 2021, Pages 171-174, ISSN 0195-6701.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2021.04.017.
Keywords
- CHWB
- Dispersal
- Engineering interventions
- Gram-negative bacteria
- Infection prevention
- Water safety