Hand hygiene should be the highest priority
In this issue of the Journal there is yet another article showing that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can easily be found on environmental surfaces — this time on identity badges and lanyards (→ What's hanging around your neck? Pathogenic bacteria on identity badges and lanyards).1 This adds to an increasing array of items such as neckties, stethoscopes, pens, computer keyboards and coats that can be colonised by pathogenic bacteria (although usually only in low numbers).
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- Infectious Diseases Unit and Microbiology Department, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT.
- 1. Kotsanas D, Scott C, Gillespie EE, et al. What’s hanging around your neck? Pathogenic bacteria on identity badges and lanyards. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 5-8. <MJA full text>
- 2. Collignon PJ, Grayson ML, Johnson PDR. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospitals: time for a culture change [editorial]. Med J Aust 2007; 187: 4-5. <MJA full text>
- 3. Johnson PDR, Martin R, Burrell LJ, et al. Efficacy of an alcohol/chlorhexidine hand hygiene program in a hospital with high rates of nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. Med J Aust 2005; 183: 509-514. <MJA full text>
- 4. Pittet D, Hugonnet S, Harbarth S, et al. Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene. Infection Control Programme. Lancet 2000; 356: 1307-1312.
- 5. The traditional white coat: goodbye, or au revoir? Lancet 2007; 370: 1102.
- 6. Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: England, Wales, and Northern Ireland: January to December 2003. CDR Wkly (Online) 2004; 14(16). http://www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/archives/2004/cdr1604.pdf (accessed Nov 2007).
- 7. Health Protection Agency. Quarterly reporting results for Clostridium difficile infections and MRSA bacteraemia, November 2007. http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hai/Mandatory_Results.htm (accessed Oct 2007).
- 8. Spiegelhalter DJ. Problems in assessing rates of infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. BMJ 2005; 331: 1013-1015.
- 9. Duckworth G, Charlett A. Improving surveillance of MRSA bacteraemia. BMJ 2005; 331: 976-977.
- 10. Collignon P, Nimmo GR, Gottlieb T, Gosbell IB; Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis 2005; 11: 554-561. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no04/04-0772.htm (accessed Oct 2007).
- 11. Collignon PJ, Wilkinson IJ, Gilbert GL, et al. Health care-associated Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections: a clinical quality indicator for all hospitals. Med J Aust 2006: 184: 404-406. <MJA full text>