Hospital Wipes Help MRSA Multiply

A common cause of hospital-acquired infections is MRSA. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections in humans.

MRSA infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria also called staph. Researchers say that wipes often used in hospitals to clean bacteria can facilitate its spread.

The Welsh School of Pharmacy experts have found that MRSA survives on such wipes, later contaminating the whole lot of surfaces it comes in contact with. The experts said staff should dispose wipes after using them once.

An infection control specialist said killing bacteria right away is not crucial. It is more important to deal with the muck and filth where they flourish.

Dr Gareth Williams, presenting this research at the American Society of Microbiology's Annual Meeting in Boston, said he intended to share his research with infection control teams. He visited the ICU’s of Welsh hospitals to observe use of wipes by the staff and found that using one wipe on many surfaces was common.

"What I found was that staff would wipe one thing, perhaps a bed rail, then move on to several other surfaces, so we went back to the laboratory to see how different wipes performed under these conditions" Dr Williams noted.

He found that wipes were good at picking up bacteria from the first surface but were incapable to do so on and on. This confirms that the subsequent cleaning using same wipe leads to contamination.

"What is remarkable is that some of these wipes actually have the words 'kills MRSA' written on the box. We found that, under the conditions we observed in actual hospitals, this wasn't the case." Dr Williams said.

He suggested that hospital staff should be educated not to use same wipe on more than one surface, even if it says 'anti-bacterial' on the pack.

Tracey Cooper, a nurse consultant and spokesman for the Infection Prevention Society, applauded the research, but said "The important thing when cleaning is to physically remove bacteria and the dust and dirt on which they live."

"The use of antimicrobial wipes is not counter-productive, we have robust protocols and it is important that staff follow them." A spokesman from Department of Health said.