Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii was found in 48 percent of rooms occupied by patients colonized or infected with the pathogen, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
A team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine took samples from ten surfaces in each of 50 rooms inhabited by patients with a recent or remote history of A. baumannii. Surfaces sampled included the door knob, bedrails, bedside table and supply cart drawer handles.
Of these, 9.8 percent of surface samples representing 48 percent of the tested rooms showed environmental growth of A. baumannii. Further, the study found that patients with a recent history of A. baumannii colonization or infection were not significantly more likely than those with a remote history of A. baumannii to contaminate their environment.
In addition, the researchers found that supply cart drawer handles (20 percent), floors (16 percent), infusion pumps (14 percent), ventilator touchpads (11.4 percent) and bedrails (10.2 percent) were the most commonly contaminated surfaces.
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A team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine took samples from ten surfaces in each of 50 rooms inhabited by patients with a recent or remote history of A. baumannii. Surfaces sampled included the door knob, bedrails, bedside table and supply cart drawer handles.
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Of these, 9.8 percent of surface samples representing 48 percent of the tested rooms showed environmental growth of A. baumannii. Further, the study found that patients with a recent history of A. baumannii colonization or infection were not significantly more likely than those with a remote history of A. baumannii to contaminate their environment.
In addition, the researchers found that supply cart drawer handles (20 percent), floors (16 percent), infusion pumps (14 percent), ventilator touchpads (11.4 percent) and bedrails (10.2 percent) were the most commonly contaminated surfaces.
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