Endoscopes Not Always Cleaned Properly: Study

Used to examine patients' gastrointestinal tracts, dirty devices might pose infection risk

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- Three of every 20 flexible endoscopes used to examine patients' gastrointestinal tracts and colons were improperly cleaned, a new study finds.

Those 15 percent of endoscopes had unacceptable levels of "bio dirt" -- cells and matter from a patient's body that could pose a potential infection risk to other patients, according to the researchers.

They examined 275 flexible duodenoscopes, gastroscopes, and colonoscopes used at five U.S. hospitals and found that 30 percent, 24 percent and 3 percent, respectively, did not pass a cleanliness rating.

The study findings were to be presented last weekend at the annual meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

"Three out of 20 is an unexpectedly high number of endoscopes failing a cleanliness criterion," lead investigator Marco Bommarito, lead research specialist at 3M Infection Prevention Division, said in an APIC news release. "Clearly, we'd like no endoscopes to fail a cleanliness rating."

In recent years, improperly cleaned endoscopes at medical facilities in the United States have resulted in thousands of patients having to be checked for HIV and hepatitis B and C, according to the news release. More health-care-associated outbreaks have been linked to contaminated endoscopes than to any other medical device, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.

Each year in the United States, between 15 million and 20 million endoscopy procedures are conducted with reusable endoscope devices to screen various parts of patients' gastrointestinal tracts and look for problems such as cancer.

Duodenoscopes examine the duodenum (the first section of the small intestine), while gastroscopes examine the stomach and colonoscopes examine the colon.

"The cleaning protocols for flexible endoscopes need improvement, such as guidelines tailored to the type of scope or identifying if there is a critical step missing in the manual cleaning process, and documented quality-control measures," Bommarito said. "These types of improvements could have a positive impact on patient safety."

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

View the original article here

Only 5 Percent of Restroom Patrons Wash Hands Properly, Study Finds

And 1 in 10 don't scrub up at all after flushing

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- The next time you reach out to shake someone's hand, consider this finding: A recent study of hand-washing habits found only 5 percent of people who used the restroom scrubbed long enough to kill germs that can cause infections.

Thirty-three percent didn't use soap, and 10 percent didn't wash their hands at all, according to the study, based on Michigan State University researchers' observations of more than 3,700 people in a college town's public restrooms.

"These findings were surprising to us because past research suggested that proper hand washing is occurring at a much higher rate," lead investigator Carl Borchgrevink, an associate professor of hospitality business, said in a university news release.

Among the other findings:

Men were less likely than women to clean their hands. Fifteen percent of men and 7 percent of women didn't wash their hands at all. When they did wash their hands, only 50 percent of men used soap, compared with 78 percent of women.People were less likely to wash their hands if the sink was dirty.People were more likely to wash their hands earlier in the day. This may be because when people are out at night for a meal or drinks, they are relaxed and hand washing becomes less important, the researchers suggested.People were more likely to wash their hands if they saw a sign encouraging them to do so.

Hand washing is the single most effective thing a person can do to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Failure to sufficiently wash hands contributes to nearly 50 percent of all foodborne illness outbreaks, the agency says.

It takes 15 to 20 seconds of vigorous hand washing with soap and water to effectively kill germs, the CDC says, but people only wash their hands for an average of about 6 seconds, according to the study, published recently in the Journal of Environmental Health.

The findings have implications for consumers and restaurant and hotel owners, says Borchgrevink.

"Imagine you're a business owner and people come to your establishment and get foodborne illness through the fecal-oral route -- because people didn't wash their hands -- and then your reputation is on the line," he said. "You could lose your business."

View the original article here