BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Wearing of gloves reduces transmission of organisms by healthcare workers' hands but is not a substitute for hand hygiene. Results of previous studies have varied as to whether hand hygiene is worse when gloves are worn. Most studies have been small and used nonstandardized assessments of glove use and hand hygiene. We sought to observe whether gloves were worn when app...

Introduction: Menstrual hygiene management has not received adequate attention in the reproductive health sectors in developing countries. In Africa the practice of menstrual hygiene management is still poor and the issue is under estimated. Due to poor menstrual hygiene management the adolescent girls are exposed for reproductive tract infection, school absenteeism and increase school dropout ...

BACKGROUND Hand hygiene is essential to interrupting disease transmission in health care facilities. Multiple hand hygiene agents are currently available for use in the health care setting. To evaluate the utility of these agents, both the user acceptability and the efficacy need to be evaluated. Different hand hygiene test methodologies have been used to measure the efficacy of these agents, b...

This cross-sectional study investigates whether calcium intakes from dairy and non-dairy sources, and absolute intakes of various dairy products, are associated with periodontitis. The calcium intake (mg/day) of 135 older Danish adults was estimated by a diet history interview and divided into dairy and non-dairy calcium. Dairy food intake (g/day) was classified into four groups: milk, cheese, ...

This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes in cheese and in the environment of three small-scale dairy plants (A, B, C) located in the Northern region state of São Paulo, Brazil, and to characterize the isolates using conventional serotyping and PFGE. A total of 393 samples were collected and analyzed from October 2008 to September 2009. From these, 136 came from dair...

To the Editor—We read with great interest the excellent review of evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) by Louh et al. In this article, the authors reviewed 4 studies that assessed the impact of hand-hygiene campaigns to reduce CDI. Based on these papers, the authors did not recommend any hand-hygiene interventions to reduce CDI. In their dis...

BACKGROUND Improved hygiene in Westernised regions of the world may be partly responsible for the increased prevalence of diseases of the immune system, such as asthma and atopy. There is a paucity of data on cleanliness norms in young children in the UK and there has been no attempt to identify factors that influence the adoption of particular hygiene practices in the home. AIMS To examine l...

Background. Adherence to hygiene guidelines is of utmost importance for healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge on and the adherence to hygiene guidelines among medical students in Austria. Additionally, a possible difference between female and male students was investigated. Methods. An open paper-based survey among third-year medical students at the Medic...

BACKGROUND Good hand hygiene is critical to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections. Limited data are available on hand hygiene practices from rural healthcare systems in China. AIM To assess the feasibility and acceptability of sanitizing hands with alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHRs) among Chinese village healthcare workers, and to assess their hand hygiene practice. METHODS Five ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of an institutional hand hygiene accountability program on healthcare personnel hand hygiene adherence. DESIGN Time-series design with correlation analysis. SETTING Tertiary care academic medical center, including outpatient clinics and procedural areas. PARTICIPANTS Medical center healthcare personnel. METHODS A comprehensive hand hygiene initiative was...