Introduction. The role of healthcare workers’ hands in the transmission of infectious diseases to patients is acknowledged. Indeed, they can pick potentially pathogenic bacteria and fungi from hand-touch surfaces before wearing gloves; these microorganisms multiply rapidly in the moist environment underneath gloves and multiplication rate increases along with the duration of glove use. This rou...

Seventy-five per cent of the patients undergoing cataract operation harboured microorganisms in their conjunctiva, out of which 40 per cent were pathogenic species. Preponderance of Moraxella was encountered. One third of the pathogenic microorganisms were found to be resistant to most of the antibiotics except Gentamycin. Positive conjunctival cultures were also obtained from 70% controls and ...

Direct observations by phase microscopy have demonstrated that small numbers of pathogenic staphylococci survive prolonged periods of time within living human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Non-pathogenic microorganisms are rapidly destroyed in similar preparations. Leukocytes in which staphylococci remained viable often appeared less vigorous after ingesting microorganisms, but intracellular su...